JUWEONNAGO…

Subway Photos

// July 1st, 2009 // No Comments » // Environment

As promised, the pictoral evidence of my travels on Seoul’s public transportation.

July 12th, 2009

traveling by the "Red Bus"

There are three main types of public buses in Korea.  There are the green “ma-eul” bus (neighborhood buses), the blue “si-nae” bus (city buses that have a longer route) and the red “ja-suk” bus (the buses that go from city to city traveling usually on the expressway and the name of the buses literally mean “buses with seats” as you can see by the picture).

My frugal attempt at getting artistic….

tried to get artistic with a "reflection" shot. as you can see, I am no professional photographer.

July 6th, 2009

looking rough on Monday after another eventful weekend

You have no idea how badly I wanted to take my car to work this Monday.  After having a little too much fun all weekend long, my body craved to be driven in the privacy and comforts of my own car but I fought through the urge and got myself onto the public transport.  Did spend 3000 Won on taxi fare once I got to Seoul on the subway because I was late for work.

I also found out that it’s cheaper to get back home from Seoul on public transport than it is to get to Seoul but I’ll investigate this further on Wednesday

(Tuesdays are my car days because of scheduling conflicts).

July 2nd, 2009

Less people on the bus than the subway, a bit easier to smile for the camera.

I was so tempted to break my pledge today because it was raining like Noah was still alive today here in the Seoul and Gyeongi area, but luckily, as I was heading out the door for work, the sun peeked through just long enough to keep my commute a dry one.

One of the greatest things about the Seoul transportation system is that the local bus and subway systems have integrated pricing.  Let me explain…

The pay on public transportation systems are electronic and you have these little tiny “cards” that you scan as you go through the turnstiles on the subway or get on the bus, but the thing that is different about the Seoul system is that you also scan as you leave and if you transfer onto another form of public transportation within 15 minutes of exiting one, you get a discount (I’ll try to post a video of this pay system in the coming days).

So if I took the public transportation without this system in place:

Bus ride from my house to the my nearest subway station: 600 – 900 won depending on which bus I take.

Subway ride to Sadang station: 900 Won base fee plus 200 Won extra charge because I live outside of the Seoul city limits.

Bus ride to work from Sadang station: 900 Won

TOTAL:  2900 Won

With the Integrated Pricing Plan

Bus ride to my nearest subway station: 700 Won (got a student discount today because I think the bus driver thought I was a student because of my back pack)

Subway ride to Sadang station: 200 Won + 200 Won extra distance charge = 400 Won

Bus ride to work from Sadang station: 200 Won

Total: 1300 Won

FYI: at the current exchange rate – 1000 Korean Won = 79 CENTS U.S. (so it cost me about a $1 to travel 35km, not bad)

July 1st, 2009

I'm not really pissed, I swear.

I felt so weird taking a picture of myself on a packed subway so I tried to make it look like I was taking a “test” shot with my camera.  But damn, I look like I’m not a happy camper.

Oh yeah, my ultimate goal of helping the environment was an utter failure on this first day as I ran late for work so I had to take the cab twice.  After work, also guilty of taking the cap twice to meet certain appointments on time – like catching the last subway from Seoul to my house.  Never realized how much I “roamed around” in a day.  This month-long task might be a lot more difficult than I had previously imagined.

Subway Fee: 2800 Won

Bus Fee:  600 Won

Taxi Fee:  13,000 Won (more than the cost of gas that would have taken me everywhere I’ve gone today)

TOTAL:  16,400 Won

I’ll do better tomorrow.

Half Year Resolution

// July 1st, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Environment, Ramblings & Mumblings

It’s the start of July, 2009 is halfway over.  Time to go review what I’ve done so far and what I need to do in the 2nd half of the year to make 2009 a success.

When I began 2009, I made 5 New Year’s Resolutions.  They were:

1.  Take a vacation to paradise.

Looking out into the bay on Hamilton Island, Queensland, Australia

2.  Volunteer in the community maybe with some coaching like I used to.

the most rewarding job I've ever had and I didn't even get paid.

3.  Do my part for the environment.

4.  Make more of an effort to stay connected with my friends back home.

Miss doing this back home in Texas

5.  Spend more quality time with my family in Korea, especially my grandparents.

He's now in the hospital and I don't see him enough, which I know I'll regret when he's gone.

My honest assessment of my resolutions at the halfway point of 2009 is a pretty big F!  I’ve accomplished only resolution #1 on the list and I was only able to do that because of my involvement in the “Best Job in the World” Campaign (by the way, Ben Southall begins his job as the island caretaker today: www.islandreefjob.com).

So today, I’m launching a new personal campaign to allow myself to cross another item off of that list.  I’m starting a “take the public transportation” campaign for myself.  I’ve been cruising around Korea in a car for the last 2.5 years, despite Seoul having one of the best subway systems in the world.  For awhile now, I felt like such a hypocrite, always talking about the environment, preaching that we all should be doing something more and here I am, not even able to break my habit of relying on my car when I have an alternative and a “greener” method of transportation.

