Cho Myung-rae, president of the Korea Environment Institute, receives a call at his office in Sejong on Oct. 5, 2018. President Moon Jae-in nominated him as new environment minister earlier in the day. (Yonhap)
As the Chinese continue to destroy the ocean floor to build man made islands to build military bases and over fish the South China Sea, the world’s leading environmental groups have next to nothing to say about this. The reason for this is not surprising and an example of how phony many of these major environmental organizations are:
So why didn’t they utter a peep about China’s degradation of the South China Sea?
Knowing when to keep their mouths shut seems to be the price these organizations must pay to enjoy the good will of Beijing. It’s one thing to offer respectful criticism over Chinese fishing subsidies within the bounds that the Communist Party tolerates as a social safety valve. But it’s another matter entirely to condemn the crimes that China is committing in the South China Sea, a position that would infuriate the Politburo.
Greenpeace, Conservation International and the WWF all have offices in China. The WWF’s programs to protect the giant panda drive donations globally, and well-heeled do-gooders pay $10,000 per person for panda safaris in Sichuan. Mr. Gomez of the University of the Philippines laments, “Sad but true, money talks.”
As the WWF notes on its website, it operates in China “at the invitation of the Chinese government.” But invitations can be withdrawn. With dozens of Chinese nationals employed on the mainland by the WWF, Greenpeace and Conservation International, the NGOs’ operations in the Middle Kingdom are hostage to the whims of the Party. [The Wall Street Journal]
The other thing not mentioned in this article is that if groups like Sea Shepherd began operations to interfere with the Chinese dredging and overfishing of the South China Sea the Chinese government would likely have little tolerance for it and imprison the protesters.
Compare the reaction to Japanese whaling of non-endangered minke whales that is closely regulated by an international body to the Chinese destruction of the South China Sea in violation of an international court ruling. The hypocrisy from major environmental organizations is astounding.
The activist group Green Korea United has launched another attack on USFK:
At least 90 incidents of oil leaks have taken place inside U.S. military installations in Yongsan, civic groups said Monday, suspecting U.S. Forces Korea of concealing massive contaminations of bases located in central Seoul.
The Green Korea United, an environmental group, Minbyun, also known as Lawyers for a Democratic Society, and a group of Yongsan residents held a joint press conference on Monday and made public their analysis into reports of oil leaks inside the Yongsan military bases from 1990 to 2015. They obtained the reports in November last year by demanding disclosure by the U.S. Defense Department in July last year using the Freedom of Information Act.
They said a total of 84 oil leaks at the main post and transportation division of Yongsan Garrison and nearby Camp Kim and Camp Coiner were documented in the Pentagon records. The number is far larger than the 13 oil leaks so far made public by the National Assembly and media. The Korean official record says there were five oil leaks between 1990 and 2015.
The civic groups also said the Pentagon data was missing six oil leaks that were made public in Korea. Adding them up, at least 90 oil leaks took place, they said. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
So Green Korea has had this information since November and decided now to publish it? Were they waiting until after President Park was impeached to push this issue? Additionally how many of these leaks are just small scales leaks such as someone doing maintenance on a vehicle and having oil accidentally spill out? According to the article only 7 of the 90 leaks were major. It seems Green Korea is inflating the leak number just like in the past the USFK crime rate in Korea was inflated by activist groups by including parking tickets.
Using environmental groups to attack USFK is something that has long been used by the Korean left. The most outrageous example has to be the ridiculous 2000 Yongsan Water Dumping Incident. These environmental groups have primarily focused on stopping the relocation of US bases from the 2nd Infantry Division area and Seoul. Of interest is that the 2006 Il Shim Hue spy scandal uncovered that North Korean operatives were infiltrating the ROK environmental movement to inspire more anti-US sentiment. After the spy scandal was uncovered the environmental groups kept a lower profile with their anti-US activities especially with the election of President Lee. I guess we will see in the coming months if the anti-US activist groups will feel more emboldened to attack USFK over issues like this.
As we have seen in the past in South Korea, the anti-US activists like to use the environmental card to bash the US military with. The Japanese government is getting out in front of this issue by getting this agreement in place that allows them to have personnel on US military bases to monitor environmental issues:
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter listens as Japan’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Fumio Kishida makes brief remarks during a signing ceremony of the “Agreement to Supplement the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) on Environmental Stewardship” at the Pentagon Sept. 24, 2015. GLENN FAWCETT/DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
The U.S. and Japan signed an accord Monday that will permit Japanese access to U.S. military facilities in Japan for environmental surveys.
The agreement – signed at the Pentagon by U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida – supplements the long-standing Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement that allows the United States to maintain military bases in Japan. While this does not officially amend the SOFA, it is the first such bilateral supplement to the agreement since its implementation in 1960, according to a defense official who was speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter. [Stars & Stripes]
I like this type of engagement with North Korea where reforesting the environment is beneficial to both sides, however Seoul should not have agreed to pay for their studies in Germany. Instead they should have offered them to train in South Korea. If the Kim regime can afford nuclear weapons and ICBMs, they can afford to send their own scholars to school in Germany. By the way I guess this guy won’t be going to training in Germany:
Seoul plans to provide funding for North Korean forestry specialists to study in Germany, a U.S. news report said Saturday, in its latest effort to restore deforested mountains in the North.
