EcoCiv Korea 2019 Events

EcoCiv President, Philip Clayton and Executive Vice President, Andrew Schwartz joined our EcoCiv Korea leaders Gunna Jung and Yunjeong Han for four consecutive events in September and October. First was the 2nd Transition City Seoul conference on the theme, “Beyond GDP Toward Ecological Transition.”  In collaboration with Mayor Park Wonsoon and the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Prof. Gunna Jung was the principle organizer of this conference which brought together about 30 world-renowned environmental, social, and economic experts, including Helena Norberg-Hodge and Mark Anielski, and some 300 Seoul citizens to discuss holistic measures of economic success beyond GDP. The event culminated in a joint declaration signed by Park Wonsoon, Mayor of Seoul and Cho Heeyeon, 

Superintendent of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. The declaration “Ecological Civilization Transition City, Seoul” expresses commitment by these leaders and their offices to promote cooperation and joint efforts supporting future generations in the era of climate crisis.

The second conference, “Ecological Transition: From Philosophy to Policy,” was designed by Yunjeong Han and co-sponsored by the Office of the Prime Minister and Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, among others. Connecting philosophy to policy (and vice versa) is an important strategy for giving deep roots to systems of actions, which this EcoCiv Korea conference demonstrated is central to the foundations of an ecological civilization. 

The third event was a short symposium in partnership with the Four-Boroughs District of Northeast Seoul titled, “Culture City Dobong Connection Symposium: Locally-Rooted Urban Culture.” Andrew Schwartz and Jay McDaniel contributed to discussions on rethinking culture as fundamental for building an ecological civilization.

The final EcoCiv Korea event for Fall 2019 was a closed-door workshop with a select group of 30 leaders from various sectors, including education, NGOs, and government. The 1 ½ day “Deep Dive” workshop, lead by Andrew and Philip along with Gunna and Yunjeong, was inspired by EcoCiv’s cooperation with A Mindset for the Anthropocene (AMA), a program of the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam, Germany. An experiential foray into vision thinking, design thinking, and project thinking, this highly collaborative workshop was predominantly done in Korean language.

Building upon these successful events, plans are already underway for EcoCiv Korea 2020 events. Be on the lookout for more details.