"Dear Korea" is a new label that I will be using on my blog for posts that refer to the strange, sometimes unexplainable things that I witness daily in Korea. Most of these posts will have to do with the seemingly complete unawareness of the Korean public to their environmental destruction. I do not believe that Koreans conscientiously harm the environment, I believe that the government has not had a chance to promote the urgency of environmental concern and awareness. I am confident that if the Korean public was educated about the importance of environmental sustainability that things in this country would quickly be set in motion.
Having lived in South Korea for the past 15 months (with another 9 to go) I have been able to immerse myself in the culture and have found that at times it is easy to forget that South Korea only recently became a developed nation. All of the major cities are saturated with in-your-face North American brands and mass consumerism runs rampant. However, if you are here long enough you begin to see past the shiny exterior; the not so pleasant smell of open sewage and burning garbage, the visible air pollution, and undrinkable tap-water. Korea is one of the fastest developing countries and has the fourteenth biggest economy in the world. Everywhere you turn enormous stretches of land are being bulldozed to put up yet another mass apartment complex. With all of the hasty developement there is bound to be environmental consequences; here I will do my best to research the topics that I think are the most problematic. 
1 comments:
these will be interesting reads... hopefully we won't feel too helpless while living here. at least koreans re-use grocery bags and sort their garbage/recycling! :)
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