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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...

Ocean, covering 70% of the Earth surface, controls the world ’ s climate, and is a habitat for hundreds of species, a major source of proteins for 3.3 billion humans as well as a place many of them depending on for their living. However, reckless development and the increase of consumption, wastewater from urban and plants, soil contamination from chemical uses, dumping waste from vessels and planes, and oil spills from ship collisions have made our ocean sick. This not only brings a great threat to the diversity of marine creatures and ecosystem, but also harms human health, and affects community economies including fisheries and tourism. Plastic waste especially has been blamed for the worst cause of marine pollution. Then, how does this waste enter the ocean, and how does it affect the ecosystem? Let ’ s take a close look at the seriousness and think about what we should do to solve the problem!   Plastic packaging flowing into the ocean and abandoned fishing gear How does plast...

Plastic has been praised to be a ‘miracle material’ over the last 150 years. Thanks to its amazing transformation skills and functions, it has been applied to various industry fields. Yet, hundreds and thousands of reports and data insist that microplastic causes severe marine pollution and destroys the ecosystem around us and humans are facing a plastic dilemma. How well and deep do we know about plastic that we see and use everywhere? To understand what we are dealing with better, rePAPER is going to investigate the lifecycle of plastic step by step in the next 8 contents and suggest how we can work for a sustainable society. Then, shall we start with the origin of plastic?   The Origin of Plastic Plastic polymers are commonly known as synthetic resins and the name ‘plastic’ is originated from a Greek word ‘plastikos’ which means “to be easily formed or molded”. A polymer is a term to call a compound that consists of monomers, small molecules, being combined repeatedly. E...