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During this trip we traveled 1,800 kilometers through the Moscow and Volga-Baltic Canals; the Volga, Sheksna, Kovzha, Svir, and Neva Rivers; and the Rybinsk, White, Ladoga, and Onega Lakes. There were eighteen locks along the way - each of which raised and lowered our ship from six to sixteen meters. I understand how a lock works, but I had trouble grasping the idea that we could move down and up during a voyage that took us through interconnected waterways that dropped in elevation overall. At one point we entered a lake that was fed by seventy rivers! That boggled my mind too.
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As one can easily see from the press, Russia suffers from extremely serious environmental problems. The rapid industrialization program instituted under former governments did not include concern for the environment and air and water pollution levels remain unacceptably high by anyone's standards. The economic downturn that followed the breakup of the Soviet Union reduced the production of new pollution somewhat, but simultaneously exacerbated the financing of long term solutions. Russian scientists have repeatedly called attention to the problem and identified the serious damage that it is having on public health. The statistics are genuinely horrible. The government has passed laws and regulations designed to deal with the problem, but the experts say that progress is glacial. While the pollution problem is extremely serious nationally and internationally, it was not a problem for us on this trip. During our visit to Russia we were not aware of being exposed to any obvious problems. Superficially at least, the air quality in Moscow was better than what we experience in Los Angeles and in the rural areas and in St. Petersburg it appeared to be much much better. Although they are known to be seriously contaminated, the waterways that we transited had no obvious visible pollution. This is not to say that I don't think that pollution is a problem. It is only to say that it did not adversely impact the trip - except when one thought about what it was doing to our world.
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