2020年6月

费尔南迪纳岛海岸的加拉帕戈斯海狮，厄瓜多尔科隆群岛 Galápagos sea lion off the shore of Fernandina Island, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador (© Tui De Roy/Minden Pictures)

A day for the oceans

The Galápagos sea lion is found in two places in the world—its namesake locale and the Isla de la Plata just off the coast of Ecuador. They're often spotted playing and surfing in the waves. They're gregarious on land, too, sometimes even grabbing a snooze on a town bench. Although a common and beloved sight in the islands, Galápagos sea lions are endangered, and their numbers are susceptible to changes in ocean temperatures, which that can limit their food supply.

Enter World Oceans Day. Celebrated annually on June 8 and recognized by the UN, the holiday aims to focus global attention on the health of our oceans. This year's theme calls for world leaders to commit to protecting 30% of the seas and 30% of the land by 2030 to help ensure species diversity, like our friendly Galápagos sea lion, and safeguard life as we know it. #BigGoals

La Pertusa教堂，西班牙莱里达 Hermitage of La Pertusa, Lleida province, Spain (© bbsferrari/Getty Images)

A hermitage with a view

If this vivid landscape has you feeling pulled into the photo, take a deep breath before you look right or left. Or maybe just fix your gaze on the medieval brick ruin ahead—the Hermitage of La Pertusa in northern Catalonia, Spain. Glance sideways and you'll be greeted by sheer vertical drops to the basin of the Canelles Reservoir, across which lies the region of Aragon—historically a powerful kingdom that ruled Catalonia and much of the Mediterranean.

An actual visit to this spot would require traversing a steep, rocky trail to the narrow outcrop that hosts the hermitage, once the chapel of a long-collapsed Romanesque castle. But imagine the reward: a vista of the beauty Catalonia offers beyond busy Barcelona.

锡安国家公园中的Walter's Wiggles小径，犹他州 Walter's Wiggles trail in Zion National Park, Utah (© Dennis Frates/Alamy)

The long and wiggling path

In 1926, Walter Ruesch, the first superintendent of Zion National Park oversaw the construction of one of the park's most ambitious trails. It took 258 helicopter flights to haul in the concrete needed to construct the steep 21-switchback trail out of Refrigerator Canyon up to Angels Landing, but the view from the top makes it all worthwhile. Walter's Wiggles, one of the most difficult and dangerous trails in the park, was added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 1987.

But you don't need to haul tons of concrete or carve into the sheer sides of a remote canyon help carry on the tradition of trail-building. Today is National Trails Day, a day 'to come together in partnership to advocate for, maintain, and clean up public lands and trails.'

Usually this means heading out to a local wilderness area and joining others to clear or maintain some trails, but this year (as you may have noticed) is a little different. The American Hiking Society has organized a digital campaign to inspire individuals to unite for the protection of trails and access to public lands—without endangering one another.

同步发光萤火虫照亮了大烟山国家公园中的森林 Synchronous fireflies illuminate the forests of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee (© Floris van Breugel/Minden Pictures)

By the light of the fireflies

Every year between late May and mid-June, synchronous fireflies gather into a sparkling, rhythmic lightshow in the forests of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As part of their 2-week mating display, the female lighting bugs synchronize their flashes with nearby males so that every few seconds waves of light ripple through the woods. While Photinus carolinus is only one of at least 19 species of fireflies that live in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, synchronous fireflies can be found in a few other places on Earth as well, particularly in Southeast Asia.

Each species of firefly has a characteristic flash pattern that helps the males and females recognize each other. In most species, like this one, the males fly and flash, while the females generally stay still and respond with a flash of their own. It's not clear why some species of fireflies flash synchronously, although some hypotheses involve diet, social interaction, and altitude. No matter why they do it, the flashing of lightning bugs is a magical sight to see—and we can all use a little magic sometimes.

兰鲁斯特一座名为Pont Fawr的石拱桥，英国威尔士 Pont Fawr, a stone arch bridge in Llanrwst, Wales, UK (© Pajor Pawel/Shutterstock)

A bridge too Fawr

How much quaintness can be crammed into one picture? We're pushing the limits with this verdant summer scene in North Wales, looking across the Conwy River from its east bank in the town of Llanrwst. Past the Pont Fawr (Big Bridge) in the foreground, the shrubbery-shrouded cottage dubbed Tu Hwnt I'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) seems to sprout straight from the grass. Built in the 15th century as a farmhouse, it's now a traditional Welsh tearoom serving up scones to locals as well as visitors bound for nearby Snowdonia National Park.

The Pont Fawr is itself the stuff of history: Built in the 1630s, it's often called the 'Inigo Jones bridge' after the pioneering early modern architect who, legend has it, designed the triple-arch span that today carries motor traffic. A one-way bottleneck along an otherwise two-way main road, the bridge's humped shape tends to obscure oncoming cars, earning it yet another local nickname: Pont y Rhegi (Bridge of Swearing).

两名山地车骑手在白缘公路上沿着谢福小道的转弯处骑行，犹他州峡谷地国家公园 Two mountain bike riders make their way down the Shafer Trail switchbacks on White Rim Road in Canyonlands National Park, Utah (© Grant Ordelheide/Tandem Stills + Motion)

For the love of bikes

In honor of World Bicycle Day, we share a bird’s-eye view of two mountain bikers traveling on the Shafer Trail switchbacks of White Rim Road in Canyonlands National Park in Utah. In 2018, the UN officially recognized 'the uniqueness, longevity and versatility of the Bicycle, which has been in use for two centuries, and that it is a simple, affordable, reliable, clean and environmentally fit sustainable means of transportation.'

German Karl von Drais is credited with creating the first version of a bike in 1817; it was a heavy wooden contraption that the rider pushed forward with his or her feet. It had many names—the 'draisine,' velocipede, and dandy horse--and it was a fad for a few years, but eventually the bike was banned because it was too dangerous (no brakes!).

The bicycle has gone through many iterations since then, from the less-than-comfortable 'boneshaker' in the 1860s, followed by the 'penny-farthing' with its huge front wheel, to today’s popular fatbikes and e-bikes. During one of America’s biking booms, in the 1970s, more bikes were sold than cars. Today bicycles remain as popular as ever, so whether it’s for recreation or transportation, the bicycle is here to stay.

SunwaptaFalls_FF_1920x1080_G_1078430640_HD_ZH-CN1637738701.jpg

Falling for the Canadian Rockies

Sunwapta Falls is one of several waterfalls in Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada, formed by hanging valleys. These valleys were created 8,000 years ago when glacier ice receded. Sunwapta Falls is actually a pair of waterfalls, a lower and upper one. Their water comes from the Athabasca Glacier, so volumes are higher in the summer due to seasonal glacial melting. Jasper National Park is the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies, with more than 4,000 square miles for camping, hiking, water sports, and other activities. Wildlife in the park includes elk, grizzly bears, moose, bighorn sheep, and caribou.

The largest living organism on Earth

Today marks the second ever World Reef Day, an observance created to help focus global attention on the deteriorating health of on our planet's vital reef systems, and also to help marshal efforts to help them recover. Why should you care about the health of ecosystems such as the Great Barrier Reef, seen in this photo? Because reefs are an easy indicator of how healthy our oceans are. And right now, reefs aren’t doing too well. What can you do? Learn about reefs—not just the dangers that put healthy reefs at risk, but why reefs are such a critical part of Earth's greater ecosystems.

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