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Eco Celebrities of Korea

AD Motors' Change, an electric car.
(Source: https://twitter.com/eco_jini)

An eco-celebrity is a celebrity who has publicly embraced a lifestyle that is eco-conscious and environment friendly.

Leading examples include Hollywood stars such as Angelina Jolie, Tobey Maguire, Julia Roberts, and Audrey Hepburn.

Korea is not without its share of nature-loving celebrities. Here's a good chance to get to know a couple of them a little better.

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1. Park Jin-hee: Glamorous Actress Living an Eco-friendly Life

Park Jin-hee is one of the most sought-after-actresses in Korea, active on both television and film. Her online persona, however, is much closer to an environmental activist than a glamorous starlet.

Her Twitter feeds are rich with information on how to make your own soap, how to make eco-friendly socks using a traditional Korean paper known as hanji, and how to avoid using disposable cups.

This humble eco-conscious actress always carries a handkerchief in her bag instead of disposable facial tissues. She also carries durable forks and spoons and a tumbler. Park even raises two chickens at her home for their organic eggs. She has also installed a solar energy charger on her rooftop to generate electricity for her household. On top of all that, she drives an electric car.

AD Motors' Change, which is the model Park drives, is an eco-friendly vehicle developed with Korean technology. Park has endorsed the vehicle as part of her ongoing campaign for eco-friendlier lifestyles.

Regarding the solar energy system installed on her rooftop, 50 percent of its cost was covered by an energy-saving subsidy from the government. The innovative rooftop generates enough electricity to power her whole household. (For more information about government's new renewable energy related housing business, visit: http://www.kemco.or.kr/new_eng/main/main.asp)

In 2009, Park made an appearance on an environment-themed documentary, A Week for Polar Bears, along with the singer Lee Hyun-woo-I.

Park is an exemplary eco-celebrity who bicycles frequently and raises her own chickens.
(Source: http://www.imbc.com/broad/tv/culture/mbcspecial/commingsoon/1754035_27375.html)

The documentary followed the two celebrities as they sought to live a week without generating any carbon emissions, conscious of the increasingly worrisome signs of global warming. Park tried a number of lifestyle changes throughout that week, including shunning automobiles altogether, using candle light at night instead of lamps and light bulbs, turning off her refrigerator, and even stopped using her toothbrush. After her stint on the documentary, Park began to raise her own chickens, having realized that she really enjoyed living an eco-friendlier and slower lifestyle. 

2. Korea's Fashionista Publishes a Book on Environmental Protection

Kong Hyo-jin, one of the most popular actresses and models in Korea and widely praised for her beauty and impeccable sense of style, has acted in dozens of films that broke box offices and impressed critics. This model fashionista has even written a book and its theme is not fashion but environmental protection.

(Source: http://www.bookhouse.co.kr)

The book is pleasantly modest, self-revelatory, and authentic in a manner no one would have guessed from a glamorous celebrity like Kong.

Kong relays how she came to appreciate nature while growing up and studying in Australia. In an earnest style, she writes of the importance of saving energy, which she has come to realize as an adult living by herself. She also writes about the sense of attachment she feels toward her pets and plants. The book explains, in a gentle and sisterly manner, how we can protect nature in small, yet significant ways. These include:

ž-Unplugging appliances when not in use;
-Going grocery shopping with other single friends, buying bulk, and then dividing it up amongst yourselves;
ž-Keeping eco-friendly grocery bags at your home;
ž-Reusing or refurbishing out-of-date or worn-out things instead of simply throwing them away;
ž-Spending as little time as possible in the shower.

Kong starred in Yim Soon-rye's 2010 movie, "Rolling Home with a Bull". Lim is not only a respected filmmaker, but is also the president of the Korea Animal Rights Advocates.

In the film, Kong's character travels for eight days and seven nights with a bull named Hansu. After spending two months shooting the movie and a lot of that time with the bull, Kong came to realize that even animals like bulls have their own thoughts, feelings, and will. The film marks a significant turning point in Kong's filmography.

(Source: http://movie.naver.com)

The environmental efforts of these two actresses inspire the public to become more conscious of the environment in their day-to-day activities and when making lifestyle choices. Living an eco-friendly lifestyle is not as hard or unstylish as one might imagine. These two beautiful women testify that we can all become better protectors of the planet by taking simple and small, yet significant steps toward embracing an eco-friendlier lifestyle.

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