Don’t Stop Thinking about Green
Tags: Travel, Paju, South Korea, Cafe, Vegan

<Interview with Chun Ho Kyun, the host of the Think Green Cafe>

Interview space : ThinkGreen Cafe / Interview start time : pm 3:30, 23 Aug 2020 / Age group : early 70’s / Home Country : Republic of Korea

How do you describe yourself?

An Old Farmer who has A Youthful Mind that Dreams of Peace

How do you describe your everyday life?

In my daily life, I respect farmers who farm artistically and farm peace in the perspective of an artist, and peace farmers who love life with the heart of a farmer, and a farmer who grows peace.

How do you describe the character and mood of this space?

I have always thought a village that protects the plants and animals that remain, and co-exists with them is necessary in order to repent for making the village while harming nature, and I believe this concept is “green.” This place was started with the purpose of talking about our perspectives on being eco-friendly while having a cup of tea and bread. I wanted people to think that a place where life is well-preserved is in Heyri Village, Paju.

An interesting person you communicate with in this space?

A boy who studied farming at a Field Art School, who is quite grown-up now, once asked me to look after a chicken. Due to poverty, I had to send the 20 chickens we were raising away, and I talked to that child. When I suggested that he take the chicken, since I would not be able to raise them anymore, the boy said after a family meeting that he would have to send it to a house in the country that he knew. When I asked him whether they would raise the chickens well, he said “They might cook the chickens. What should I do?” As a result, we decided to raise that one chicken in front of Think Green Café after a family conference. I am happily raising that chicken, thinking of the child who wanted to co-exist with animals.

How do you look at the DMZ?

Though the DMZ was a place that was filled with bloodshed, that place became an eco-friendly place after being left empty for a long time. I believe making this eco-friendly place made by war into a place that is a symbol of peace that respects nature by maintaining it and going a step further would be a great idea. Preventing war not with weapons, but by preserving nature.

How do you look at the DMZ from a future perspective?

People like Greta Thunberg started a campaign of not going to school for a day, saying there is no point going to school when there is no future. The climate crisis is even more severe than war. In order to stop the climate crisis, we have to stop the emission of carbon, but this means giving up the comforts of civilization, so it would take a long time. Then, something has to absorb the carbon we release into the air, and to achieve this, we have to plant many trees. By doing this, trees can absorb carbon monoxide and store it in the ground. However, it takes too long for a tree to grow. Then what is a plant that can grow fast, but absorb carbon well? I believe it is hemp. Hemp is one of the great crop which has the high-absorbing carbon property by very fast rate of growth. Since marijuana is classified as an addictive drug, and thus classified as a plant that is looked at in disgust, it is the time to change the perspective toward the hemp.

There are a lot of landmines buried in the DMZ, why don’t we remove the landmines and plant hemp there to stop the climate crisis? Through the God’s gift hemp, the symbol of the division can be transformed as the symbol of peace and life.

Interview end time : pm 4:22, 23 Aug 2020