海角大神

The choice of running mate always affects presidential candidates鈥� prospects. This time the process has even higher stakes. It鈥檚 an acid test of America鈥檚 commitment to further diversifying the halls of political power.

America holds no monopoly on the policing debate. The idea that some jobs that police now do should instead be done by specialists with specific social skills is standard operating practice in European countries. We wanted to explore how that works.

We鈥檝e looked at mutual-aid networks a few times in recent weeks. This next report is from Mexico City. Residents, used to getting little (or late) support from their government, try to support their neighbors in a crisis. COVID-19 is no exception.

A ban on single-use plastic in Kenya, a delisting of the scales of the highly trafficked pangolin as a medicinal in China, and a telling archaeological discovery in Italy are just three of this week鈥檚 global progress points. You can click below to read the full set. Enjoy the uplift.

As the July Fourth holiday fades into memory, summer starts in earnest. Americans hear the call of the natural world: Leave those four walls behind; seek new vistas.聽

鈥淲e need the tonic of wildness. ... We can never have enough of nature,鈥� advised perhaps its most famous advocate, Henry David Thoreau. 鈥淚 am losing precious days,鈥� added John Muir, known as the 鈥淔ather of the National Parks.鈥� 鈥淚 am learning nothing in this trivial world of men. I must break away and get out into the mountains to learn the news.鈥澛�

In recent times movements such Japan鈥檚 shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing, have touted the therapeutic effects of immersion into the great outdoors. Journeys into the wild are used to help restore the mental and physical health of Iraq War veterans.聽

It doesn鈥檛 take studies (though they exist) to know that absorbing grand natural vistas or merely sitting in solitude in a quiet green place can be relaxing and restorative. It just feels good.

But not everyone has equal access to nature, or feels equally comfortable going into it 鈥� problems reinforced in many cases by poverty and prejudice. In a 2014 report, the National Park Service estimated that 95% of visitors to its parks were white. And a 2011 NPS survey concluded that three times as many Black people as white felt unsafe in these parks.

For Black Americans, even enjoying nature much closer to home can turn into an ordeal. This spring a Black man bird-watching in New York鈥檚 Central Park politely asked a white woman to obey the park鈥檚 rules and leash her dog. Instead, she called the police, saying an 鈥淎frican American man鈥� was threatening her. (She later apologized for her actions, and聽faces a misdemeanor charge of falsely reporting an incident in the third degree.)

In the 21st century, the United States is moving toward becoming a 鈥渕ajority minority鈥� nation 鈥� nonwhites outnumbering whites. The love and protection of the natural world will be in the hands of an ever-wider spectrum of Americans. Can people be expected to love and guard something they don鈥檛 visit?

In 2018, there were 1,177 people who hiked the entire Appalachian Trail, an arduous 2,200-mile trek between Georgia and Maine. That was a record number. So far this year, reports Outside Magazine, only two people have completed it. Both were young white males. With much of the trail closed due to the pandemic, they had to evade local law enforcement and park officials along the way, sometimes talking their way out of confrontations, and then illegally sneaking back onto the trail. One can only wonder if a Black hiker could have done the same.

The national discussion about racial inequality has brought into focus that the trail鈥檚 hiking community is overwhelming the domain of educated white men, says Sandi Marra, president and CEO of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, a nonprofit group. She told Outside that she hopes the dialogue will result in new ideas on how to make the outdoor world more inclusive and diverse.

Experiencing nature expresses a kind of freedom. 鈥淣ature is made to conspire with spirit to emancipate us,鈥� said Thoreau鈥檚 old friend, philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. Helping a wider spectrum of Americans know nature鈥檚 wonders benefits everyone.