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Who Will See the Last Clear Waters?

Smelly water with green algae swirls in it - I'm not tempted to swim in the polluted Baltic Sea, but many people here ignore the problem and swim happily like they did 30 years ago when it was still clean and cold.

I read a beautifully written blog post, urging the reader to go and explore the world, before it’s all gone, as it will be. Nature, wildlife…

But I feel like saying, don’t go!

Let’s leave something for the future generations.

Let’s not trample upon it all right now.

Let’s water it and give it space to grow, undisturbed.

I know, I know… this is selfish of me, since I’ve already traveled and explored. I’ve already gotten my fair share of these experiences. The rest is much appreciated overflow.

When is one’s quota full? Does your carbon footprint matter?

Smelly water with green algae swirls in it – I’m not tempted to swim in the polluted Baltic Sea, but many people here ignore the problem and swim happily like they did 30 years ago when it was still clean and cold.

These images are from Helsinki last week. The water didn’t tempt me for a swim last summer… though many locals actually do swim in these waters, not far from this harbor, and even more so last summer with the record warm temperatures.

Do you see the green swirls? Let me tell you, the smell wasn’t nice when I walked by and took these snaps. All in all, this is a very clean, fresh, and nature-friendly country… but the Baltic Sea looks like it isn’t doing well, to be honest.

How can we influence influencers?

Why am I stuck, looking at all of these little changes that happen with such subtlety, unable to respond with action?

59 replies on “Who Will See the Last Clear Waters?”

A very good post. Thought provoking and urgent. My quota should be filled as well. So what do we do – we ask ourselves…I try to work with it in my own little world, try to do what I can and to spread the word. Like Ghandi told us. But I feel the same …how do we influence influencers? Keep asking questions and start feeling better by doing things little by little…

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So true, Leya. At least we can try to not make it worse. Do yoy know the blogger Les Petits Pas de Juls? She is an inspiration, entirely green lifestyle. But for most of us, maybe little things are enough… better than nothing. I just wish it wasn’t the trendiest trend to trample every unbeaten path until it’s worn and beaten. Environmentalism still isn’t as trendy.
Anyway, enjoy your Sunday!!

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Lovely photos. There are so many places that I have taken a swim in over the years that I would not consider any longer. Such a tragedy. Interesting photo essay. Thank you.

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Such a dilemma. Should we leave the land in peace or see for ourselves what damage we’ve done? I said more than once, “I want to go to Machu Pichu before travel is limited. But should I be satisfied looking at photos and videos? No, I’ll go because I’m greedy for travel.

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Hi, Snow!
This was a moving post coming from someone who is a traveller at heart. Such posts do come along once in a while. We need to conserve nature for there shouldn’t be a crisis like ‘Who will See the last clear waters?’
Often we forget that such deep exploration is leaving behind carbon footprints. There is much to emulate from nature without practically invading its territory.
This is the first thing I am reading on my birthday. Very inspiring!

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Happy birthday!!!! Sorry to make you start it off with these thoughts but happy if you can find some inspiration in them 😊 Humans are invaders by nature, I’m not sure how we could ALL agree to conserve instead of exploiting for personal pleasure or monetary gain. It’s a neverending story… but lets keep hopes up that the little things we do will amount to something good! Have a fun day, what are your plans?

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I will visit places which are interesting to me and where I have not been. Totally different thing is if I have time, health or money enough to fulfill my dreams. Yes, I am selfish, You may say so, but when at the end of my life on my deathbed, would I be content because I did not go and enjoyed life then when I had possibility. Now it is too late.

Happy Sunday!

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Travel is a big thing, but I worry and get angry over the smaller things, too. Why do people still use plastic bags at the grocery store? Why do they let their cars idle in a parking lot so they can stay cool but pollute the air? Why do people buy case after case of plastic water bottles instead of filling one reusable one? Sometimes I think if we could all influence others to make teeny tiny changes, it might someday snowball into real change.

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I agree – there are some places on earth that are too popular and are being trampled upon. We were considering going to the Greek islands but then I read about what tourism is doing to many of the small towns and decided not to. I’m happy that I saw most of Europe in my early twenties (a million years ago) when it wasn’t overrun.

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Such a timely post. As we travel around the world and see how climate change is affecting the smallest corners of our planet, it’s heartbreaking to see what’s going to happen. Some places should be left untouched. Another blogger wrote a similar thought in her post. It’s the eternal predicament of a discerning traveller. Should we travel and explore or observe from the outside?

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Yes indeed! I never used to think about these things, I was so eager to conquer to world and fly around in my airline job. I thought travel was only positive: bringing cultures together, increasing understanding of one another and knowledge of the world. But nowadays it seems so different!!! The concrete effects outweigh the abstract ones by far!

