Campaign Starts for Cutting Carbon Emission at Wedding
By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Can weddings become carbon neutral without damaging the joy of the ceremony? A civic group that says ''yes'' has launched a campaign to cut greenhouse gas emissions at weddings in a move to fight climate change.
An average wedding emits 3,000 kilograms of greenhouse gases through a combination of air conditioning, cooking, food preservation and transport, said Seonwoo Yeong, spokesman of Forest for Life, Monday.
With governments and companies moving to become carbon neutral, a growing number of couples are joining in the move to fight climate change.
In a campaign called ``Love Green,'' couples getting married donate a certain amount of money to plant trees so as to counterbalance the carbon emissions from their ceremony, SeonWoo said.
Weddings are also being designed to consume less energy.
Seo Ji-min, Park Min-ja, Yoon Jang-won, Yang Eun-kyoung, Kil Hong-deok and Lee Mi-kyoung are pioneers in trying to reduce wedding carbon emissions, according to Forest for Life.
The six have already planted trees at the World Peace Forest in Yeongjongdo, Incheon, and promised to sustain them in the future.
Kil and Lee, who are to marry Saturday, asked guests to take public transportation to the wedding. Those who do will receive little plants at the ceremony. The couple will be wearing casual dress rather than extravagant but disposable garments. They will donate 1 percent of the congratulatory money they receive to tree planting.
``We have always dreamed of a wedding of our own in an environment friendly manner. I hope our wedding inspires others to participate in Love Green,'' Kil said.