Less Than 10% of the World’s Land is More Than 48 hours From a City

Some of the world’s most remote locations are not all that far from civilization. Less than 10% of the world’s land is more than 48 hours from a city. This is raising concerns that the planet’s wilderness is becoming endangered. But if you are determined to get away from it all, there are still a few choice spots left. A short list of the world’s most remote locations include Easter Island, McMurdo Station in Antarctica and Tristan da Cunha, formerly known as Saint Helena Island, where Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to and died. Located in the southern Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa, Tristan da Cunha is perhaps the most uninhabited place on the planet.

Easter Island, of course, is quite famous for it’s remarkable stone carvings. The 887 weird statutes of Easter Island are said to have been made to appease the gods and promote the growth of trees and crops. Located on the southeastern tip of the Polynesian Triangle in the Pacific Ocean, the island’s original inhabitants, the Rapanui, destroyed their own ecosystem by over-cutting the available trees. The population rose so much that starvation ensued leading many to take up cannibalism. Today, Easter Island suffers from overexploitation as tourists visit Rapa Nui National Park to see the statues, whom some believe were built with the help of space aliens. Easter Island was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is governed by Chile.

McMurdo Station, Antarctica is operated by the U.S. Antarctic Program, part of the National Science Foundation and logistically supported by the U.S. Air Force. Located on Ross Island, it is technically part of New Zealand, about 2100 miles south from the city of Christchurch, scene of the recent earthquake. It doesn’t get much more remote than that! Home to some 1,800 scientists and technicians, McMurdo Station is supplied annually by Operation Deep Freeze, where a combination of U.S. Coast Guard icebreakers and Air Force cargo planes transport personnel and everything needed to keep them alive. A wide range of scientific experiments are conducted there, including those by NASA seeking to learn how best to survive on the planet Mars.

McMurdo Station, established in 1956, easily qualifies as one of the world’s remote locations, along with Easter Island and Tristan da Cunha, But you don’t have to go so far if you seek to leave civilization. Less than 10% of the world’s land is more than 48 hours from a city. This raises concerns that the planet?s wilderness is becoming endangered.