Gyeongbuk Province Joins Earth Day Lights-Out Event ... Over 500 Public Institutions and Apartment Complexes Participate

Before and after the lights were turned off at the Gyeongbuk Provincial Government Office.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Dong-guk] Gyeongbuk Province will hold a lights-out event by turning off all the lights in the provincial government building on the 22nd to mark the ‘52nd Earth Day’.

The lights-out event will take place for 10 minutes starting at 8 p.m. that evening, and about 20 local landmarks including 23 city and county government buildings, 290 public institutions, 200 apartment complexes, Gumi Tower, and Andong Wolyeonggyo Bridge will participate together.

This event is held to raise awareness of the increasingly serious climate issues and to promote low-carbon lifestyle practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The lights-out event is a global environmental performance that began in Sydney, Australia in 2007, and has been implemented nationwide in South Korea since 2009.

Gyeongsangbuk-do will operate the 14th Climate Change Week from Earth Day on the 22nd until the 28th to raise awareness of the seriousness of the climate crisis and the importance of practicing carbon neutrality.

During this period, various citizen participation campaigns such as going to work without a single day off at public institutions in each city and county, and a vegetable DAY for one meal for the Earth will be intensively promoted. In particular, the province plans to actively promote the Carbon Point System, which the government is focusing on.

The ‘Carbon Point System’ is a national greenhouse gas reduction practice system that provides incentives (cash or gift certificates) if electricity, water, and city gas usage in households and buildings is reduced by 5% or more compared to the past two years.

Also, on the 21st, about 80 employees from the Provincial Environment, Forestry and Resources Bureau will carry out environmental cleanup campaigns at Songpyeon Ecological Stream and Geommusan Mountain, and promote carbon-neutral lifestyle practices around the new provincial government city area.

Choi Young-sook, head of the Provincial Environment, Forestry and Resources Bureau, said, “As the nature protection movement that started at Gumi Geumosan Mountain has spread into a nationwide movement, Gyeongbuk is the mecca of environmental protection movements in Korea. Now, overcoming the climate crisis through practicing carbon neutrality by 2050 is not a choice but a necessity. I hope the 10-minute lights-out event will be an important opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of the Earth and the need for a low-carbon eco-friendly lifestyle.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.