"This summer is exceptionally hot."

In the news, this summer’s heat wave has been talked about the most. Every day the temperature is going up and it doesn’t look like it’s going to go down. The continuous heat wave makes people exhausted around the country. With temperatures of nearly 35 to 36 degrees every day, and even local temperatures going up to 40 degrees, we cannot say this heat wave is like any we’ve experienced before. Early this summer, there was not only the heat wave but also a long drought causing trouble for people.It is said that people don’t know the reason for the heat wave, but in fact the earth is getting warmer and we have been given forewarning.

In this hot weather, which could melt many things, we tend to make the inevitable choice: We rely on the air conditioner. People can adjust the environment when they press the button of the air conditioner. But it causes a vicious circle. Carbon dioxide from the air conditioner makes the Earth hotter, and eventually the hot weather comes back as a boomerang.

There is an exhibition concerned with global warming and public awareness. It is called GREEN SUMMER, and is being celebrated for the fifth year.Many people participated in a variety of exhibits, including the Graduate School of Design and Kookmin University Green Design. Professor Ho-seob Yoon said at the opening: "This is a special place where everybody can be themselves; like kids, adults, writers, and amateurs without classification."

The place where the exhibition was held is meaningful. COEX Gallery Aqua, located right next to the COEX Aquarium is the area for non-profit art exhibition activities. This is already the fifth time Green Summer has been held there. COEX has an advantage in that there are many floating inhabitants and COEX allows the green movement to spread out further.

There were a lot of kids holding their mother’s hand at the aquarium. Green Summer is always concerned with the next generation. Children coming into the showroom found many works made for the next generation.

Professor Ho-seob Yoon said: "I felt five years fly by. What happens next is up in the air. The next location is scheduled to be at an exit of Subway Line 9. I feel happy to hold an exhibition with good meaning at a good place. GREEN SUMMER will continue regardless of the place. We need to hold GREEN SUMMER continuously, so we will conduct this exhibition wherever we are allowed toalong the road.

Eun-ji Kim (Department ofPolitical ScienceandDiplomacy, ‘10) who came to see this exhibition said: “I met a professor from another exhibit about the environment. After discussing with him, I felt the environment is our common matter and we have to try to solve this issue in life. I was inspired by the things that I have to do for the environment.”

In the exhibition, there were previously viewed works along with new works.“Same Mind asChildren” is the work containing environmental messages from 75 children. The environment they drew was the image of a suffering Earth. This environment is the one we will turn over to our children.

The thing that attracted my attention at the Green Summer exhibition was the ‘tape ball’.I have seen more than one ball in all the GREEN SUMMER exhibitions from 2003- 2012. Someone said it is a ‘thankful’ ball which caused him to look back into the past, and others made and recommended making one because they are easy to make. There were also family members who made a tape ball named “Fire to Save the Earth”. No matter who made a tape ball, their idea of helping the Earth was the still the same.  

As time goes by, there are many signs that show us that the Earth is threatened, like the Fukushima earthquake in 2011. The sight of the famous character 'Hello kitty' whose hair was melting caught my eye. It was a work to warn us of the dangers of nuclear power.

Many people have changed their thinking about nuclear power after the nuclear accidents caused by the Fukushima earthquake. They have finally realized the seriousness and danger. People tend to recognize the importance after something happens. Various things relating to nuclear plants, such as the objection to construct nuclear power plants and demanding for nuclear plant closure were discussed. Consciousness that if the city reduces power requirements, there is no need to construct power plants in rural areas anymore is growing, so people’s interest about saving power is also growing. Making radioactive contamination at a nuclear power station is like feeding poison to the next generation. 

Green design did not miss this idea. Professor Ho-seob Yoon designed a poster for reducing nuclear power plants near Seoul as a talent donation. The poster can be seen easily on busses or on the street. He believes design has the power to make people practice something beginning from small things. Through this, he wants people to look back at their spending on food, clothing, and shelter which could reduce energy consumption. 

Countless cows and pigs were buried in the ground because of the foot and mouth disease outbreak in 2010. There is no life which is not valuable. Minor problems caused the foot and mouth disease tragedy because people regarded them lightly.

This attitude is also ingrained in how we treat our environment. So “Pet Bottles Watering Can”has the meaning that we should never forget animals killed by people. There were animal faces on the pet bottle, and a tear shaped hole right below the eye. If you use this watering can, tears flow down the animal’s face.

Mr. Kim, Sung-ra, the designer of the watering can said: “I originally tried tears of polar bears, but I changed it to the animals which are closer to us. Recently, I heard a story of an isolated otter because of the Four-Rivers project, so I am thinking about making an otter water sprinkler. I decided on this project after watching the video about animals being buried alive when the foot-and-mouth disease broke out. Two years ago, the story was symbolic, for carnivores, as well as for reflecting our attitude. You might not be concerned with the numbers, but animals similar in number with the population of Busan died in the last foot-and-mouth disease outbreak. It has symbolic significance even if it was two years ago. Also, I want to consider taking an attitude against a meat diet."

I’m sure you are aware how the word 'we' is different to each person. 'We' means ‘you’ and ‘I’ to some, and ‘family’, ‘country’, or ‘nation’ to others. However, the 'we' in the area of Green means every living thing breathing oxygen together at this moment. Green Design’s Green aims at all of us.

“Ecology Flags” indicates this lesson as the meaning of ‘Me + Us + Ecology + Life = Earth’, using natural dyed green ramie fabric with trees, animals and a large ecosystem.

As Korean’s coffee consumption is increasing exponentially every year, disposable cup usage has also increased. There are advantages in that they’re easy to use but there are inconvenient truths in disposable cups. The quantity of disposable cups used by our nation’s total population is more than 12 billion and the cost of making them is around 100billion won per year. CO2 levels from paper cups are around 132,000 tons, and we have to plant 47,250,000 trees to absorb this CO2 every year.

Polyethylene, which is harmful for the human body, is used in disposable cups as an internal coating material. If it melts in the high temperature of the liquid contents, hormones and carcinogens will enter our bodies as if mixed in the drinks. So now there are many discounts offered when you use your ownpersonal cup at the café, both for the environment and our health. 

In this perspective, “Original Green Cup” is valuable work. Original Green Cup combineswith coffee bean residue and reduces the amount of the thermoplastic resin. Thus it decreases the amount of plastic and CO2, which are a significant cause of environmental pollution in mass production. This cup really thinks about the environment. It is an environment-oriented cup and also its design is elegant so it is worthwhile to have.

In the Green Design world, there were many works filled with creative ideas. A representative work was 'Share,then your pleasure will be doubled.’ There are many people who cannot afford even the school supplies around us, so it talks about sharing school supplies with others. ‘HALF + HALF’ pencils and notebooks were designed so people must divide them, making them available to all. It can help people naturally share things.

There was a time where the advertisement: ‘It’s just only me’ was very popular. Additionally, it emphasized for people to have a consciousness like ‘Even me...’. ‘Many drops make a shower’ applies to both ads.  
Throwing garbage started from ‘It’s just only me’ growing the city into huge mountains of trash, but ‘Even me’ makes the Earth cleaner and better. The future of the earth is in our hands.