Russia....

In 2002 I travelled to Russia, Finland, Norway and Sweden on a University Field School. I am posting a few of my favorite photos from Russia. They are not my favorite because they are of beautiful photographs, they are my favorite because they remind me why we are recycling and trying to clean up the planet. The area of Russia I travelled to was in the North, above the Arctic Circle to an area called the Kola Penisula, more specifically the town of Murmansk and its neighbouring village areas. This town is a major stop on shipping routes and is heavily polluted due to the amount smelters in the area and not to mention a good portion of the USSR's nuclear submarines that have been sunk in the harbour with their reactors still on board.. This is the only town in the world likely, that has a clock in the square that tells you the time, temperature and radiation at that hour. Sounds like a gorgeous place to visit doesn't it....

Despite the economic, geographic hardships and the serious pollution problems that plagues this region, the people are beautiful. They treated myself and my fellow travellers like family, offering us everything they could.

An interesting side note to this area is how different it would be to the rest of "Modern Russia" meaning in comparison to St. Petersburg and Moscow. This area has not changed since the fall of the Soviet empire. There are still Lenin statues and Hammer and Sickle statues everywhere, in fact this city was still a "closed" city until a few years prior to our arrival.

Without further ado.. here are some photos...

This is a photo of a smelter in the town of Montchegorsk. I am not sure why a barbed wire fence was necessary, no one wants to go to the smelter! In this town we were able to visit a church during Sunday service. I asked one of the professors from Russia where all the men were and his response was that most men work at the smelter here in town and their life expectancy is only into their mid 30's. This town was incredibly polluted, I do believe it is listed as one of the most polluted places on Earth. As you drive closer to the town you notice a "dead zone" no trees and even the soil is dead... Talk about a real eye opener.

I quickly snapped this picture of a worker in the harbour in Murmansk.

Here is a shot of me with one of the Lenin statues we found in town.