There is a mountain-oriented event this coming Sunday that a few of you might possibly be interested in:
Some friends have taken to celebrating the United Nations International Mountain Day (officially Dec 11th) with a little event every year, and this year we’re doing so on this coming Sunday the 7th. There will be some interesting speakers on ecological changes and such, showing of the “Mountains” video from the BBC’s “Planet Earth” series, and even a salpuri dance. I’ll be conducting a small Sanshin-je ceremony to kick things off in the right ‘spirit’. It’s hosted by the Korean Mountain Preservation League, with Gangbuk-gu District Office, assisted by others.
After the 4 hours of events are finished we will all enjoy food and drinks at the fifth floor cafe, with a beautiful view of all those mountains. It should be a very nice time… If interested, click on the KMPL link above to get the full details, and also see response #1. Let me know if you have any questions.
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It begins at 1 PM sharp, on the 4th floor of the “O2″ Climbing Gym of Gangbuk-gu Ui-dong (closest Metro Station: Suyu) (some buses go there, incl 272). That’s prominently on the main street of the “Doseon-sa ipgu” neighborhood, where there are many mountain-hiking businesses and all the climbers start and finish their trips to the peaks of Samgak-san (and Doseon-sa temple). O2 is just one block up the street from the bus terminal, near the main Ui-dong Avenue, easy to find.
Purpose: To recognize International Mountain Day’s agenda of raising awareness of the importance of mountain environments on global ecology and human culture.
Background:
The year 2002 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Mountains. Its focus was to bring attention to the ever increasing need for humans to preserve the delicate ecosystems and immensely bio-diverse regions of our planet’s mountains.
In 2003, the United Nations established a day for the world to continually recognize the importance of mountains on the global environment and human culture. They called it International Mountain Day, and every year on December 11 all over the world various seminars, events, parades, and the like are held to celebrate Planet Earth’s mountains.
In 2006, Professor David Mason and Mr. Shawn James Morrissey held a small sanshin-je at Gwangak-san to mark the day. It was attended by four people. In 2007, Mr. Morrissey’s NGO, the KMPL, with the help of other groups and individuals, organized a seminar to celebrate UNIMD. It was attended by more than twenty people. It is the drive of the organizers this year that a larger seminar can be held in honor of the mountains.
Why not update the OP instead of posting comments?
Because I don’t want the OP to be too long, for the sake of all the M-Holers who wouldn’t be interested…?
Photos of the 2007 event are up at : http://www.san-shin.org/KMPL_IMD-2007.html
I told my co-teachers about this and sent them the links but they hadn’t ever heard about it before. Then I saw the latest link and see there was only 1 Korean in the picture. I’d bring one of them at least but I don’t think any of them can attend Sunday.
If I come will you give me a lesson plan on tourism for a winter camp with smart middle school students? I already plan to have them read and answer questions about your 백두대간 links.
5 Koreans were there last year, all-told — a far better K-international balance is expected this year, including in speakers…
As for lesson-plans, i’m afraid i don’t know the format for writing one, never have
But i’ll be happy to discuss ideas with you….
We’re now expecting more than 60, from the RSVPs, about half Koreans… Come a bit early if you expect to get a decent seat!
I don’t understand. You talk about mountain preservation, but as a professor of tourism you promote Korean mountains as “great possibilities for Korean tourism” (your RASKB talk about the Paektu Taegan). Would this not be a bit of a paradox?
Not an insoluble or invalidating one — rather, one that we ‘in the business’ deal with every day, in everything we do. Tourism is not necessarily destructive of the natural environment, at least not necessarily to unsustainable levels.
Pretty much everybody involved with tourism development and management these days is concerned about their ecological and social “sustainability” factors. Research into this is getting quite advanced, both widespread and deep. Some people just say the words as hypocrites and some take them very very seriously; most fall somewhere in-between, as typical for humans. But the result is that terms such as “sustainable” are so frequently employed in every discussion of tourism development and management that they are clearly getting over-used… tho losing none of their importance.
Now you say that you “don’t understand” — if you mean that sincerely and literally, there is now bookshelves full of writings on sustainable tourism development with which you could educate yourself. Do you want me to recommend some books? Or is your comment just some snarky and condescending suggestion that you think that I have never yet taken such ideas and issues into consideration…? What on earth would lead you to that supposition…?
Snarky, a little perhaps. But I would in fact be very interested in materials that have inspired your take on tourism and sustainability in Korea. Would there be specific publications by you that I could read in which you explain your views or interpretations of this problem matter in more detail? That would probably clear up much of my ignorance.
I have your Sanshin book, by the way.
By myself? No, there are none of my own that deal with Sustainability issues directly; i’ve been content thus far with the efforts on those by my brethern and sistern scholars; my own efforts follow my Sanshin book, which i’m glad that you have, towards illumination of the religious-tourism angles of it all…
Wait, if you will, til the forthcoming April for my tome on the Baekdu-daegan, which just might hope to fully reconcile within eum-yang theory the issues of tourism-development and ecological-sustainability in Korea… or then again, it might not.
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