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Korea is one of the few countries where you can enjoy the changes of seasons over time because of its four distinctive seasons. To relish the autumn trees dressed up in gold, the Korea Forest Service publishes a map of the peak autumn leaves at the end of every September for people to go to the so-called ‘Maple Festival’ to appreciate the magnificent view. Although it may vary depending on the region and tree species, the autumn leaves began in late October this year, without fail. Particularly this fall, COVID-19 has subsided to some extent with eased social distancing, many people visited mountains and valleys to see autumn leaves. The New Trend of Highway Service Area When you are on the road to see the autumn leaves, visiting the ‘highway service area’ is a must. Starting 1971 with the Chupungryeong Service Area, the very first Korea’s highway service area, there are a total of 207 highway service areas currently operating across Korea. The winner of 2007 Korean Architecture Awa...

Since last March, we have covered the many aspects of plastic in over 6 articles. The articles include information on how plastic was born, its golden ages as the lead role of industrialization, how it ended up being a fatal threat to mankind and the environment, and its problems and solutions.  We would like to conclude this series by discussing our present and our future in this age of ‘ban plastic” Too much responsibility on the consumers  You probably went through your trash yesterday too, like every other day, dividing the plastic milk cartons and plastic strawberry containers, and all the plastic disposable takeout containers, cleaning them and separating them from cookie wrappers. But here we face several questions. Why is the recycling rate for plastic still only 20% when we work so hard to recycle plastic? (Which will drop even more when the rate of separating and putting recyclable materials is considered, which is 45%, and even lower when energy conversion rates i...