don’t change their mind-set now, there will be no chance.” Park
himself, now in his early forties, grew up in the city with little time
outdoors. Because of what he’s learned, he takes his two kids hiking
regularly. It’s their vegetable, and they’re dutifully consuming it.
Nature, for Park, is in some ways a negative space, a refuge from
ills. It is the anticity, even when it’s within a city. “Cities are a human
zoo and I think schools are a human zoo too,” Park continued. “We
cannot give up those systems, city and schools. The forest is the only
exit we have for those humans who live in the human zoo.”
If the Koreans can learn to love nature, maybe anyone can.