Sometimes you don't realize how good you have it until you don't have it anymore. I've come to realize lately how good Americans in general and Clevelanders in specific have it in terms of parks and recreational amenities. I love running and riding my bike, and I'm really spoiled to have the amazing Cleveland Metroparks and Geauga Park District systems at my disposal. There are several gorgeous parks complete with excellent trails and all sorts of other recreational amenities within a ten-minute drive of my home, and the number of acres of parkland--all free, well-maintained, developed for recreation, and protected with a reverence for conservation--in Northeast Ohio is mind boggling. I can go mountain biking on professionally designed trails, running on trails made of finely crushed gravel through blossoming meadows, hiking to waterfalls in hemlock-filled glens, or swimming at beaches along one of the Great Lakes--all within an hour of my house.
So that's a bit of a shameless plug for the Cleveland area, but Northeast Ohio isn't too unique for the United States in its richness of recreational amenities. Our national park system conserves some of the world's most beautiful natural sites and has made them accessible for generations of Americans. Our parks and public spaces--and that's everything from the grandest national parks to humble local ball fields--are protected, maintained, and facilitated with infrastructure that enables people to learn about the natural world and engage with it in a responsible way.
Just how well we do conservation is starkly evident in comparison to Russia. There are few parks here in Vladimir, and most of them are small and have no emphasis on anything natural. They are places for drunks to gather, and those drunks leave all their trash in the parks. Once you get out the city, you don't find big parks or places for recreation like you would in America. A lot of Russia is forest, and this forest is theoretically protected and is open for anyone to access, but there is no kind of trail system and definitely no visitors' centers or lodges.
Also, in true tragedy-of-the-commons style, because "everyone" owns the forest, no one takes responsibility for it. So many places are just trashed with the remains of parties and campsites--bottles, bags, and home refuse litter the woods.I really noticed this on my trip to Baikal. We were in a national park, but there was trash and junk everywhere. We happened to hike (along a "trail" that was really tire tracks made by garbage trucks) through an acres-large dumpsite in the forest just outside of Huzhir on Olkhon Island, and it was attention getting. There, on the shores of one of the world's natural treasures, stands a monument to mankind's slovenly sloth. And this is everywhere: People toss bottles and bags of trash out of car windows without a second though, meaning that all roads are lined with garbage.
Last weekend, I tried to ride my bike in Vladimir's major park, and found that there isn't a single decent, marked trail in the place. After an hour of dodging broken glass (it's everywhere) and slogging though mud mires, I realized how good we Americans have it.
So that's a bit of a shameless plug for the Cleveland area, but Northeast Ohio isn't too unique for the United States in its richness of recreational amenities. Our national park system conserves some of the world's most beautiful natural sites and has made them accessible for generations of Americans. Our parks and public spaces--and that's everything from the grandest national parks to humble local ball fields--are protected, maintained, and facilitated with infrastructure that enables people to learn about the natural world and engage with it in a responsible way.
Just how well we do conservation is starkly evident in comparison to Russia. There are few parks here in Vladimir, and most of them are small and have no emphasis on anything natural. They are places for drunks to gather, and those drunks leave all their trash in the parks. Once you get out the city, you don't find big parks or places for recreation like you would in America. A lot of Russia is forest, and this forest is theoretically protected and is open for anyone to access, but there is no kind of trail system and definitely no visitors' centers or lodges.
Also, in true tragedy-of-the-commons style, because "everyone" owns the forest, no one takes responsibility for it. So many places are just trashed with the remains of parties and campsites--bottles, bags, and home refuse litter the woods.I really noticed this on my trip to Baikal. We were in a national park, but there was trash and junk everywhere. We happened to hike (along a "trail" that was really tire tracks made by garbage trucks) through an acres-large dumpsite in the forest just outside of Huzhir on Olkhon Island, and it was attention getting. There, on the shores of one of the world's natural treasures, stands a monument to mankind's slovenly sloth. And this is everywhere: People toss bottles and bags of trash out of car windows without a second though, meaning that all roads are lined with garbage.
Last weekend, I tried to ride my bike in Vladimir's major park, and found that there isn't a single decent, marked trail in the place. After an hour of dodging broken glass (it's everywhere) and slogging though mud mires, I realized how good we Americans have it.
The Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath--one of thousands of recreational trails in the US
A waterfall in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park
A bride that carries the Towpath trail over a busy road
Garbage littering the forest on Olkhon Island
More garbage
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