A very green EXPO 2012

The Vancouver Winter Olympics were promoted as the most sustainable ever...EXPO 2010 in Shanghai was promoted as the most sustainable ever...(and it certainly was innovative with its vacuum powered garbage collection, use of solar energy, net zero buildings and displays, etc.) Now EXPO 2012 in Yeosu is promoting sustainability in numerous ways, not only related to the oceans and coastal life...since a green future is evident in virtually every pavilion.

Some of the things that impressed me were the use of seaweed and other marine resources to generate power; Denmark's proposals for wind power, efforts to ban non-biodegradable plastic bags; Singapore's integrated approach to garbage recycling, collection and disposal, the approach by all Korean companies to become greener...LG's living is green...and the efforts of various Korean cities to be greener...words like Ecopolis, EcoCity permeate the site and displays.

 There were no vehicles permitted in the electric site, but outside the site I found a new fuel cell Hyundai, electric buses, and a new tram that runs on batteries.  Some parking areas for the new MVL Hotel (Most Valuable Life) are constructed from reinforced grass as are others around the site.
 New housing at EXPO general features many lights on timers and motion detectors (we're not doing this very much except in very limited situations) and various approaches to energy and water conservation (although toilets do have spritzers and showers often feature multi-heads!)
While Vancouver strives to become the greenest city in the world, I can't help but think we have a long way to go, not only compared with the Europeans, but now many Asian cities like Seoul.  And one of the longlasting benefits of this EXPO may be a generation of much more environmentally aware Koreans.