The key to breaking a bad habit, whether it’s our dependence on cigarettes or the car, is to take baby steps, so starting on July 1st, I’m going to be taking the subway and the bus to work for 4 days out of the week for the entire month of July (and I couldn’t have picked a better month now that the Monsoon season is here… should have thought that one through).  I think I’ve failed in my drive to take public transportation in the past because I didn’t really have that commitment, or the thing that committed myself to the task.  That’s why I have declared this July campaign ON AIR on my show at Arirang Radio and in print in the monthly program textbook for 귀가 트이는 영어 on EBS.  I have asked the public to keep me on my toes and keep me committed to this task.  To prove that I’m following through, I’ll be documenting my public transportation use in pictures and posting them up here on this blog.

So make sure to just stop by each day and keep me on my toes.  Don’t let me slack off and help me to follow through on one of my New Year’s resolutions.  While you are at it, change something small in your life that will positively affect the environment.  We might think the problem is way too big for us to make any difference, but it is because the problem is so big that we have to do something now, whether small or big, because we have to start chipping away at it.

No more of this, at least a lot less of it.

Wish me luck!

The Research Trip

// March 16th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // Australia, Environment

With today’s post, I wanted to focus on the environmental aspects of the Great Barrier Reef, because honestly, I think there are a lot more opportunities to promote the tourism aspect.  (The environment needs some lovin’, actually lots of lovin’)

I actually took this research trip the first weekend after I found out that I made the final 50, but due to time constraints and my current day job, I didn’t have time to put this video together.

First, take a look at the video below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLc0ltQ8sAM]

As you can see, I do have a special place in my heart for the environment but I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t do all that I can to back up my talk.  So I guess that makes me a sort of a hypocrite.  I am ashamed to admit that I drive to work everyday, eventhough there’s a great public transportation system in Seoul.  We tend to get into routines, and I know that if I get ready about 45 minutes earlier, I can get to all the places that I need to without my car, but our habits and routines are so hard to break.  I want to change that.  I want to kick the environmentally bad habits and I think this is another reason why I think this job means so much to me.

I think having this job will allow me a unique opportunity to experience one of the most beautiful yet threatened places in the world so I can better understand the delicate issues surrounding the protection of marine environments like the Great Barrier Reef.  I know there are many other areas in the world that need protecting and saving but the Great Barrier Reef is as great a place to start as any.  The position of island caretaker, due to the worldwide interest the campaign has received, would also provide a great channel to bring these issues to the spotlight.

Here are some other factoids about the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) that I found out during this “research trip.”

As I mentioned in the video, the GBR can be thought of as the tropical rainforest of the ocean.  It’s biodiversity is so immense and some scientists actually think that the rate of “primary production” in the coral reefs systems actually EXCEEDS that of the tropical rainforests.

Autotrophs are provide energy for all other organisms that follow it.

What is primary production?  It’s the production of new organic matter by autotrophs, which are basically plants and other organisms that are self-sufficient (auto=self, trophs = eating/feeding).

The coral reef system is very SENSITIVE.  It needs just the right amount of all the factors to keep its unique ecosystem running smoothly.

It needs a stable salinity level above 27%, that’s why fresh water run-off is so deadly and you would only see kelp next to areas on the coast where there’s a heavy fresh water runoff.

Other than global warming, there are many other man-made causes contributing to the further decline of the coral reefs system, such as chemical and oil spills, farming runoffs and questionable fishing techniques, among others.  Even tropical storms, like Cyclone Hamish that was recently experienced by the Queensland region can have a negative affect because storm waves can rip up the coral bed.  The frequency of these “super storms” has also increased as global warming and climate change becomes more evident.

Now here’s the picture of the sea temperature model I put in the video.

Go check out this link for more info.  As you can see, according to this model from UNEP, the Great Barrier Reef is going to be affected by increases in sea temperatures, it’s now just a matter of how much, and that’s where we can make a difference.

Going back to the analogy of the coral reefs being the tropical rain-forests of the sea… when we see aerial photos of logging devastating our forests, we experience a certain emotion of shock and awe and we realize something really environmentally bad has happened, but I think when we come to see images of coral bleaching, we still lack that shock to a certain extent and I think that’s the result of a lack of awareness.

When we see something like this:

we should have the same reaction as if we just saw this:

Yes, I understand that my job, if I win it, would be basically a promoter of the Great Barrier Reef region.  Convince people to come and spend their vacations doing the activities that I will share with the world.  But nobody said I couldn’t try to hit two birds with one stone.  I think if I only promote the tourism aspect of the region while neglecting the more pressing issue of the environment, I would be doing a disservice not only to Tourism Queensland, but also to the entire country of Australia and the whole world.

Don’t forget to VOTE!!!