I'm sure many of you have heard of the recent oil spill off the coast of South Korea. I was here in Korea when it happened and I enjoyed being able to volunteer my help in cleaning up the mess that had been left.
My dad, some friends, and I set off with a group of several hundred volunteers from a church near Seoul, Korea. Although we didn't join the cleaning effort until several weeks after the actual spill, the beaches were still covered with oil. After donning some of the most ridiculous looking hazmat outfits I've ever seen, we set out for the coast.
Our group spent the entire freezing day cleaning one small peninsula that had a layer of oil over everything. Our job was very monotonous. With old rags, we had to scrub every rock by hand trying to reduce the damage done to the area. It was a lot like trying to rub tar off something; it doesn't really work. At first it was very discouraging because the rocks could not be cleaned immaculately and it seemed as if all the effort was in vain.
However, after thinking about it, I realized that when you reduce the amount of oil by, say 50%, that goes a long way in helping the surrounding environment recuperate faster than if you just left it alone. Even though when we left it didn't look amazingly different, I still was satisfied with a large pile of oily rags and bucket of oil knowing that the area would be back to normal much faster than if I never went. (Not to mention the satisfaction of pictures). Gabe
