The 2018 Winter Olympics will take place in South Korea. The winter events consist of different types of skiing, ice hockey, figure skating, and a few other sports. With that being said, a path/venue must be created to accommodate these sports. A recent story released the discretions involved to hold the Winter Olympics; clear-cutting. The Winter Olympics committee is having part of an ancient forest that includes 500-year-old trees on a protected mountain near Pyeongchang, South Korea cut down.

Activists are calling upon the International Olympic Committee and the government in South Korea to halt the felling of trees at the site and are urging Olympic organizers to find another venue for the four-day downhill skiing event. “When it’s a choice between tearing down 500-year-old trees and looking for an alternative venue, you should look for an alternative venue,” said Dalia Hashad, campaign director of the international advocacy group Avaaz.

Precise information of current conditions have been difficult to confirm, but the clearing of the ski slope on South Korea’s Mount Gariwang was probably already completed, but additional clear-cutting may continue.  “Any clear-cutting of an ancient forest violates the IOC’s commitment to conservation,” said Hashad, whose organization is leading an online petition urging the IOC and the South Korean government to immediately stop the deforestation. “There is something about the IOC willfully disregarding their own stated commitment to environmental sustainability and protection and allowing it to happen,” Hashad said. “They certainly do have the type of influence that could have stopped this. This just flies in the face of everything they say they want to do.”

Typically when land is being felled or clear-cut, the people involved don’t take into consideration how badly it affects our environment. Taking the Olympics for example, the committee is trying to find a great venue for people to have a good time and watch their favorite sports. They may not have thought that the trees they are cutting down for this event are 500+ years old. These beautiful trees tell stories, stories well before our time. These trees sustain the environment around us. The lives and ecology will be lost if they continue the deforestation. Stopping the clear-cutting is a critical issue, not just in South Korea, but everywhere. The decisions we make on treating our resources falls on the global community to help save the planet as well as ourselves. What do you think the best way to approach the stop of clear-cutting trees?