Have you ever thought about visiting all of the national parks in the U.S. in one epic road trip?
In 2016, data scientist Randy Olson optimized the route of 14,498 miles (23,333 km) which would take 2+ months. He even designed the journey as a circle so you can begin at any point & direction.
All the details: randalolson.com/2016/07/30/the… #science #data #nature #travel
Dr. Randal S. Olson | The Optimal U.S. National Parks Centennial Road Trip
Randy Olson shows how to create an optimized road trip that visits the U.S. National Parks.randalolson.com
kechpaja
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •What would be even more epic would be to do the trip on a bicycle and make it a statement about climate change.
(Hopefully Florida, Texas, and the other southern states will one day be safe for everyone to visit.)
Lapineige
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Assuming on average ~250 grams of CO2/km, that roughly equals to 5.8 tons of CO2, out of 2t of one person's yearly carbon budget (to reach carbon neutrality¹) for this single trip.
Let's hope those doing it would make these 2 months a year by using more sustainable means of transportation 😅
(Very interesting calculation nonetheless, thanks for sharing it @Sheril 🙂)
¹ assuming it has to be equally divided between all humans, which is debatable.
fartshitass
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •SallyX
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Marcy Rockman
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •I'm a former National Park Service person - part of their climate change team - so want to add a note to this map and a caution about what it shows:
There are currently 423 units of the national park system. All of these are national parks. The units with the designation National Park (the 59 or so shown on this map) are by and large a function of history. "National Park" was used for units set up in the early history of the NPS, which is when many of the large parks known for their scenery were set up. Congress began to diversify national park designations - National Seashore, National Recreation Area, National Historical Site, etc. - in the mid-20th century. These aren't any less national parks, they just have more descriptive names.
Why recognizing this matters - the 423 units of the national park system cover many aspects of US history - and include many that are trying bring more balance and equity to national-scale stories - ex. Stonewall National Monument, Cesar Chavez National Monument, Rosie the Riveter National Historical Site. But none of these are named Nat
... show moreI'm a former National Park Service person - part of their climate change team - so want to add a note to this map and a caution about what it shows:
There are currently 423 units of the national park system. All of these are national parks. The units with the designation National Park (the 59 or so shown on this map) are by and large a function of history. "National Park" was used for units set up in the early history of the NPS, which is when many of the large parks known for their scenery were set up. Congress began to diversify national park designations - National Seashore, National Recreation Area, National Historical Site, etc. - in the mid-20th century. These aren't any less national parks, they just have more descriptive names.
Why recognizing this matters - the 423 units of the national park system cover many aspects of US history - and include many that are trying bring more balance and equity to national-scale stories - ex. Stonewall National Monument, Cesar Chavez National Monument, Rosie the Riveter National Historical Site. But none of these are named National Park. So when maps that show only National Parks are made and shared, they are cutting out major parts of US heritage that are also protected and important to see.
Thanks for the space to share this!
#Heritage
#Climate Heritage
Bryan Hansel
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Uncle PJ
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Roadskater, Ph.D.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •slugfarm
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •The Curse of La Mikey McFilms
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •We did a family road trip across Canada in our Hyundai Kona EV last summer of 10,000mi/16,000km and I figured we generated around 630kg of CO2, mostly in still coal fired Alberta and Saskatchewan. That’s about 0.04kg/km. I would imagine the average CO2 intensity of electricity in the USA would be larger. But hopefully in time it will get better. Would love to do this! We visited or drove through 9 Canadian National Parks. 😀
#EV #roadtrip #CO2
chrisalemany.ca/2022/08/15/sav…
Saving CO2 on a Cross Country EV Journey - Murkyview
chrisale (Murkyview)Chris B
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Kaj of the Creek
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Tim Stanton
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •David Gonzalez
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Swagpuss McG
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Im not visiting America until you stop that handcuffing people behind their back business. Wtaf is that about?
As a law abiding citizen of planet earth, I shouldn't be thinking about dangerous arrest practices before visiting your nation.
Also kinda don't want shot a lot. Holes is for swiss cheez
Rick Thoman
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Malka Beth
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •#NationalParks #Travel #Mapping
Dennis Howard
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Bodling
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Tim Ward ⭐🇪🇺🔶 #FBPE
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •JevidL
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Michael Cervieri
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •my retired neighbors did this over two years.
i'm insanely jealous.
RevLee
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •seb hanlon 😷
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •gmoke
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •National parks in Puerto Rico and American Virgin Islands too.
I think you could do an epic ferry trip island hopping from Puerto Rico to Venezuela or Colombia.
BadExampleMan 🟣
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •