Opinion: School Bullying in South Korea 40. Environment: More Trees, Please! CO2 and the Temperature

School Bullying in South Korea

By Yurok Han and Hyeonwoo Park

South Korea’s economic and technological growth greatly aided the field of education. There is a great variety of benefits such as increased funding, interactive classrooms, and native teachers recruited from abroad, yet schools still struggle with the same challenges as in the past. We are adamant that readers have seen numerous cases of school bullying while watching the news or surfing the web. There were several cases which shocked both local and international communities. As a parent, friend, or student, you might feel indignant, frustrated, scared, or hurt when viewing such stories. Parents send their kids to school hoping that their children will study in a safe space surrounded by friendly classmates and motivating teachers.

We believe one of the most fundamental problems is the fact that most people do not even know the accurate definition of bullying. A bully is someone who uses their strength or power to hurt or frighten other people. Thus, bullying can be diverse in its nature. To understand the scale of school bullying in South Korea, we would like to share some recent statistics.

According to a survey by Blue Tree Foundation, since 2001, there have been 6,200 students who experienced bullying between the second and eleventh grades. Interestingly, the number of bullying incidents decreased in 2020 amid the COVID-19 wave. However, group ostracization grew as a result of increased internet usage, consequently leading to growth in cyberbullying.

Once we had a look at the current state of affairs, we could not help but ask ourselves, “Why do people bully?” According to the field of psychology, bullying is a coping mechanism against stress or traumatic experience in the past. Traumatic experiences include the divorce of parents, the death of a relative, or the addition of new family members such as younger siblings or step parents. Kids who fail to positively respond to stress end up emotionally or physically hurting those around them. Now, adults, at least some of them, have knowledge and tools to channel their frustrations via meditation, exercise, or other such activities, while school children do not always know how to express themselves or ask for help. Also, children often do not know whether they are being bullied or feel ashamed to share their experience with adults, thinking that it will make the situation worse. Often some forms of bullying are presented as jokes, which makes it harder for students to speak out because they are under peer pressure.

There are physical, verbal, social, and cyber forms of bullying. While the meanings of the first two will be clear to readers, we would like to shed a light on the last two types of bullying. Social bullying often happens behind the victim’s back. Actions that are intended to harm a victim’s reputation and social acceptance are considered to be examples of social bullying. Moreover, actions that cause humiliation to victims are included in social bullying. Cyberbullying is booming in South Korea nowadays. This is especially true since the outbreak of COVID-19, which pushed teenagers to engage in social media more than before. The reason why it is a perfect place for bullying is that internet users usually use nicknames. Therefore, it is easier to cause harm but remain behind the curtain unpunished. Although, it is possible to track down the IP of harmful users, it takes time. Harmful information such as insulting comments or photos and videos uploaded without the victims’ consent might spread through the web before being taken down. Initially, we thought that using real names might make people accountable for their actions because if their identities were known, they would think twice before writing some petty comments belittling people around them. However, this approach might cause more issues related to privacy. Another remedy we thought about were age limits preventing students at school from using social media, or stricter monitoring by social media companies, which would help to prohibit the posting of insulting comments. In the end, the only real solution is for everyone to think before they upload a message – unfortunately, most people do not.

To solve these problems, the social response system to bullies should be improved and actively utilized. The first solution is to build a trusting connection between schools and children where students trust in the school system. Thus, they can ask for help from a teacher, a school counselor, or other authority figure. The second step is to make sure that the bullying incidents are thoroughly investigated, the bullies are punished, and the victims are treated and compensated if necessary. Last but not least is the need for assessment. Societal and educational institutions should provide therapy sessions not only to victims, but also to bullies, so that these kinds of incidents do not happen again. Of course, such solutions are always easier said than done. While researching, we came up with some saddening figures related to the social response system: — 24.3 percent of bullies were scolded by teachers. — 18.2 percent of bullies were scolded by parents. — Less than 21.5 percent of bullies got any punishment.

Finally, the fact that the assailants can delete their school records of bullying two years after graduation causes a negative sentiment within society, in particular for victims of bullying and their families. To be exact, victims find it unfair that they are traumatized, often for a long period of time, and have to go through a lot of therapy in order to recover both emotionally and physically, while assailants can simply eliminate records of bullying after they leave school. This record elimination system is in place in order to prevent further stigmatization of assailants in attempts to save their reputation and preserve social acceptance. Although it is true that a “once a bully, always a bully” type of thinking might somewhat make the lives of assailants difficult, it is also relevant that victims’ consent be required before deleting any records related to a bullying incident.

