By Kim Sun-ae
Who among Korea's presidential candidates will respond to the climate crisis most wisely? Ahn Cheol-soo of the People's Party and Yoon Suk-yeol of the People Power Party said they would construct new nuclear power plants as a way to cut carbon emissions. Sim Sang-jeung of the Justice Party and Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea pledged not to build these plants.
To stop climate change, nuclear power plants are not an alternative to coal power. There's no perfect way to store spent nuclear fuel from these plants safely. The existing radioactive waste disposal facilities in Korea are almost saturated and no one will want facilities that store radioactive waste to be constructed in their neighborhood.
Coal-fired power plants, the main source of carbon emissions, should be closed so as not to worsen the climate crisis. In that process, the government must support the development of renewable energy. Sim pledged to increase the proportion of renewable energy ― which accounts for only 7 percent in the country now ― to 50 percent by 2030.
According to environmental economist Hong Jong-ho, the renewable energy sector in Korea accounts for a low proportion of jobs in the country's labor market. But if the government increases the proportion of renewable energy that the country uses, a great number of jobs will be created in this sector.
Currently, our lives depend heavily on fossil fuels such as coal and oil. However, using fossil fuels has led to global warming. If we don't decrease our carbon emissions, we will face more severe and frequent climate disasters.
"Greater levels of mitigation can reduce the need for additional adaptation efforts, and… greater adaptation needs can involve greater adaptation costs," reads the Paris Agreement, the international treaty on climate change adopted in 2015. Thus, it is advantageous to start cutting greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible now.
The livestock industry is also one of the main emitters of greenhouse gases, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Therefore, it is necessary to decrease the consumption of meat and other animal products in order to curb global warming.
Sim pledged to make it mandatory to offer a vegetarian diet at least four times a month in public institutions. In addition, she said that she would expand vegetarian school meals and provide information about the need to reduce meat consumption.
On the other hand, Ahn said that eating habits are each individual's choice. I agree that we choose what we eat. However, if we know how the animal products we eat affect the climate, the ecosystem and ourselves, we can make a better choice. The current factory farming system causes serious water and soil pollution. Conserving nature is crucial for our health too, because we are also part of the ecosystem.
The root cause of the climate crisis is our delusion that we are separate from one another, from the environment and from the earth. May we elect a president who leads us to live harmoniously with other living beings.
Kim Sun-ae (blog.naver.com/dancinglf) is a writer and translator.
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To stop climate change, nuclear power plants are not an alternative to coal power. There's no perfect way to store spent nuclear fuel from these plants safely. The existing radioactive waste disposal facilities in Korea are almost saturated and no one will want facilities that store radioactive waste to be constructed in their neighborhood.
Coal-fired power plants, the main source of carbon emissions, should be closed so as not to worsen the climate crisis. In that process, the government must support the development of renewable energy. Sim pledged to increase the proportion of renewable energy ― which accounts for only 7 percent in the country now ― to 50 percent by 2030.
According to environmental economist Hong Jong-ho, the renewable energy sector in Korea accounts for a low proportion of jobs in the country's labor market. But if the government increases the proportion of renewable energy that the country uses, a great number of jobs will be created in this sector.
Currently, our lives depend heavily on fossil fuels such as coal and oil. However, using fossil fuels has led to global warming. If we don't decrease our carbon emissions, we will face more severe and frequent climate disasters.
"Greater levels of mitigation can reduce the need for additional adaptation efforts, and… greater adaptation needs can involve greater adaptation costs," reads the Paris Agreement, the international treaty on climate change adopted in 2015. Thus, it is advantageous to start cutting greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible now.
The livestock industry is also one of the main emitters of greenhouse gases, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Therefore, it is necessary to decrease the consumption of meat and other animal products in order to curb global warming.
Sim pledged to make it mandatory to offer a vegetarian diet at least four times a month in public institutions. In addition, she said that she would expand vegetarian school meals and provide information about the need to reduce meat consumption.
On the other hand, Ahn said that eating habits are each individual's choice. I agree that we choose what we eat. However, if we know how the animal products we eat affect the climate, the ecosystem and ourselves, we can make a better choice. The current factory farming system causes serious water and soil pollution. Conserving nature is crucial for our health too, because we are also part of the ecosystem.
The root cause of the climate crisis is our delusion that we are separate from one another, from the environment and from the earth. May we elect a president who leads us to live harmoniously with other living beings.
Kim Sun-ae (blog.naver.com/dancinglf) is a writer and translator.
