Last summer I met Chris Evans from the U. of Glamorgan who was visiting Colonial Williamsburg as a visiting research fellow. His research has to do with Wales and their industrial support of slavery. You know, iron into hoes, wool into cheap clothing. So, one day I told him that I imagined Wales looking like the Charlottesville area and he replied, "Yes, but there are no trees in Wales." That put a damper on this treehugger's eagerness to visit the "land of my fathers."
But when husband Ken showed me this article in today's Washington Post, I got fired up again, looking ... for the perfect cottage rental, walking path, castles, etc., etc. To do: look at Centre for Alternative Technology website, search for a source of real Welsh wool to knit blanket for my step-grandchild to be, buy caephilly cheese, read "How Green was My Valley" ...
Wales, the greenest place on Earth
By Pamela Petro
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, March 21, 2010
For two decades I've been exhausting my vocabulary seeking names for all the shades of green in the Welsh countryside. Pastures are Crayola green; windbreaks are jade; spring mosses are the chartreuse of an avocado's innards. The ribboning hills after it has rained, when sunlight breaks through shark-colored clouds, throb pure neon. Distance makes the mountains aquamarine.
These days, Wales can add another green to its palette: the green that comes from being one of the most environmentally progressive nations on Earth ...
(Photo from WP article.)