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It’s sad isn’t it. The plastic pollution is worrying, not to mention other wastes. The pollution of the ocean, the air… Norway is one of the most environmentally friendly countries but there’re still things that cause concerns and could be improved. Great post!

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An elegant post. My pet peeve is articles headlined ‘10 places to visit before they’re ruined.’ And why are these places ruined? Mind you, I might think those places are bad now, but a younger person might still think they’re unbelievable. Example: I love snorkeling here in Hawaii, but old timers bemoan the lack of fish compared to former days.
I think we can all do our bit for the planet, but I don’t think it will be enough unless certain people find they can make a lot of money in the process. Personally, I believe at some point the planet will rebel. A virus, climate change, or whatever will come to thin out the most destructive species (and take a bunch of others with it no doubt).

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Thanks Graham! I feel the same way about those posts – and not to forget articles by market leaders such as Lonely Planet (10 countries to visit in 2018, etc). From an economic perspective a boost in tourism might be welcome for many small countries, I do get that. But this type of thinking seems a bit outdated to me. Even the blog posts with titles like ”10 places to visit before…” seem so unoriginal, they annoy me simply by being uninspired clickbait without any meaningful content.

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Those numerical list articles are everywhere. I think they’re meant to lure people in with the promise that they won’t be too long or too hard to understand. I’m just waiting for someone to write ‘Five ways to solve all the world’s problems.’ Actually, that sounds more like a Monty Python sketch.

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Right! Such a conundrum. Even if a traveler is very mindful when vacationing–or vacations in an eco-friendly way–unless the person walked or rode a bike there, they impacted the planet just getting there. If we can all do our best to keep our neighborhoods clean we’d all be better off, I think. Here where I live in the U.S., no one swims in our river–lots of kayaking and boating, but it doesn’t appeal for swimming. Last thing I need is for my twins to get some bacterial infection, so we stick to the pool. But it seems a shame to avoid the nature right outside our door. Hard to know what to do. Great post. Lots to consider! Pics of Helsinki look very nice! Hope you’re well!

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Thanks Rebecca! Interesting to hear that. It really is such a shame. I had the same problem last summer: so many locals were swimming in the sea, even their kids were, and at the same time there was news of toxic algae which could give you liver damage if you swallow the water. What to do: enjoy life like everyone else or stay safe and not swim, despite the lovely weather? I opted not to swim because I wouldn’t have enjoyed it. Sometimes having all this information available to you is a bad thing! It would be easier to close your eyes and not know, not see, not smell…

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Great, thoughtful and timely blogpost. I am with @pierrmorgan and the ‘go gently go mindfully’ crowd. Just because one stays at home doesn’t mean they don’t wreak havoc on this place. Conservation starts at home. Mother Nature is getting ready to chew us up and spit us out so we all need to be mindful eco-influencers wherever we chose to tread.

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Interesting question! I enjoy as much of the world as possible while being as green as possible. If we live a worldly life, we ain’t riding on horseback or via schooner LOL! But in the same regard, I own no car, walk most places, and minus a few plane rides each year and the odd Uber for a few minutes, my carbon footprint is really not much of a footprint at all. Cool post!

Ryan

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Thanks Ryan and sorry for the late reply! Your comment hopped out of my radar.
It’s hard nowadays to be completely green, isn’t it? I walk most places too… but there are still a million cars driving by… does it matter that I walk? Maybe… maybe not? I wish I had the answers!

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This was a terrifying summer for all people having a summer house by the Baltic Sea. Like my parents. As early as June, the water turned green, and nobody know whether water was safe for retrievers to swim anymore. So we had to stay away from cottage, the whole summer. What a nightmare!

The biggest reason why Baltic Sea is so utterly sick is our agriculture. The fertilizers flow to rivers and eventually to the sea. And we all can see the outcome.

Have you heard of the work of Ilkka Herlin and Saara Kankaanrinta in Qvidja gard? They are really investing on cleaner agriculture. http://www.qvidja.fi/en/front-page/

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Thanks Johanna for commenting! And for the link, I haven’t heard of it but will have a look!!
I signed up for volunteer work to clean up the Baltic Sea something like 5 years ago, or more, but not once have I received an invitation to any such event! It seems no concrete steps are being taken. There was a training in another town I got an invitation to, for oil disasters. But I couldn’t go because of work and it being so far away from the capital. Such a shame…
Hubby and I don’t have a summer cottage and so we are stuck in Helsinki every summer. There’s nowhere to swim and the geese have taken over the parks. It’s not a fun summer city… but you get used to it 😊 Last summer we managed to find one (!) playground which had shade and so we took our twins there quite often!

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