And so We Climbed…
…Into The Mountains, because something about the journey of doing so not only brings us closer to ourselves but to all that surrounds us.
“It is inconceivable to me that an ethical relation to land can exist without love, respect, and admiration for land, and a high regard to its value. By value, I, of course, mean something far broader than mere economic value; I mean value in the philosophical sense” (261) Leopold
The earth is not disposable to us. There are many reasons for why we should “save” or “protect” the environment. Be it the balance of the ecosystem, the lives of all organisms, or the resources we gain from it. But I like to think there is more to it than what we can simply gain or lose.
Perhaps we should care for the intrinsic value of this special place in the universe we know of.
During the Fall break, Liz and I decided to head to the Alps. Four years ago I had met a Swiss man during my trek in Tibet. The wonderful thing about traveling is that you cross paths with not only amazing places but amazing people as well. Fast forward to this Fall and Luk had made his way back to Europe and had a couch available to me. Sometimes, the kindness of strangers allows us to conserve resources and share what we have and I was very grateful when he opened his home up to us.
Switzerland has always struck me at a country that tries to do things right and has its priorities structured and right. As we made our way through the mountains on the train I got an overwhelming sense of appreciation for this breathtaking place. Somewhere so precious should be protected and travelled lightly, thus I looked up ways I could do that as a visitor, leave a small footprint.
“5 easy things you can do to protect the Alps”
Here’s what you can do to protect the Alps while you visit Switzerland. You’ll help fighting global warming and prevent pollution:
- Traveling to Switzerland: if you can, avoid traveling by plane or car. Choose the train. If you can’t, you can compensate for the CO2 emission of your trip; I was glad to know that my choice of transportation, although longer and more expensive, allowed me to save on carbon emissions while getting to view to beautiful countryside.
- Traveling in Switzerland: use public transport instead of a car. The Swiss train system is one of the best in the world: clean, safe and comfortable. If you prefer to travel by car, please compensate for the CO2 emission; While staying in Zurich we walked from the apartment to the city and used the tram with our luggage the first and last night. This way we got to explore and get fresh air while helping keep it that way.
- Food: buy local biological products. That’s quite easy in Switzerland as many supermarkets offer a wide range of these products; I was happy to observe that here many of the products are organic as the norm and there were lots of options to eat clean healthy food.
- Drinks: do not buy bottled water. Swiss tap water is just as good and results in a much smaller CO2 footprint; This one I was not the best at, because I had no reusable water bottle I had to buy bottled water, but then with that I did try to refill it from the tap when I could. We drank a lot of tea using a kettle to also stay hydrated.
- Try to separate waste whenever possible. I was pleased to observe that Switzerland has some of the best recycling in the world and this was backed up by the knowledge Luk my host informed us on. Here they even separate based on the color of the bottle and you can find a bin easily within reach. In his apartment, there was a compost pile and cardboard box for each type of waste, although we weren’t producing very much of it.Info provided by: (http://www.myswissalps.com/)
After spending time in the city, we were ready to head to the mountains. We chose Mount Pilatus, Elevation: 2128m just outside of Lucern. We started in the valley where Lukas told me that people have been discussing discontinuing the use the traditional cowbells for they are concerned for their hearing and well-being. They tested the stress levels and taste of the milk from cows with and without the constant ringing in their ears. Apparently, the milk tastes betters from the cows that were freed from having to listen to the bell ring.
Walking through the foggy pasture, a green sign emerged through the mist. Written in German, it explains the biodiversity efforts in the area by a national agriculture campaign. Because Switzerland has so little land, farmers have to also utilize the meadows of the Alpine regions for growing. There are four types of biodiversity; functional, ecological, genetic, and species that all play a crucial role in our “natural capital, that helps keep us alive, and supports our economies” (p. 81 Living in the Environment). These grasslands are vital to providing local food to the people of Switzerland and it is the farmers best interest to maintain a healthy natural environment, not only because of pressure to do so from the general concerned public but also for the benefit of their business in the long-term. We live in a time of instant gratification, which has caused us to be in this global warming crisis in the first place.
As the evening settled, and we waited for the tram to make its way up to us. The world’s steepest cogwheel railway leads up to the Peak of Mount Pilatus. Being that it took us 6 hours to summit to the top we would have to take the tram down for the sun was setting but and the temperature quickly dropping. Looking out over the mountain we had successfully climbed I was filled with a sense of pride not only that we did it but that I had spent an exhausting day learning, appreciating, and soaking up the energy of nature. I was able to capture this picture of a paraglide jump just before I left. I would have loved to make my way down the way this tandem duo did in a more extreme way of paragliding, imitating a soaring bird. I feel like time spent outside brings us closer to what it is that we are trying to save, and knowing that there are outdoors enthusiasts out there like all of the ones I had met on this trip, brings me a great sense of hope and optimism for our future as a planet.
Works Cited
“Aldo Leopold.” Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2015): 1. Literary Reference Center. Web. 21 Sept. 2015.
Bess, Michael. The Light-green Society: Ecology and Technological Modernity in France, 1960-2000. Chicago: U of Chicago, 2003. Print.
Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott E. Spoolman. Living in the Environment. 18th ed. Stamford: Cengage Learning, 2015. Print.
https://www.landwirtschaft.ch/
http://www.thelocal.ch/20140925/study-sounds-death-knell-for-swiss-cow-bells
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Pilatus
http://www.myswissalps.com/aboutswitzerland/nature/environment/help