Conservation and Conversation for Earth Day 2012

[성김 대사]

Not many people know this, but U.S. Embassy Seoul actually has more than one building.  We have a couple of other offices in Seoul, and I try to get over to them as often as I can.  So when I heard there were two exciting events going on in our Public Affairs Section last Friday, I told my staff to block out a chunk of time for me to visit our offices in Namyoung-dong (남영동).

The first event was one of the greatest pleasures any Ambassador has: giving a deserving employee a well-earned award.  At the Embassy, we recognize four people a year with an “Employee of the Quarter” award for doing the most outstanding work in the Embassy over the last three months.  Our winner this quarter was our Public Affairs New Media Specialist.  The whole Embassy kept this award a secret (not easy to do around here), and as you can tell by the picture, she was quite surprised.  It is wonderful to be able to recognize a member of our staff in front of their peers for a job well done.

The second event was the Embassy’s annual Earth Day event.  Earth Day, which began in 1970, is a day that we celebrate early each year through events held worldwide to increase awareness and appreciation of the Earth's natural environment.  The Earth Day Network now coordinates Earth Day globally, and more than 175 countries celebrate it every year.  This year, an estimated one billion people around the globe participated.

Since this year’s Earth Day fell on a Sunday, the Embassy decided to celebrate two days early on the Friday before.  For Earth Day, it has become Embassy Seoul’s yearly tradition to gather college students along with our own Embassy employees and choose a popular Seoul hiking trail to tidy up.  Even though Korea and its hikers are known for their environmental awareness, it is only natural that with so many people hiking in Korea, some small pieces of trash get left behind.

Before leaving for Bukhansan, the students gathered in the Embassy’s American Center.

This year, more than 100 Embassy employees and student volunteers took to Bukhansan’s Dulegil trail as one team and hiked about seven kilometers.  Along the way, they picked up small pieces of trash.  This was a fantastic chance to not only do something great for the environment, but also get to know each other and deepen our people-to-people ties.

Unfortunately, I did not have time this year to hike with the students and our Embassy staff, but I did manage to meet them in person at our American Center and wish them well.  In turn, they sent me these wonderful photos and I would like to share them with you.

U.S. Embassy Goes Green on Bukhansan!

Now that you know what we did for Earth Day, we would love to hear what you did.   

[Mr. Ahn(안준수)]

what a fantastic event for people..^^* keep the good work sir..

[김동영]

You guys' activity for nature touched my heart a lot, because I though very few people are concerned about nature which hurts my heart. Probably next Earth Day, I will participate in this worthwhile event^^

[김동영]

To be honest, for protection of environment, I everyday try to keep simple rules; not throwing rubbish on the streets, not driving but riding bicycle or walking more, using scrap papers, strictly recycling, and others...Sometimes, it seems to make not much difference and nobody knows my endeavor but I keep trying because I believe my simple efforts for protection of environment will set a good example and fructify for our community. :)