Guest Post: Claire Y., South Korea

I am 17 years old, and I live in Seoul, South Korea. Berkshire School, which is a boarding school in the States, where I stay for education. After taking world history based on an environmental point of view, I have realized that climate change is a man-made consequence triggering from the Industrialization. Because it is what we made, I believe we can also mitigate it, if one starts actively talking about the consequences today and in the future.

Similar to other regions, in South Korea, the impacts of climate change are now undeniable. Summers are longer and hotter, bringing unmanageable heat waves whenever we try to take a stroll. Weather patterns are also more unpredictable: floods, a shortage of rain, forest fires, and dry air affect our lives every day. These impacts on my community also motivate people who are interested in alleviating the issues to take action.

--Claire

What You Fail To Realize

By Claire Y.

"Today I don't feel like doing anything..I just wanna lay in my bed..."

You sing this song in the shower, acting as if you are Bruno Mars holding a concert. Tomorrow, you become Rihanna. The next day, Ariana Grande, aiming to pull off that high, dolphin-like note in the shower. You realize you feel sudden ecstasy when singing while cleansing your body.

What you fail to realize is the water that is dropping down from the shower head to the floor and then to the sewer. In American households, about 2.5 gallons of water flow in a minute. If you decide to use that time to perform your singing, you end up wasting about 7 gallons of water (if the average minute of a song is about three minutes long). Those 7 gallons of water don't just magically appear in your showerhead. They are pumped and heated-all requiring energy that often comes from burning fossil fuels. Burning these fuels releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, trapping heat and accelerating global warming. There is another time when we waste energy but fail to recognize it: leaving the lights on. Your

mom would have told you something like,

"Make sure to turn the lights off before you head to school," or, "Oh god, turn those lights off; our electricity bill!"

Your parents might associate light waste with wasting money, but what they don't usually associate with is how it wastes electricity-the same electricity that heats the water: fossil fuels. The burnt fuels release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. 6% of lighting in the United States causes lighting waste. So the light left glowing in your empty room?

It contributes to global warming. As the waste of electricity contributes to global warming, you can't just sit back and think, "Well, we have a natural source that consumes carbon dioxide-trees." Yes, forests are natural filters; they absorb the gases and cool the planet. But the papers you use at your school, the tissues that you pull out to dry your hands, or the boxes that you use when you move around houses all require cutting down trees.

Our only helpers that keep the earth cool for the ecosystem and for you, for us, for humans. Your shower concerts, forgotten lights, and cut-down trees connect to a larger issue. As the amount of carbon dioxide builds up, icebergs melt, taking the homes of arctic animals. The melted ice raises the sea level, as if they are aiming to drown communities in coastal regions. And soon, it's not just distinct ecosystems or faraway households that suffer. It's every living creature on earth, including you and me. Climate change stems from how we live, responsibly or inconsiderately. Using a necessary amount of time for a shower, turning off lights when you're not in a room, and not overusing paper

products may seem insignificant, but they matter.

They are the first steps we can take to protect our only home before it is too late.