Normally, a bucket list is litany of things you want to see or experiences you want to have before you are no longer of this earth. Or, more precisely, before you are too much of this earth.
Now the Weather Channel has given us a list of things you want to see before they die. Places that will disappear, or at least change so much that their wonder will be lost. Did you know that the Taj Mahal could be shut down in five years, due to air pollution and grubby-handed tourists? Or that Glacier National Park might be devoid of glaciers in just twenty years? (A century ago, it had 150 glaciers; now it has 27.)
The list is a chilling reminder that even the most monumental, iconic phenomena—the forests of Madagascar or, for cripe’s sake, the snow fields of the Alps—can also be fragile, especially in the face of climate change, deforestation, and tourists. That’s not a political statement; that’s simple fact.
We held out a little hope when we thought the list came from the Weather Channel because sometimes they are a titch wide of the mark. The predicted 16 inches of snow can mysteriously turn into a dusting…so maybe Venice might last longer than another 70 years. Then we saw that the list originated with TripInsurance.com. This is depressing because the actuaries know, man. Things come and go, and the actuaries know when.
The upshot: you’re in a race against two clocks. Your demise and the demise of the world. With luck, the first one will run out long before the second.
Photo: the Taj Mahal, by Amal Mongia, via Wikimedia Commons. Photographers note: “January 06-early morning – taken with Lubitel – expired Ektachrome slide film expired – cross processed. It is NOT photoshopped.”
