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Home » Opinion » Foreign Views
Unspoiled scenery beckons
By David Summers |
December 18, 2009, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Editor's note: This is part of a package titled "In search of nature in 'America the beautiful'" published in Shanghai Daily A6 page on December 18, 2009. Your opinions are welcome.
Hello Mr Wan,
I read your article published in the December 15 Shanghai Daily with some surprise.
It seems you live in Aurora Hills, but that you feel hemmed in by roads and buildings. I hope there is enough of your three-month study tour left to find out what access to the "natural landscape" lies at your doorstep!
Just to the north of Aurora Hills, at the intersection between South Glebe and West Glebe Road, lies the new extension to the Four Mile Run bike path. It was inaugurated last May by Congressman James Moran, as the result of the multiple efforts by local NGOs such as the Washington Area Bicycle Association.
If you bike (or walk) from your house to that point, you will find the Four Mile Run Trail, which links to the W&OD trail, which runs 45 miles to the west of Washington, where you can see the Piedmont of the Appalachian Mountains.
Over the entire length of the W&OD Trail, you will have to cross only five streets where you might meet a car. Several blocks south of Aurora Hills is the Mt Vernon Trail, which will take you south for 18 miles through the city of Alexandria and on into the countryside as far as Mount Vernon.
In connection with this trail, I recommend you pick up a copy of "Spring in Washington," written in 1945 by Louis Halle. Mr Halle meticulously documented the arrival of spring to Washington by taking walks in wildlife areas.
Happy birdwatchers
Several years ago, I discovered this book, and followed Mr Halle's journey. To my great pleasure, I found that all the natural areas he described still exist (and are accessible by bicycle on the Mount Vernon Trail), with the single exception of the marsh where Washington Reagan National Airport is now located.
I was gratified to find that virtually all the birds and animals Mr Halle observed can still be observed, except that they arrive two to three weeks earlier than he described in his book. This reminded me that global warming isn't an imaginary phenomenon: it is a reality for which we all bear a responsibility.
I'm sorry that I can't access all the information available on these trails, because some of them fall under the Internet censorship net known here in Shanghai as the "Great Firewall of China". (Note: The opinion editor of Shanghai Daily has Googled these trails in Shanghai and found abundant information.)
While you are in Washington, you can access everything, and learn about the work of grassroots organizations in preserving our environment in the process. Just Google "Four Mile Run Trail" or "W&OD Trail" or "Mount Vernon Trail" and you'll find a world far different from the one you describe in your article.
Or just WALK instead of climbing into your friend's car. There are some lessons there about "Better City, Better Life" that so far you seem to have missed. With best wishes for a successful sojourn in America.
Hello Mr Wan,
I read your article published in the December 15 Shanghai Daily with some surprise.
It seems you live in Aurora Hills, but that you feel hemmed in by roads and buildings. I hope there is enough of your three-month study tour left to find out what access to the "natural landscape" lies at your doorstep!
Just to the north of Aurora Hills, at the intersection between South Glebe and West Glebe Road, lies the new extension to the Four Mile Run bike path. It was inaugurated last May by Congressman James Moran, as the result of the multiple efforts by local NGOs such as the Washington Area Bicycle Association.
If you bike (or walk) from your house to that point, you will find the Four Mile Run Trail, which links to the W&OD trail, which runs 45 miles to the west of Washington, where you can see the Piedmont of the Appalachian Mountains.
Over the entire length of the W&OD Trail, you will have to cross only five streets where you might meet a car. Several blocks south of Aurora Hills is the Mt Vernon Trail, which will take you south for 18 miles through the city of Alexandria and on into the countryside as far as Mount Vernon.
In connection with this trail, I recommend you pick up a copy of "Spring in Washington," written in 1945 by Louis Halle. Mr Halle meticulously documented the arrival of spring to Washington by taking walks in wildlife areas.
Happy birdwatchers
Several years ago, I discovered this book, and followed Mr Halle's journey. To my great pleasure, I found that all the natural areas he described still exist (and are accessible by bicycle on the Mount Vernon Trail), with the single exception of the marsh where Washington Reagan National Airport is now located.
I was gratified to find that virtually all the birds and animals Mr Halle observed can still be observed, except that they arrive two to three weeks earlier than he described in his book. This reminded me that global warming isn't an imaginary phenomenon: it is a reality for which we all bear a responsibility.
I'm sorry that I can't access all the information available on these trails, because some of them fall under the Internet censorship net known here in Shanghai as the "Great Firewall of China". (Note: The opinion editor of Shanghai Daily has Googled these trails in Shanghai and found abundant information.)
While you are in Washington, you can access everything, and learn about the work of grassroots organizations in preserving our environment in the process. Just Google "Four Mile Run Trail" or "W&OD Trail" or "Mount Vernon Trail" and you'll find a world far different from the one you describe in your article.
Or just WALK instead of climbing into your friend's car. There are some lessons there about "Better City, Better Life" that so far you seem to have missed. With best wishes for a successful sojourn in America.
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