美国国家公共电台 NPR Instagram Crowds May Be Ruining Nature

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

You scroll¹ through your friend's Instagram feed and see the most beautiful spot and think, I want to go there. It's natural, right? And so you do. Turns out that you are part of the problem, according to Brent Knepper. In the online article "Instagram Is Loving Nature To Death," the travel photographer says that thanks to the photo sharing app, some of the best kept secrets of the natural world are drawing big crowds and literally² altering the landscape. Brent Knepper joins me now from Chicago. Welcome to the program.

BRENT KNEPPER: Thanks for having me.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Social media gets blamed for everything, I think (laughter). But in this case, it does seem to be true. Can you tell us a little bit about Horseshoe Bend in northern Arizona, which you use as an example. Describe that for us first, if you would.

KNEPPER: So Horseshoe Bend is this beautiful spot 7 miles up the Colorado River from the Grand Canyon³. And the bend is very unique as far as waterway travels down there, where it makes a complete 180 degree turn in a canyon a thousand feet deep. And it's a very lovely place as long as we're willing to share it with the crowd.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: So tell me about that - share it with a crowd. Construction, apparently⁴, has begun in a parking lot that will accommodate more cars at the spot. And there's also going to be a new viewing platform. But how is that related to Instagram?

KNEPPER: So I ran the numbers, and the numbers do check out. As far as on Instagram, Horseshoe Bend's popularity, be it in its hashtag or in its geotag, is normally 10 times as popular as anything else in that area.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: But is that really a problem? Doesn't that popularity just mean that it might not be as unique, but it's still beautiful? It's still there. People can see it.

KNEPPER: Well, popularity is very important. The outdoor world needs more visitors and better accessibility. The difficulty with managing that side of it is that construction can have adverse⁵ effects to the natural areas if you start doing different buildings and that sort of thing on top of it, but yes.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Is this an anomaly, though, when we're talking just about Horseshoe Bend or have you seen other spaces that have changed?

KNEPPER: I have. A smaller one in Colorado is Conundrum⁶ Hot Springs. After it became a spot for people to easily find on social media, the amount of visitorship (ph) went up really high. And since this is a very remote location where people kind of hang around for a long time in the hot springs, they ran out of places to go to the bathroom. As a result, Conundrum Hot Springs had to be shut down for a little bit while park rangers⁷ were up there with shovels⁸ to relieve that issue.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Meaning they were building bathrooms because people were just, like, basically...

KNEPPER: Bathrooms were not built. They literally had to shovel⁹ up everyone's waste and pack it out for them.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Oh, that does not sound like a very fun experience. And what about Vance Creek¹⁰ Bridge?

KNEPPER: Yeah. So Vance Creek Bridge is probably the most famous spot within the Instagram nature niche¹¹. It is the second tallest bridge in the U.S. It's privately¹² owned. And it's about a two-hour drive outside of Seattle.

Vance Creek Bridge - its location was revealed around 2012 on Instagram. And since then, visitorship has just exploded. And as a result of vandalism, graffiti and a couple of unresolved campfires that caught the bridge on fire, they're just going to tear it down now.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: They're going to tear down the bridge?

KNEPPER: Yes.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: What do you think is driving this for people? I mean, I might see a beautiful picture on Instagram and think, yeah, OK, I want to go to that place. But what is it that people get from going to a place that a lot of people have visited?

KNEPPER: Well, there's definitely a community aspect to it. There's nothing wrong with seeing a cool space on the Internet and deciding to go there. It's just, you know, maybe don't start fires on it and clean up your poop.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Travel photographer Brent Knepper, thank you so much for joining us.

KNEPPER: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF LYMBYC SYSTYM'S "PARABOLOID")

1 scroll   

n.卷轴，纸卷；(石刻上的)漩涡

参考例句：

• As I opened the scroll,a panorama of the Yellow River unfolded.我打开卷轴时，黄河的景象展现在眼前。
• He was presented with a scroll commemorating his achievements.他被授予一幅卷轴，以表彰其所做出的成就。

2 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

3 canyon   

n.峡谷，溪谷

参考例句：

• The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
• The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。

4 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

5 adverse   

adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的

参考例句：

• He is adverse to going abroad.他反对出国。
• The improper use of medicine could lead to severe adverse reactions.用药不当会产生严重的不良反应。

6 conundrum   

n.谜语；难题

参考例句：

• Let me give you some history about a conundrum.让我给你们一些关于谜题的历史。
• Scientists had focused on two explanations to solve this conundrum.科学家已锁定两种解释来解开这个难题。

7 rangers   

护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员

参考例句：

• Do you know where the Rangers Stadium is? 你知道Rangers体育场在哪吗？ 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Now I'm a Rangers' fan, so I like to be near the stadium. 现在我是Rangers的爱好者，所以我想离体育场近一点。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

8 shovels   

n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份

参考例句：

• workmen with picks and shovels 手拿镐铲的工人
• In the spring, we plunge shovels into the garden plot, turn under the dark compost. 春天，我们用铁锨翻开园子里黑油油的沃土。 来自辞典例句

9 shovel   

n.铁锨，铲子，一铲之量；v.铲，铲出

参考例句：

• He was working with a pick and shovel.他在用镐和铲干活。
• He seized a shovel and set to.他拿起一把铲就干上了。

10 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

11 niche   

n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等)

参考例句：

• Madeleine placed it carefully in the rocky niche. 玛德琳小心翼翼地把它放在岩石壁龛里。
• The really talented among women would always make their own niche.妇女中真正有才能的人总是各得其所。

12 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。