<The Environment of Mt. Yongma>

Mt. Yongma, also known as Yongmasan, is a mountain of adequate height located in Seoul, Korea. Our school is located on the way up this mountain.

Every day, we must tediously climb a part of Mt. Yongma on the way to school. Yet there are more than a few benefits to having a mountain close to your school.

One of them is that we have a well-preserved environment. Just below the Mt. Yongma is the city, lined up with roads and buildings. Only about a kilometer away though, there is the mountain with so many different plants and insects.

In spring, all sorts of flowers start to bloom. Many of these are parts of trees, shrubs, and other types of ?planted? plants. But if you just look a bit closer, you?d be able to find tiny wildflowers spread across the grass.

Due to the abundance of flowers, we have a large population of pollinators in the area as well. Bees, butterflies, and other insects can be seen around the place.

Last summer, my friends and I found out that this wasn?t the end to our ecosystem. In Seoul, it is pretty hard to see insects other than flies, moths, mosquitos, and occasional bees and butterflies. However, one day, we actually found a mantis settled up on one of our windowsills. This was significant for all of us because most of the students had never (or perhaps just once or twice) seen real-live-natural mantises before. The mantis seemed to be of good health.

The past few weeks, we also discovered a wasp?s nest (and a wasp settled on top of it) and 3 centipedes.

Contrariwise, just below the mountain, we could not find any sources of life other than urban civilization.

We learned that small areas of naturally protected areas are actually supporting large populations of animals and plants. Nature thrives on its own, if they have just enough.

And it is the ?just enough? that we must provide them to create a better world.