Bullying is really dangerous, but not if our community is ready to fight against it. If our community punishes bullies more strongly and comforts the victims more kindly, bullying will decrease remarkably. There is no shame in sharing about bullying. Together we are stronger!

Call 117 by telephone or ask for help from your SPO (School Police Officer), teacher, or school counselor if you or someone you know experiences bullying while in school.

Let your parents or guardians know what you are going through.

The Authors

Yurok Han is a student of Seokwang Elementary School. He is a 10-year-old Korean. His favorite food is French fries and ice cream. He likes watching TV and baseball, but he does not like playing it. Yurok usually wears big round glasses. His favorite drink is soda.

Hyeonwoo Park is a middle school student who likes to solve the Rubik’s cube. Also, he likes to sleep and enjoys watching action and fantasy movies, too. He does not like to read books, but fiction is an exception. He loves eating food, except for some kinds of seafood such as thornbacks. His favorite fruits are ripe persimmons.

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More Trees, Please!

CO2 and the Temperature

By Chung Hyun-hwa

In times of climate crises, the removal of carbon is of great interest to a lot of scientists in the environmental technology field. Recently, I thought, “What if we built machines to remove carbon directly from the air?” Then, of course, I found that there are already such machines being developed. (You always get surprised once you realize you are not the only one thinking about certain things.) Scientists say the amount of carbon dioxide in the air was never higher than 300 ppm until the Industrial Revolution. Now it is about 400 ppm on average.

In the history of Earth, the data show a direct proportional relation between carbon dioxide and temperature. Presently, the carbon dioxide level is much higher than at any other time in the past 800,000 years. Therefore, given trends in carbon dioxide production, the temperature is set to go up, logically speaking. Scientists have warned that without any intervention, by the year 2100, the temperature will go up by at least 5 degrees Celsius. There has been an agreement that a 1.5-degree rise (compared to before the Industrial Revolution) will be the tipping point that will lead us to an irreversible state. This year, we have reached 1.1 already. I am still hopeful there will be innovative technologies to help us control global warming before it is too late.

THE MOST PROVEN CARBON-OFFSET METHOD

To fight against the climate crisis we face, scientists in all different sectors are trying to find ways to help with carbon removal, including through direct carbon capture from the air, utilizing renewable energy sources, driving more hydrogen-powered electric vehicles, and cutting carbon in conventional economic sectors, to name a few. Although such things are being developed in haste, achieving each at a commercially viable level takes time, and even though I am looking on the bright side, waiting for the advent of new technologies seems daunting. Therefore, I have thought of ways to remove carbon dioxide that we could start right now and concluded that planting trees is the best.

Planting trees is not high tech at all, so I have liked it from the outset. It can be done anytime and anywhere at comparatively low costs. It is also something we already know a lot about. To maximize storing carbon in trees, they should be alive. As soon as they are dead, or are cut down to be used, they start to release carbon and do so especially quickly when they are burnt. Living trees keep collecting carbon without any power supply needed. All they need are water and sunshine.

KOREA’S TREE-PLANTING PLAN

Korea declared this year that three billion trees would be planted by 2050 to offset carbon emissions, and three hundred million inefficient, old trees would be cut down selectively. The cut-down trees could be used as wood material or biomass fuel. This is supposed to have a 34-million-ton offset effect. Regarding the lumbering aspect, the Korea Forest Service says trees that are over 30 years old are not so efficient in capturing carbon, and that most of the trees in Korea were planted after the war, making many of them unsuitable to meet wood demands for buildings and furniture. However, environmental activists do not agree because there is evidence that old trees are still effective in removing and storing carbon due to their volume and the amount of carbon in the soil. They say that because it takes time to grow young trees, cutting down older trees may be too big a risk to take in the face of the urgent current climate crisis. These two perspectives are so controversial that there should be more thorough research done before taking any action because planting a forest is a huge project that takes over 20 years, at least. Forty percent of Korea’s forests are for lumber production, and it is true that we have a need for wood in our lives as an environment-friendly architectural resource, so cutting down inefficient trees may be a matter of timing and speed or amount. Tree policies are important because trees play a crucial role in carbon-related issues whether they are alive or cut.

