Some weeks ago there was bad flooding in Gangneung. Cars were underwater, roads were closed, and the river deposited a large quantity of branches, reeds, and garbage on the river banks. The city mobilised large numbers of people to clean up the riverside paths and even the military showed up to help. (Korea has military conscription, so essentially has a free labour force to help with disasters, harvesting, and so on). All the dead plant material and garbage went into these large bags to be lifted by crane on to transport trucks to be taken away. It wasn’t long before I was able to ride my bicycle up and down the riverside cycling paths again. Good job, Gangneung City Hall!
Has the flooding been getting worse in recent years? Is there much awareness and concern about environmental issues in Korea?
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I don’t think the flooding has been getting worse, but there are clear signs of climate change. Summers are hotter and longer than before, fish species that once lived in this area are moving north to avoid the warming water temperatures, and fruit that was once only grown in the southern provinces are now being grown in the northern provinces as well. People are starting to think about the environment and the government are making noises about it, but no one is preventing farmers from covering entire fields in vinyl or telling supermarkets they can’t sell biscuits in hard plastic cases. And no one seems to be willing to give up their big Diesel SUVs. I guess it will take time.
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