The Korean Government Lites to Promote Carbon Neutrality?

BY WILLOW HWANG

The Korean Public Service Advertisment Council, also known as KOBACO, primarily run by the government, recently published an advertisement encouraging citizens to nurture environmentallyfriendly habits to promote their participation in meeting carbon neutrality. Considering how the threats of climate change have been very evident in recent natural disasters that hit Korea, and the country aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, the advertisement deserves praise for breaking down the challenging goal into small steps and making its feasibility appear optimistic. Unfortunately, claiming those habits as ‘the most certain method of achieving carbon neutrality’ is a horrible exaggeration:

Digital technology use habits

Delete old email conversations to reduce 4g of carbon for each one

There is a widespread myth saying that the carbon footprint of an average email is equivalent to 4 grams of carbon which can even go up to 50 grams if the email contains large attachments; while this claim may be accurate, it is wrong to say deleting an email would reduce carbon of the equivalent amount. According to BBC’s article ‘Climate change: Can sending fewer emails really save the planet?’, the carbon footprint of sending an email includes absolutely all sources of carbon emitted in the process, such as the generation of electricity for wi-fi, personal devices, Internet connection, and the network infrastructure, and even the construction of data center buildings. While each of them are valid source of carbon emissions, their adverse impact is present regardless of emails. Furthermore, deleting an email is associated with even fewer carbon emissions as it leaves behind the emissions in the sending process; storing an average email (75KB) on your personal device is only responsible for 0 0000002 grams of carbon

Power off your phone when you’re not using it

Lower the brightness of the screen to save up to 20% of the energy consumed

Reduce the use of mobile data and use wi-fi

Though they are all good ways to reduce the total carbon footprint of a mobile phone, according to Mike Berners-Lee’s book ‘How bad are bananas?’, about 80% of the carbon emission happens in the manufacturing process, and carbon emissions from mobile phones is only 1% of the world’s total carbon emissions However, these ways will be more relevant in the future as more people gain access to personal devices; still the most important point is to replace devices less often.

According to an average citizen’s carbon footprint, major areas of carbon emissions to consider are household energy use, buying foods and drinks, and transportation A few of the best ways to reduce carbon emissions are to insulate your home, switch to renewables and energy-efficient appliances, eat less meat, cycle more, and use public transportation (FutureLearn).

The media has been transmitting all kinds of information in various forms to call people to action in response to the exponential increase in greenhouse gas emissions; some try to exaggerate the severity of the issue to invoke the action, while others may understate the commitment required for change to attract more people. There is tension between a good cause and the upholding of truth. For their mutual existence, it is important that we as citizens care about being aware of various issues and truly understand the impact and implications of our actions toward resolving them. Taking responsibility is the best way to combat social issues.