GWANGJU’S TREE-PLANTING PLAN

To take part in Korea’s big planting project, Gwangju City announced in 2018 that 30 million trees would be planted in the city by 2027. Gwangju City emphasized the need for more trees in the city, citing research by the National Institute of Forest Science that found that one tree can release 150–300 ml of water into the air to draw down the temperature, and that the temperature of an urban forest is 3–7 degrees lower than its surroundings, creating much-

needed air flow in the city that helps cool down urban surroundings. Gwangju plans to remove unnecessary walls that block this air flow and replace them with trees, to plant more trees along the streets, existing parks, and schools, and to place more planters throughout the city where land is not available. This year, there have been four places chosen for these wind-providing forests: Nokdong Station, Hyocheon-ro, Wangbeodel-ro, and Mujindae-ro. This part of the project is to be completed in 2022. Hopefully in a few years, we could find more green, shady areas in the city and feel the difference in the temperature and air quality.

WHAT WE CAN DO

While the city follows the above plan, we can plant something inside and outside our homes or on the rooftop. The roof should be checked for any leakage in advance, but once set, getting your leeks, peppers, and perilla leaves from your own rooftop or balcony is pretty cool. Rooftop plants also cool down the temperature of the building. I started putting plant boxes on the rooftop this year, but I admit it was not so easy in the beginning because the rooftop is very hot in the summer. You will have to choose the kind of plants that like hot temperatures. I found that green onions, peppers, and tomatoes are quite suitable for the rooftop (especially green onions, which can grow in shallow soil straight from storebought green onions with roots). Some people grow their own lettuce in DIY PET bottles or even horizontal or plastic bags on the balcony. Any produce grown this way is very organic and fulfilling.

I am also thinking of planting some fast-growing vines for a green curtain next year to provide shade for the house. Maybe a cucumber plant would be nice, although ivies need lower maintenance. If more buildings do this, it will help bring temperatures down across the city. Having some fresh cucumbers on the table would be a bonus, too. Right next to my house, there is a tall, fast-growing paulownia empress tree that is as high as my house this year, and thanks to it, I learned the power of tree shade over a room’s temperature. The increase in the temperature nowadays is becoming a hazard to financially vulnerable people who cannot afford a good cooling system. That is one more reason we should try to control the temperature in the city. Planting trees, in this sense, is a meaningful weapon. Power cables over the streets are obstacles, so we should try and find places that do not have them. I think we should pay attention to the Gwangju Stream and the Yeongsan River, which flow through and around the city – these areas have few power cables and a lot of room. If we created a thick forest along the stream and the river, this would become the lungs of the city to provide oxygen, and offset carbon and fine dust. Imagine people walking, running, or riding bikes in the shade of the trees while breathing in phytochemicals and oxygen from them.

WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO PLANT?

Wise people say it was 20 years ago, and that the second best time is now. Korea’s Arbor Day is April 4, but now botanists say it should be moved to March because of global warming. Spring is a good time, but between late October and early November is a good time, too. Plants stop activities in the fall and get ready for winter by storing water in their roots rather than distributing it to upper portions. If you plant a tree in the fall, you will not have to give it water as often as if you plant in the spring. About a month’s time and some insulation before the temperature drops to below zero will prepare the trees for winter, and they will start sprouting right away when the spring comes. Trees planted in the spring need to settle before producing new leaf buds. So, how about we all plant one tree this fall? Trees are givers. They give you everything they have for their entire lives. They are also takers. They take heat and carbon, and maybe your heart, too. We need more tree allies. Join the parade.

Resources

(재)국제기후환경센터. (2019, January 19). “적용가능한 온실가스 감축정책 연구보고서.” http://www.icecgj.or.kr/Board/kr/0203/ View/adfb3a7894da8432049cced463eb5f3c/Page/3 박수진. (2021, April 29). “고층 아파트로 막힌 광주 도심 숨통 틔운다.” https://www.jnilbo.com/view/media/ view?code=2021042916092718424 산림청. (2021, January 21). “2050년까지 30억 그루의 나무심어 탄소 3,400만톤 줄인다.” https://blog.daum.net/kfs4079/17215458 환경운동연합. (2021, July 21). “숲은 나무만 탄소를 저장하는 게 아니다.” https://blog.naver.com/kfemblog/222439259848 한국목재신문. (2021, June 15). “경제림 조성 시급한데 난데없는 벌채 논란.” https://post.naver.com/viewer/postView. naver?volumeNo=31749697&memberNo=37553359

The Author

Chung Hyun-hwa is from Gwangju and is currently leading Gwangju Hikers, an international eco-hike group at the GIC, while getting ready to teach the Korean language. Previously, she taught English in different settings, including Yantai American School and Yantai Korean School in China, and she has worked for the Jeju school administration at Branksome Hall Asia in recent years. She holds a master’s degree in TESOL from TCNJ in the U.S.