To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Earth Day, the Ministry of Environment (Minister Cho Myung-rae) will hold the 12th Climate Change Week from April 22nd to 28th, providing various events to promote low-carbon lifestyles that can reduce greenhouse gas emission.

※ The Earth Day: Originated from the memorial event of a massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California (1969), held by a Senator (Gaylord Nelson) and a college student (Denis Hayes) on April 22nd, 1970. In Korea, civil environmental organizations started celebrating the day from 1995 and the government of Korea has been holding the Climate Change Week since 2009.

The theme for this year is 'SOS, Climate Action! Let's Save Our Planet', calling for our immediate action to reduce greenhouse gas emission to respond to the distress signal from the earth.

This year, Korea Climate & Environment Network and the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute will provide various events to raise awareness of climate change and promote greenhouse gas reduction.

The events will mainly be provided online due to the current trend of social distancing in preventing the spread of COVID-19.

A dedicated website for this year's Climate Change Week (www.climateweek.kr) will be online until May 10th, which will provide various contents including a virtual famous painting exhibition, various experience programs, and low-carbon lifestyle information to encourage people's climate action.

Climate Change AR Famous Painting Exhibition takes five famous paintings from the Joseon Dynasty ('Taking a rest after reading books' by Jeong Seon, 'Boating on a clear river' by Sin Yun-bok, etc.) as examples to explain today's climate crisis. 

※ Augmented Reality (AR): A technology to provide additional information by adding virtual images or videos over the actual scenery being captured by a smartphone's camera and shown on the screen.

Climate Change AR Experience provides an AR experience of saving polar bears on a melting iceberg by walking on a treadmill on a virtual stage to restore the ice.

The ministry will upload a video clip of Minister Cho on the website for the Climate Change Week. He will experience the climate change AR content at 'Dodream', a climate change education center in Suwon, on April 22nd.

※ Currently Dodream is closed temporarily because of COVID-19. The AR content will be open for the public after the temporarily closing.

Also, there will be many other noticeable contents to promote people's participation in climate action to reduce greenhouse gas.

The website will feature a video on low-carbon actions in our daily lives, a song about climate crisis which used the song 'Spring Summer Fall Winter' with alternative lyrics, and a new version of the song 'Baby Shark' with the lyrics about the rules for low-carbon lifestyles.

In particular, many celebrities, such as Song Seung-heon, Seol-hyun, Kim Bo-ra, Paul Kim, Kim Jong-jin, Xenex, Um Hong-gil, and Jeong Se-rang, joined forces for the video calling for low-carbon action.

The website will provide special emoticons (for message apps) on a first-come, first-served basis for the visitors who promised to practice low carbon activities, e.g. separating the recyclable waste and using public transportation. Also, the website will offer many other events to promote people's participation, including handing out electronic vouchers.

The people who use the Green Card will enjoy additional benefits, including the discount of charging fees for electric and hydrogen-powered cars*, from April 22nd to December 31st.

* 50 percent discount of charging fees, and five times more savings of the Eco-money Point from buying eco-friendly products

To raise awareness of daily low carbon activities, a nationwide light-off event will be held from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on April 22nd. Participating buildings will turn the light off simultaneously during the hours.

The event will be joined by 2,484 public organizations (including the Government Complex Sejong), 1,973 apartment houses, and 191 corporate buildings and local landmarks (including Hwaseong Haenggung Palace in Suwon, Gwangandaegyo Bridge in Busan).

Furthermore, many other online events* will be held by local governments, civil and public organizations during the week. 

* Pledge for low carbon activities in our daily lives, climate change photo exhibition, promotion of eco-friendly commuting options, etc.

"Although fighting COVID-19 has become our number one priority, we must face climate crisis at the same time with the same sense of emergency," stated Minister Cho. "We can take climate crisis as an opportunity for the transition towards a carbon neutral and green society. We hope this year's Climate Change Week draw everyone's attention and promote their participation in low-carbon lifestyles."