"I am truly touched and honoured that my dojo and I have been given the great honour of being one of the first Green Dojos. I would also like to thank IJF President Marius Vizer and everyone in charge of Green Dojo, especially Larisa Kiss, who I have been in contact with over the past weeks to set up everything.
The reason this label is important to me is because it is concrete. I think there are many dojos and people who cannot show it through action but I wanted to show it. I wanted to show that if we start with small things like saving energy, saving water and separating waste, our future will be brighter.
I think it is closely related to the conservation of future resources. I want to show that the dojo I run is protecting and preserving the environment through small practices.
Saying that, I would like to also recommend this Green Dojo initiative to other clubs or dojos throughout the world. There may be dojos that are not yet environmentally prepared but I think it is not difficult if we prepare and practise small things, one by one.
Through Green Dojo, we can show the environmental stability of our dojo to students and their parents, and I plan to continue to provide inspiration through sustainable, eco-friendly practices.
My students and I are so grateful that our usual practices have been evaluated in this way. It is through small actions like riding a power-saving or water-saving bicycle to the dojo that we can achieve it. We are thinking about how we can create better results to save energy and promote environmental awareness.
Generally speaking, for the moment, it is not widely known and in many cases people don't know how to approach the issue of sustainability. In my opinion, it seems like people want to create big results immediately but I don't think it is feasible. If our small practices come together one by one, we can create good results overall.
To give you some examples, basically, we separate waste. We separate the recyclable and non-recyclable items such as PET bottles, glass bottles and paper cups. We also recommend using personal tumblers when drinking water. When there are no classes, I pay attention to energy conservation through power saving. I think that these actions are actions that anyone can do. That is why I would like to actively recommend everyone to do the same throughout their judo activities."
Eunsu Kim is motivated, an advocate of easy and small practices that can change the world. In a time where climate change becomes an evermore important issue that can threaten the existence of humanity, every one has a role to play. The Anyang Judo Gym is definitely showing the way.