Rock Lee (13, Seoul, South Korea) is an environmental activist who believes that anyone can change the world in 15 minutes. Rock started an environmental group called Earth Kids Foundation that organizes weekly clean-ups around the Han River Park in Seoul and educates the community about environmental protection. To support his environmental campaign, Rock unleashed his art skills and created a series of cartoons called “Earth Kids – Ricky and Picky” explaining environmentally responsible behavior in a fun, creative way.
Rock became environmentally aware after seeing a lot of food waste in the Han River Park in 2013. The Han River is a major source of water for 12 million people living in Seoul. Biking, walking or simply enjoying the park scenery is a favorite past-time for the majority of Seoul inhabitants. Observing food waste piling up in the recycling bins around the area made an impact on Rock, who decided to take a stand on the issue for the communal benefit of his fellow Seoulites. Now, every Sunday, he leads a group of students who clean up one of the areas of the Han River Park and engages more and more people in environmental stewardship. Given his past volunteer experiences at local non-profit organizations, Rock quickly turned Save the Han River into a successful communal project for environmental protection in Seoul.
Rock Lee reaches out to young people in Korea and across the globe by delivering public talks and participating in a variety of environmental conferences and seminars. He plans to expand Save the Han River to different parts of the park and develop an application where Ricky and Picky from his cartoon series will educate youth about environmental issues through games.