Just watched the premier of Ken Burns'
The National Parks on
PBS!
"America's national parks are a treasure house of nature's superlatives -- 84 million acres of the most stunning landscapes anyone has ever seen. They became the last refuge for magnificent species of animals that otherwise would have vanished forever; today, they remain a refuge for human beings seeking to replenish their spirit. The national parks embody a radical idea, as uniquely American as the Declaration of Independence, born in the United States nearly a century after its creation. It is a truly democratic idea, that the magnificent natural wonders of the land should be available not to a privileged few, but to everyone."
The idea of
protected parks and nature preserves open to all is indeed an epic invention of America. Today there are thousands such areas worldwide. And, as I've written before, are the basis for
Peace Parks and other transfrontier concepts helping us move into a post-nationalist future.
No comments:
Post a Comment