Korean Job Discussion Forums

[TroySantos]

HIYA!

Is there any leaded gasoline in Korea? Is it all unleaded and diesel? Just what are the gasoline / petrol / fuel types available for vehicles, including the motorcycles and scooters? I'm curious as to what I breathe? I live on Jeju so I breathe much cleaner air, I think, than I would if I were in Seoul or most other places in Korea. But I would still like to have some idea. And, most of the vegetables I eat come from my small semi-wild garden which starts just a meter or so from from the road. The area I live is pretty rural; there aren't that many cars around. But still, I wonder just what's getting onto and into the soil, the plants, and my body. Once I get an answer to this question, I'll write an email to an urban garening group somewhere, I suppose in the US, and ask them what's in the gasoline here that is of concern, and what I can do to remove it from the vegetables. Who knows, maybe there is really nothing at all to be concerned about. But I'm interested in this issue.

By the way, it occurs to me that the foods in organic urban gardens may very well be subjected to more pollutants than the foods in conventional gardens and farms in rural areas (many of which are subjected to who knows what and who knows how much and who knows how often). That's because of all the various pollutants from cars, factories, and who knows what else. That's another question I'll ask when I write to the urban gardening group. The only urban gardening group that I know of is in San Francisco. It's called SLUG which stands for San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners. I suppose they have a website.

[sock]

Hiya Mr. Santa,

Of course there is leaded gasoline in Korea. All jet fuel is leaded gas. Is leaded gasoline available to the average ajosshi, and would he know what to do with it? ... Well, that's another question entirely. One that seems peripheral to your point, whatever that may be.... By the way, are you on medication? Should you be? I've never seen someone hijack their own thread in the first posting like that. What exactly is your point? Just curious, because it's difficult to know how to respond.

As for the pollutants in your little garden, I'd personally be more concerned about the acid rain and what's already in the soil than what's in the air. But that's just me. I suppose you could build a mini greenhouse with some sheet plastic and some kind of wooden frame and then jerry-rig some kind of air purifier inside. I mean, I've seen dumber things here in Korea (on a daily basis), so most people probably wouldn't bat an eye.

Maybe you could write to (or just check the website of) SLUGOP (that stands for San Francisco League of Urban Growers of Pot) and check if they have suggestions for growing pure, hydroponic veggies. I'm thinking just get a bag of potting soil, stick it in your house, stick an air purifier next to it, plant something, and pour Evian on it every so often. Add a blacklite and you're done! Just make sure it's the Evian from a glass bottle, because the plastic bottles leach chemicals into the water and it's really not safe for the veggies.

The truth about Korea, which you may not be aware of, is that the kimchi has special health properties. If you eat the kimchi, you don't have to worry about pollutants because kimchi contains properties of longevity and immortality. I think that only a few leagues of urban gardners know about that fact. But I suppose you could check around for a website to confirm that everything I said is true.

[TroySantos]

Sorry, sock, I don't know what "ajoshi" means. But I assume that it's not irrelevant to my point.

Seems you didn't get my point. I want to know if leaded automobile fuel is available in Korea. Or if it's all diesel and unleaded.

Maybe I didn't make it clear that I don't want to buy gasoline. I walk and take the bus. I just want to know if I should wash my vegetables before I eat them. If there's lead in gasoline, or some other pollutant that I can wash out of the vegetables and "weeds" in my garden before I eat them, then I will.

I didn't realize that jet fuel is leaded.

Medication?! Should I be?! Wha'?

- "I've never seen someone hijack their own thread in the first posting
like that."
What do you mean?

Acid rain is another one. I'd forgotten about this. I've read that there's lots of it drifting over from China. Oh well, I'm not going to worry about it. It's not something that I can do much about.

No mini greenhouses or anything. No. Plastic sheeting on the soil. No. Not interested.

I do eat kimchi. Regularly. Quite a bit of it. I get some organic vegan stuff at the temple I frequent. They started offering it before I knew there was an online source. But I prefer to get it this way - locally. Apparently there isn't much vegetarian kimchi.

[caniff]

It's proven that the stress of worrying about this crap will kill you faster than the shit you're eating.

[Hyeon Een]

You should wash your vegetables before you eat them because of pesticides rather than gasoline issues. (Don't trust 'organic' labels as far as you can throw them.. which won't be far, because labels really don't throw too well..)

[caniff]

I've heard tossing your veggies is illegal here.

[djsmnc]

You should be aware that lead is only allowed in drinking water and childrens toys in Korea

[Pyongshin Sangja]

[caniff]

I stand corrected.

[TroySantos]

I don't worry about anything. But it's a good idea to do things that are better for my health. I actually do lots of things that aren't good at all for my health, but why not also do some things that are good for my health? Like not worrying for instance?