Let's take climate action
By Kim Sun-ae
Sometimes I say or write something as the first step to action. I announce that I will do something helpful or that I will not do something harmful. It is ideal to act immediately but even if I can't I eventually come to act after several months or a year ― to be true to my word, to live as I wrote.
The summer of 2018 was really hot. I escaped to cafes when the fan at home wasn't enough. Nevertheless, there are many people who aren't able to head to a cool place avoid the heat. The old woman whom Kim Do-hyeon, now a high school student, met was one of them.
Last summer, Kim volunteered to deliver packed meals to neighbors in need. She was shocked to see an old woman who lived in a semi-basement room without a fan. Kim realized that the damage from the abnormal climate due to global warming, such as the 2018 heat wave, was concentrated on vulnerable people including those in the low-income bracket. Extreme heat is more dangerous for people who work outdoors, such as farmers, delivery people, and construction workers.
Kim, who gave a speech titled “Why I Stood in the Street, Not in School” in Daehak-ro, Seoul, on Dec. 14, is a climate activist. She has had much interest in environmental issues since childhood. Seeing no change related to the climate crisis even after she became an adolescent, she decided to act herself. Youth for Climate Action led three youth demonstrations in Korea in 2019, urging the government to prepare policies to respond to the climate crisis.
These young people accept the crisis as theirs and everyone's issue. They know that the happiness of today's children and future children depends on our present actions. Our and past generations wasted resources including those for future generations. We emitted greenhouse gases by producing and consuming all sorts of things not essential to our lives.
The cause of the climate crisis is excessive consumption. Therefore, it is necessary for both individuals and companies to reduce the use of resources. We can save resources in our daily lives at the individual level, and urge the government and large companies to take active measures to deal with the climate crisis. To respond to this crisis, change is needed in many aspects.
If it is difficult to change many things in everyday life at once, setting one goal at a time can be helpful. It is also possible to set a goal for a short period first, and then extend the period after achieving the goal.
To cut consumption, I decided not to buy new clothes for the last two months, and achieved the goal. Gaining confidence, I decided not to purchase new clothes in the New Year.
How about one climate action at a time in the New Year?
Kim Sun-ae (blog.naver.com/dancinglf) wrote a book of illustrated essays, “Old Potato, New Potato.”