Day 1 of Forum on 13 Feb 13:

First Lecture: The Impact of Climate Change in Our Lives by Prof. Sunjin Yoon, Seoul National University

She highlighted the Increasing Trends of Natural Disasters, serious impact on lives of humans and animals. People use too much heater and AC and this adds to further climate change and the vicious cycle continues. GHG in atmosphere increased (CO2 was 280 ppm in 1980s to 391 in 2011) causing temperature increases. Fossil fuel and waste from mass production and consumption are major causes. Deforestation caused more troubles. Without change in lifestyle, many people may die or be impacted by diseases and loss of property. Food production can be severely affected and industries may be affected causing job loss. She cited the example of apple production being affected in Korea.

Second Lecture: Denmark's Strategies  for Climate Change by the Danish Ambassador in Korea.

I loved this session for the knowledge I could gain. The Danish Ambassador highlighted that Denmark went through a crisis due to high oil prices during the 1970's So Denmark issued rule that no cars should ply on Sundays. (I believe they exempted the medical needs). The government subsidized the development of alternate energy and thus created Wind Mills for generating energy. Now the country is decoupled from fossil fuel prices. Denmark is now reaping the benefits of developing their economy with less and less dependence on fossil fuel and has targeted zero fossil fuel by 2050. Even in Korean Embassy, they installed double glazed windows and turned off computer screen when not working. This resulted in 74% energy reduction per employee within 2 years.

PT Party: Then our class of students for KSA, UAE and a few others presented our power point presentations on how we could combat climate change. It was a nice session learning from each other.

Day 2 of Forum on 14 Feb 13:

First Lecture : Green Canvas by Prof. Hoseob Yoon of Kookmin University

His unique designs on T-shirts and calendars were thought provoking and raise awareness on the environmental issues facing us and methods to change our lifestyles. His message on the risk of nuclear power plants as a question asked by an unborn baby is another example.

Second Lecture: Climate Change – Impacts and Responses by Nobel Prize winner Mr.Kilaparti Ramakrishna, Director of UNESCAP – United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

He highlighted that both the Earth and human body are sensitive to small changes in temperature. The earth?s temperature is impacted by the Greenhouse Gases the chief of them being CO2, Methane and Nitrous Oxide. The CO2 concentration has reached 392 ppm now in the post industrialization era while it has to be below 350 ppm to cap the temperature change below 2 degree C. Even the 350 ppm limit has only a 50% chance as per the scientists to achieve the target of 2 degrees. He highlighted the consequences of climate change in temperatures by 1 to 3 degrees C. The urgent need is to switch to making low carbon energy like Solar, wind, geothermal, hydrogen etc and saving energy in daily life – Example set thermostat at 18 to 20 degrees in winter and 26 degrees in summer, insulate buildings.

Third Lecture: The Human Condition by Comedian Seongho Park

This lecture evinced a lot of interest because of Mr.Park and a few more comedians joining to conduct a TV show after removing essentials of life like Cell phone, Television and Internet. The resulting ties among the people became very strong and they had ample time to try newer things. They took on challenges of reducing waste and shared a lecture full of applauses. It was a real comic end since the audience wanted to have his autograph and Mr.Park disappeared in a flash.

Cinemas: After the lectures, we saw interesting cinemas like the Green Ninja and followed with group discussion. Then we played the Jenga Board game learning environmental issues.

Warm Biz: The next event was the interesting Warm Biz Fashion Show and PT Party awards ceremony. I was happy to be declared a runner up in the Warm Biz show meant to promote warm clothing aimed at reducing use of heaters. Hearty congrats to Naylee from Kenya, who won the PT party for international participants and the 3 Korean participant winners.

Day 3 (15 Feb) saw us happily moving to the Everland Theme park with attractive fun rides. The Snow buster sledge and the Animal safari where we saw the rare Liger and the Yoga bear were my best attractions. Then we went to Samsung Engineering Tower and had a view of the huge corporate success of Samsung Group. We were all praise for the CSR initiatives of Eco-generation formed by Samsung and UNEP. We were also given the privilege of participating in the Books donation programme of Samsung Engineering. Day3 ended with a visit to the beautiful Seoul Tower from where we could see all neighboring buildings and beauty spots.

Day4 (16Feb) took the others to the local palace, a cultural tour and shopping visits without me. I returned a day earlier than the others due to the long journey and I could not miss school on 17 Feb 2013.

Finally a Big Thank You!

Thank you Eco-generation, UNEP and Samsung Engineering for all the sponsor support. Thank you Christy, Erika, Kang, Sophie and all volunteers who made our stay comfortable and memorable. Thank you all new friends - Amisha, Geetika, Shreya, Naylee. When I wake up every morning, you all cheer up my day with pleasant memories. Thank you Talaat Sir and KSA team for the continuous fun and quiz. Within 3 days, South Korea and all lovely people inspired me how beautiful the place is and even more beautiful at heart. And last but not the least and to all those professors, lecturers and class teachers who ensured the purpose of the visit was fully met in ensuring communication of knowledge I could absorb and will use to communicate to other eco-friends.

I end my writing with a short poem:

Samsung, you are not Samsung because some sung,

But because You are sung about by SAM,

Yes, SAM is Some Admiring Millions

It will include me also from now,

May Many more continue to sing your glory in future too!!

Hats off to all the Lovely Hearts behind Samsung,

So here I am Singing,

Folks, do join me to say

'"May the Million Hearts become Billions'