Under the plan, South Korea will help around 30 North Korean experts study in Germany by providing US$70,000, according to the Voice of America (VOA), which cited the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
The specialists will visit Germany in four batches between September and November. Germany, with forests covering one-third of its area, has one of the world’s leading forestry industries. [Korea Times]
Not that Greenpeace has much creditability, but they are primarily blaming South Korea for air pollution over the peninsula instead of China:
Greenpeace challenged a common perception among Koreans that most air pollution comes from China, Wednesday, claiming that Korea is responsible for more than half of its particle-laden smog.
“Despite what is widely reported through the Korean media, from 50 to 70 percent of particle-laden smog, which is also known as PM2.5, is generated within the country,” the environmental group said at a press conference in Seoul.
“Yet the Korean government irresponsibly passes the blame on to China without having any strategies to tackle the problem itself.”
Greenpeace claim that the government has little understanding of PM2.5, which results in policies that will continue to increase pollution.
Greenpeace said that among all sources of air pollution, the nation’s 53 coal power plants should be identified for action
“But the government plans to build 13 more coal plants by 2021, while 11 are under construction,” Greenpeace said. “We wonder why the government remains passive in developing renewable energy sources.”
Greenpeace states that Korea relies on coal plants for 39 percent of its energy production and is the fourth biggest coal importer in the world. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but if they are talking every day air pollution then of course South Korea is primarily responsible. However, if they are trying to infer that the yellow dust is primarily caused by South Korea than that is deceptive. Most of the health problems from air pollution happen in Korea because of the seasonal yellow dust that indisputably comes from China.
The worst winter seasonal yellow dust in five years blanketed the Korean Peninsula on Monday, prompting the authorities to issue health warnings against the sandy, chemical-laden wind from China.
According to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), yellow dust warnings were issued at 10 a.m. in Incheon, Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and part of Gangwon Province with dust advisories in place for most other parts of the peninsula except some southeastern cities, including Busan and Ulsan.
The dust warnings in the capital area were to be lowered to advisories at 4 p.m. as the number of fine dust particles gradually decreased.
A yellow dust advisory is issued when an hourly average dust concentration of more than 400 micrograms per cubic meter is expected to last for more than two hours. More than 800 micrograms leads to a yellow dust warning.
People are advised to stay indoors when yellow dust advisories or warnings are in place. When going outside, they are advised to wear protective glasses and yellow-dust masks.
As of 4 a.m., Seoul’s atmospheric concentration levels of “particulate matter (PM)-10” pollutants soared to 1,044 micrograms per cubic meter. This marks the worst yellow dust that has hit the peninsula during a winter season since Dec. 25, 2009, when the level recorded 963 micrograms. [Yonhap]
I have always wondered how much of an effect on weather patterns that the yellow dust has in the region and there are actually scientists trying to figure that out. In fact these scientists think the increase in yellow dust could be responsible for up to 80% of global warming. Here is a map with satellite measurements of the yellow dust reaching the US:
For those that don’t know the yellow dust gets blown in from the Gobi desert where overgrazing of grassland is turning large areas of it into desert. To make matters worse a lot of industrial pollutants from China’s factories are dumped in the desert and contribute to the amount of air pollutants that get blown over neighboring countries. This is a provable man-made environmental catastrophe which little is done about.
Jeff Stith of the National Center for Atmospheric Research communicated with reporters via Web chat from a research jet flying 40,000 feet above the ocean as part of a mission to track dust and pollution particles blown from Asia to the United States.
“We have found enhancements in pollution levels in some of the upper regions of the storm clouds we studied, just yesterday for example,” Stith wrote.
Stith and his ground-based colleague, V. Ramanathan of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, aimed to study the interaction between the pollution and dust with high-altitude clouds bearing ice crystals.
Ice crystals are found in extremely cold clouds, and when the crystals are composed entirely of frozen water, they reflect lots of sunlight — that’s why these clouds look so white, Ramanathan said by telephone after the Web chat.
However, if particles of dust and a dark pollutant known as black carbon managed to get inside the crystals, these clouds might absorb more solar energy rather than reflecting it all, Ramanathan said.
You can see interviews with the two scientists here and here, but they say the significance of this dust mixed with Asian pollution blowing across the Pacific, is that they believe it effects weather patterns by influencing precipitation levels once the clouds reach the US. They also believe the dust and pollution is possible for anywhere from 20%-80% of global warming.
Here is computer enhanced image of the dust and pollution crossing the ocean from the PACDEX website:
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It seems like the dust has been getting worse nearly every year, maybe some of you Korea old-timers can verify if the dust was as bad 20-30 years ago as it is now. It will be interesting to see what the scientists findings are once they complete their research.
