Adaptation and Mitigation

Another Korean bottle destined for recycling.

The UNFCCC has many interesting things to say about the green movement in the Republic of Korea.  Green Movement may be the wrong word to use, Koreans don’t see the move to a sustainable future as giving convenience up or taking on an extra burden.  To them it is more like a duty and an opportunity to be a pivotal force in a new and emerging market.  On Koreas 60^th anniversary President Lee Myung-buk proposed the future vision for Korea be one of “Low Carbon, Green Growth.” Under this vision it would create more jobs, new technology, clean energy and it would solidify Koreas place on the map as a leader in green technology innovation.  Koreans are also very green inter-county travelers, Koreans travel mostly by subway, commuter or bullet train.  While there has been an incredible leap in the amount of cars on the peninsula most people prefer to do most of their commuting by train. 

Korea also seems ready for adaptation, it does have a ski season in the winter but they are already planning ahead for when there is no more snow.  They have come up with the idea of green-grass skiing and turning skiing areas into hiking and wilderness areas.  The other main idea for adaptation is to genetically adapt their foods with a more resilient strain.  Crops are mostly grown in the lowlands that will be susceptible to flooding with typhoons and sea-level rise.  These crops need to be able to be grown in brackish water.  Livestock and will also need to more adaptive to Global Climate change,  not only is their environment changing but there is also a growing demand for meats such as fish, chicken and beef.  Meats of all type will be genetically engineered to produce more meat in a faster amount of time.

Korea has ratified the Kyoto Protocol, it was accepted in 2005 and entered into the force in 2008.  Korea was not required to reduce their emissions in any way, even so they went a step further and vowed that by 2020 they would be 30% below the business as usual (BAU) average.  Korea as a whole has embraced the problem of climate change and turned it into an opportunity to become a world leader in new and more efficient power distribution networks and solar technologies.  Korea fits in as being part of the solution not the problem.  They are not cutting production levels to bring their pollution levels down; instead they are finding better and greener ways of maintaining and increasing their levels of production. 

Korea’s idea of mitigation is a proactive technological solution to energy production for the rest of the world.  Wind energy would not work well there because the area is mostly mountainous, instead they get many days of sunshine which would be perfect solar energy.  With their specialty being the development and production of new high-tech products they are perfectly suited to create new types of solar solutions.  Their personal goals for the country far exceed the Kyoto protocol; by 2022, 10% of the country will be powered by solar.  The small island to the south of Korea will feel these impacts far sooner; the Korean government has decided to use the island for the development of new “smart grids,” these will distribute power more efficiently as well as having charging stations for electric cars.  

                Korea has solved its investment capital problem by becoming its own first customer.  KEPCO the national energy company has to follow the mandates set forth by their government so they are shopping around for a solar energy provider.  They can produce most things cheaper than buying from abroad so all they have to do is find an initial design that works for them and that sets the ball rolling.  The societal impacts of being the forerunner in green technology is huge.  If the Middle East has nothing but oil, imagine how rich the country that makes oil obsolete will become.  Koreans as a culture will do great with the idea of sustainability, to them this is less of new world and more of an ever changing present and for being a very dense population they are a very clean and respectful people, towards others and towards the Earth and environment. 

Korea is one of the few places in the world where climate change can be an opportunity and a precipice to greatness.  There is a short list of countries who have gotten behind the solution to global climate change instead joining in the debate over global warming.  They only need to do what they are best at, have a deeply science based society with a fantastic ability for research and development and to produce that product cheaply, efficiently and make it durable.  If they hold firm to their vows to the UN and the environment, they literally have the power to save the world.

The beautiful and clean downtown Seoul.

Korea is not only about making the world a cleaner place but is dedicated to keeping their half of the peninsula as clean as possible. One example is recycling in Korea is not dividing things into one or two plastic totes and calling it good.  Korea has you sort your trash into 15 different categories; Metal- Tin and Aluminum, Glass- green, brown and clear, Paper- newspaper and cardboard, Plastic- Styrofoam, light plastic, hard plastic, plastic bags, sulfate, bottles, and in my year of being there I never figured out what you’re supposed to do with batteries.  Korea is fervent in its belief about what it can do to mitigate, adapt and like few others, profit from this experience; there is no doubt in my mind Korea will exceed and surpass all the goals it has laid for itself.

