Latvia's gently undulating countryside is among the most beautiful in Europe, especially this time of year. Photo by Ricardo Liberato/CC
It turns out that Latvia helps the world breathe more easily.
I discovered this when I was researching the reasons why Latvia was ranked as the 8th cleanest and greenest country in the world by the 2008 Environmental Performance Index. The EPI is a systematic environmental survey undertaken by Yale and Columbia in 149 countries.
If I were to summarize all the scientific data the EPI compiled in six environmentally indicative categories, I would have to say that Latvia came in 8th among 149 countries in the world because Latvia still has an abundance of two things that other countries are gasping for: clean air and clean water.
In fact, we not only have clean air. We export it. We manufacture metric tons of it in our forests, mires and peat bogs, and ship it out back into the atmosphere for global consumption. This process is called “carbon dioxide sequestration”, which means that our green forests and lush swamps are sucking up the bad carbon dioxide from the air and replacing it with good air and healthy biomass.
Latvia’s 35,000 square kilometers of sprawling forests and fields work like a giant organic filter, sucking up greenhouse gases and converting them into something green and growing. So, in addition to being a nice place to visit to pick mushrooms and berries, Latvia’s forests are performing a life-saving operation for a world that Thomas Friedman describes as increasingly “hot, flat and crowded.”
While Latvia could be perceived as flat (although we prefer the phrase ‘gently rolling’), it is definitely not hot, nor crowded. The brisk breezes that blow in off the Baltic Sea aerate a robust landscape that is sparsely populated by people, but teeming with Northern European wildlife. (At this time of the year, the foxes are everywhere).
Latvia’s biggest city, Riga, fills to a million every day, but Latvia’s 1.3 million other inhabitants are spread through mid and small-sized towns that are comfortably separated by 60,000 or so kilometers of forests, fields and farms. Historically, Latvia was a place that wealthy Western Europeans came to in order to get away from somewhere else. Latvia was green, rich with wildlife, and a welcome relief from the hustle and bustle of industrialized Europe.
The old barons built castles and mansion surrounded by vast tracts of verdant land that they used for hunting, fishing and cultivating. Not all of Latvia’s castles and manor homes have survived, but those that have been restored are nestled in gorgeous landscapes that still thrive with flora and fauna. Nation branding expert Simon Anholt saw the ubiquitous Latvian “mansion in the forest” as a metaphor for Latvia itself. The capital of Riga was that grand palace, while the rest of Latvia consisted of the vast and endless gardens, parks and forests that surround the “castle of light.”
When Latvia joined the European Union in 2004, we did more than just return another European country to the political fold. We gave Europe 64,000 sq km of clean air, clean water, fruitful meadows and fecund forests. We have preserved a rare piece of Europe’s green past, before it started to get paved over by rampant civilization.
If you enjoy reading historical novels about 11th century Viking warriors sailing to Byzantium, you can still see today with your own eyes what the Vikings saw a thousand years ago when they sailed into the Bay of Riga. Latvia’s coastline is the same as it ever was. Especially the northern Liv coast, which forms an endless tricolor ribbon of green, white and blue. These are the colors of the pines, sand, and sea that run the length of Latvia’s 494 km coastline. Through no coincidence, they also happen to be the colors of the Liv flag. The Livs were the original inhabitants of ancient Livonia, and their traditions, like the woodlands of Slitere National Park in Kurzeme, are valued and lovingly preserved.
Another group of ancient original settlers that have found a hospitable home in Latvia are Konic horses. The Konic is a wild horse that is believed to be a descendent of the now extinct Tarpan. Tarpan horses once roamed freely across the Eurasian continent, and thanks to the World Wildlife Fund and other supporters, several herds of wild Konics now roam freely in Latvia’s protected preserves. They live like they used to live, in a setting that feels like it used to feel.
Why do the Konic horses like it so much in Latvia? Maybe, like the old barons, wild horses just like to get away from the stress and pressures of modern life. Or maybe it’s just something in the air and water here.
Ojārs Kalniņš is the director of the Latvian Institute. The Latvian Institute (Latvijas institūts) was established by the Latvian government to provide a wide range of information about Latvia, its society, culture and history. For more information visit www.li.lv.
Disclaimer:
Views expressed in the opinion section are never those of the Baltic Reports company or the website’s editorial team as a whole, but merely those of the individual writer.
