“Mother Nature is the great equalizer. You can’t get away from it.” — Christopher Heyerdahl
Imagination helps us overcome our biggest obstacles, inspiring us to create new things and improve existing models.
Look, for example, at the automobile. According to Live Science, Karl Benz patented the first gasoline-powered car in 1886, but many before him, Leonardo Da Vinci included, had already envisioned self-propelled vehicles. Benz is credited as the inventor of the automobile because his practical model works like the cars we drive today. Most famously, however, is Henry Ford’s mass automobile production via a moving assembly line beginning in 1913. With the creation of the interstate highway system, we can commute to work and make cross-country road trips at our leisure.
In addition to cars, we have created several other modes of transportation and spaces for work, living, and entertainment. However, our problem-solving efforts have transformed the way the earth looks. There is less green on the ground and more gray in the air.
While there are eco-conscious people, Mother Nature has her way of fighting back. She reminds us of her existence in little ways, flowers growing through the cracks of sidewalks, for instance, and in much more significant ways, seen in the 30 photos below.
01. A Victorian tree house in Florida.
02. Visions of pink over an old railroad in Paris.
messynessychic
03. Tent of Tomorrow, initially built for the ’64 World’s Fair in Flushing, Queens.
04. Mall turned massive koi aquarium in Bangkok, Thailand.
Jesse Rockwell
05. Once a palace in Poland, this site is beginning to look like a forest.
06. Aggressive greenery envelops a deserted flour mill in Sorrento, Italy.
Jason Wallace
07. A house in Kolmanskop, Namibia’s most famous ghost town.
Marsel Van Oosten
08. A striking contrast between growth and neglect in Hong Kong.
Romain JL
09. A natural gradient in Washington.
10. Life among peeling plaster in an abandoned railway station in Abkhazia, Georgia.
Ilya Varlamov
11. Charming railroad track at Taipingshan National Forest, Taiwan.
T.-C. Chen
12. A sleeping goddess, ‘Mud Maid,’ at the Lost Gardens of Heligan in England.
Lost Gardens of Heligan
13. While bridges fall, nature still stands.
14. A fantastic performance by the tree.
Crackoala
15. Though in ruins, Ta Prohm is a popular tourist site in Cambodia, Angkor, and Siem Reap Province.
Pietro Bevilacqua
Brad Grove
16. 102-year-old transport ship becomes a magnificent floating forest in Australia.
AndyBrii
17. There is hope for this neglected church in France.
Jurgrossen
18. Okpo Land, an amusement park in South Korea, was closed after a series of accidents.
19. Abandoned cars receive some love from the earth.
Rosanne Delange
20. I.M. Cooling Tower, part of a deserted power plant in Belgium.
Broken View
21. This car in Taiwan is greener than a hybrid.
22. Shrubs sprouting throughout an abandoned factory.
23. Iguazu Falls, Argentina, looks like a ‘Castle in the Sky.’
Andrew Murray
24. A mysterious site in Vashon Island, Washington.
Ethan Welty
25. Moss surfaces a 160-year-old unused railway in Paris.
Pierre Folk
26. A green Ferris wheel.
Kyle Telechan
27. A house of fall foliage.
Kala
28. Tree Roots Overcoming Brick Sidewalk
worldbeyondyourown
Wei-Feng Xue
29. Pripyat, Ukraine, nearly 30 years after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
Castle Maine Independent
30. Greenery makes a comeback in an abandoned hotel room.
Matthias Haker
31. Abandoned Fishermen’s Town In Kamchatka, Russia
English Russia
32. Abandoned Mansion Near Kilgarvan, Ireland
Sam Abell
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