发展绿色文明，道路就在脚下

》》》》》》》》一键领取入口《《《《《《《​

Sadly, Americans often have to go to Europe just to have a good walk, simply because many northern European countries have established the legal "right to roam". That is, walkers have the right to cross private forests, wild spaces, and farmland. This gives the public access without limiting the economic use of the land. The US has beautiful national parks and some fine state and city parks, but little land where people can just ramble.  

很多北欧国家设有合法“漫游权”，美国人常常为享受漫步时光而专门跑去欧洲，这实在令人难过。漫游权持有者可以在私有树林、野地和农场游玩，该权利在不影响土地经济效益的同时使土地对公众开放。美国虽不乏美丽的州县，国家及城市公园也都风景优美，但真正提供给居民漫步的土地却少之又少。 

I recently finally succeeded in passing the Chinese driver's license test, so I've been driving around on the outskirts of Beijing looking for places to ramble. There are many beautiful places in the nearby mountains and farmland, but too much of it is being fenced off and closed to the people. There are not enough foot trails. Many golf courses are blocking access to riversides. I even came across a "resort" under construction with a guard who blocked an access road into the mountains.  

前不久我通过了中国的驾照考试，于是最近就经常开车在北京郊区四处转悠，想看看有没有能漫步的地方。我在城郊群山和农田附近发现不少美丽的好去处，但多处都被围住了，不对人们开放，土路并不多，几家高尔夫球场都将通往河边的路径封锁了起来。我还经过了一座没建好的度假村，一个警卫挡住了上山的道路。

But all land in China belongs to the people. It is not too late to preserve walkable open space for the general public.  

但即便如此，中国的所有土地也都是属于中国人民的，因此这些保留空地日后再对外开放，供大家散步游玩也不算太迟。

For many years, I lived in the Washington, DC area. The surrounding counties in Virginia and Maryland pride themselves on having "greenbelts" that limit development in the outer reaches of the metropolitan area. What this means in practice is that beautiful hills and farmland are now occupied by huge houses on lots with a minimum size of about 25 acres, roughly 10 hectares.  

我曾在华盛顿特区住过多年。弗吉尼亚州和马里兰州周边许多县都设有绿化带，绿化带限制了大都市边缘地段的发展，但他们都以拥有这些绿化带为荣。这反映了一个现实问题：过去那些美丽的山丘田野如今都被钢筋水泥替代了，至少有25英亩的土地用来盖楼，占地面积约10公顷。

The rolling hills and big grassy lawns are pretty when driving by in a car, but these areas are not really ecological and provide no benefit to the general public. Wealthy landowners have fenced off all the land, so there is nowhere to walk. Dangerous, winding two lane roads are the only way to get around the area. Only a brave person would dare to bike. Just walking by the side of the road means facing constant danger from cars speeding around a curve. The lawns are green in color but are not green in the sense of being ecologically sound — they take lots of mowing and chemical treatment.  

弗吉尼亚州和马里兰州有绵延起伏的山脉和广阔的大草坪，开车驶过时，景色从窗外看去还算优美，但这不过是表象，因为那里既不生态又不便民，富有的地主们将土地一寸不剩地围起来，根本不存在什么休闲散步的地方。那周围只有两条蜿蜒曲折、危机四伏的窄道，只有胆大的人敢骑自行车，步行又要面临被弯道飞驰的车辆撞到的风险。 此外，那里草地虽然翠绿，但不是被大规模收割就是遭到化学污染，因此跟“生态友好”也沾不上半点关系。

So, the only benefit of the Virginia and Maryland greenbelts goes to the rich landowners by reducing their land costs by excluding other types of development. Housing costs for everyone else in the region are driven up by limiting developable land. This might very well be worthwhile if the greenbelt provided green space for the people or protected the environment, but it does exactly the opposite. China should not follow this path.

有城市绿化带挡路，这片区域内的土地就不会被开发，因此对当地富有的地主们而言，设立绿化带唯一的好处就是能够帮助他们节约土地成本。可开发的土地一旦被闲置，该地区的住房价格就会随之上涨。如果绿化带能够为居民带来绿色空间，保护周围环境，这点“付出”本来是非常值得的，但结果却不尽人意，希望中国不要步美国后尘。

In the once free American west, extremely rich individuals, often Hollywood stars or tech billionaires, are buying tens of thousands of acres and closing them off to locals who have hiked, hunted and fished on those lands for generations.

其实以前在美国西部还有很多空闲土地的年代，许多身家亿万的好莱坞明星或科技巨头常常会购置数以万亩的土地，专门留给当地祖辈代代都是骑马狩猎和捕鱼的居民使用。

A very informative 2018 book by Ken Ilgunas, This Land is Our Land: How We Lost the Right to Roam and How to Take it Back, documents the history of the struggle to establish the right to walk around England. In the early 1930s, the British Communist Party in Manchester set up the British Workers' Sports Federation to support the rights of factory workers to just walk through the gorgeous nearby Peak District, which had long been open land celebrated in English poetry. After a massive national protest, the workers managed to establish England's first national park in the region. Finally, in the year 2000, an act of Parliament established the right to roam thoughout most of England. Similar rights exist in Scotland, Scandinavian countries, and other parts of northern Europe.  

2018年出版了一本讲述英国民众争取漫游权的作品，内容丰富精彩，书名叫：《这是我们的土地：失去了漫游权的我们该如何夺回？》，作者是肯·伊尔古纳斯。20世纪30年代初，为了维护工人们在峰区穿行的权利，英国共产党在曼彻斯特成立了英国工人体育联合会。许多英国诗歌都曾赞颂过峰区这片开放的土地。工人们举行完大规模全国抗议之后，英国政府建立了第一座国家公园，也就是今天的峰区国家公园。2000年，英国议会最终确立了“漫游权”法案，在英国大部分地区都有效。在此之后，漫游权也写进了苏格兰、斯堪的纳维亚等其他几个北欧国家的法案中。

I've had the wonderful experience of wandering on public footpaths through farmland in England and in the German and Austrian Alps. As nice as nature parks are, they are no substitute for the right to walk around normal land nearby home.

我曾在英国、德国、奥地利阿尔卑斯山脚下的田间小路散过步，那些经历十分美好，但不论在乡下散步有多惬意，还是在国家公园游玩有多开心，这些都无法取代在能在自家楼下随意散步的那种舒适感。

China is taking big steps to establish parks, greenways, and a network of national trails. Tying these in with "right to roam" footpaths would ensure that China's people can enjoy their beautiful land.

中国正加紧步伐建设公园、种植绿阴路、打造国家步道网，这些举措若与体现“漫游权”的人行道结合发展，就能确保中国人民享受脚下这片美丽富饶的中华大地。