Blog Part 3
The overall consensus of the Regional Climate Projections is that precipitation and Temperature will go up.  In all seasons Precipitation is set to increase in Korea but the season effected the most will be winter.  Winter-time precipitation rates will increase in all Asian regions except central Asia.  Temperature will also increase over the next 100 years.  Asia with its extensive coastal areas will experience greater than average warming, an estimated 3.3C increase.  While there is consensus over the increase in heat and precipitation, there is less consensus between what the effects will be on the monsoonal flows.  Links have been found between Eurasian snow cover and monsoonal strength.  The less the snow cover the greater the monsoon strength.  On the other hand a weaker ocean circulation and high amounts of aerosols may have to opposite effect. 

The Impacts and Vulnerabilities of the East Asian region in the 2007 IPCC report are quite grim.  The availability of freshwater decreasing and the population increasing coupled with the higher standards of living will make fresh water a scarce commodity.  Coastal areas will be at a greater risk of flooding bringing with a higher risk of mortality due to diseases associated with flooding.  Crop yields in the area are projected to increase 20% by 2050 but with population growth, urbanization and industrialization may offset these gains.

The IPCC Executive Report on Asia is mixed with High Confidence and Medium Confidence markers for climate change.  The High Confidence effects are “Marine and Coastal ecosystems in Asia are likely to be affected by sea-level rise and temperature increases,” due to the mixture of fresh and saltwater in coastal areas, waters will become brackish and unable to support the life it once did.  “Future climate change is likely to continue to adversely affect the human health in Asia,” the increase in diseases associated with climate change and increase in the coastal water temperatures will increase the toxicity and abundance of Cholera.  And finally, “Multiple stresses in Asia will be compounded further due to climate change,” due to the urbanization, industrialization, and increased population will put further stresses on the fragile balance South Korea now has.

This photo shows the populations centers of  Korea
Picture stolen from http://www.cotf.edu/ete/images/modules/korea/Koreapopulation.gif

It seems that with the industrialization of South Korea there has been a domino effect of worsening climate change.  With more and more Koreans flocking to the cities and leaving the farms for the benefit of a higher quality of life that benefit comes at the cost of higher rates of consumption per person.  This rate of higher consumption creates more need that is being taken up by the increase in population.  East Asia's rate of food production is expected to increase over the next 40 years but there is no way of knowing it will be enough.  Also in neighboring regions food production is set to decrease creating a greater need in the region; hopefully this won't lead to conflict.

Picture stolen from http://www.indexmundi.com/graphs/population-pyramids/south-korea-population-pyramid-2012.gif

South Korea's Contribution to Climate Change

The CO₂ emissions have steadily increased in South Korea since it began industrialization after the Korean War.  There is a sudden decline in CO₂ emissions particularly liquid emissions that coincide with the Asian Stock Market Crash of 1997.

The Republic of Korea began emitting pollution during the Korean War most likely due to the large influx of war machines from the USSR, US and North Korea. 

South Korea started emitting even more pollution when it was being rebuilt into a more industrialized nation after the war.

The Carbon emissions per capita were at 3.21 metric tons or 68.29%, compared to the US’s at 4.7.  One of the main causes of this was that most Koreans didn't have cars until recently.  For the most part the population moves around on subways, buses, commuter trains and now bullet trains. 

The Republic of Korea ranks 23^rd in the world for amount of CO₂ emissions per capita compared the US which is ranked 12^th.

After personally seeing the scope and breadth of the Korean production sector I am a little surprised they are not higher on the list. 

Compared to the other countries on the graph South Korea ranks quite low.  The only country that ranked lower than it was Italy and only because there was a drop in production due to the Eurozone Debt Crisis. 

Per Capita Qatar is the biggest producer of CO₂ emissions at 10.94 metric tons per person; while in total China is producing 2,259,856 metric tons, its per capita number is only 1.68 metric tons per person because it has a lot more “per capita” than Qatar to divvy up all that CO₂. 

If the US and China are to be compared on a per capita basis then the US is more than twice the polluter that China is.  While China has over four times the population of the US, the US produces 64% the amount of pollution China does.  

The US has produced far more carbon emissions than any other industrialized nation.

In comparison with the US; no other country can reach half of the quantity of emissions that the US has produced since 1900.

These numbers differ from the Keeling Curve in the way that the Keeling Curve is a record of total carbon levels in different times of the year.  Carbon emissions over a period enter the air-stream and only add to the Keeling curve over time.  The carbon cycle takes time so emission accumulates over time, making the Keeling Curve grow over time at an increased rate.