From the New7Wonders Foundation, the folks who brought us the "New 7 Wonders of the World" (see last post), comes another opportunity for the public to declare which seven of the world's places deserve to be labeled world wonders. This time we're nominating "natural wonders," and nominations, accepted through tomorrow, August 8, must fall into one of these categories:
Animal reserve
Canyon or fjord
Cave or grotto
Coastline or cliff
Forest or wood
Geological site
Glacier
Mountain, volcano or rocks
Nature conservancy park
Oasis or desert
Prehistoric natural site
Underwater world or reef
Water, sea, lake or river
Waterfall
I've clicked in my picks:
Lake Louise, Canada (photo)
Masai Mara, Kenya
Lake Titicaca, Bolivia and Peru
Mt. Everest, Nepal and Tibet
Iguassu Falls, Brazil and Argentina
Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA
Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA
I picked those as my top seven because, with the exception of Lake Louise, they're reasonably well-known and well-traveled and therefore more likely to receive more initial nominations and survive the New 7 Wonders Foundation's round of cuts than more obscure but equally spellbinding and arresting natural places.
There are countless incredible places, large and small, sung and unsung. To boil Earth's wonders, manmade or natural, to a list of seven rubs me wrong, as choosing seven places to vote "in" feels like voting thousands of other incredible places "out."
But the point of this voting is to make us aware that our planet and everything in and on it belong to and depend on us. Earth's ours to explore, adore, appreciate and protect. If we don't, who will?
LoriHein.com
