“Mother Nature is the great equalizer. You can’t get away from it.”

—Christopher Heyerdahl

Imagination helps us overcome our biggest obstacles, inspiring us to create new things and improve existing models.

Look, for example, at the automobile. According to Live Science, Karl Benz patented the first gasoline-powered car in 1886, but many before him, Leonardo Da Vinci included, had already envisioned self-propelled vehicles. Benz is credited as the inventor of the automobile, because his practical model works like the cars we drive today. Most famously, however, is Henry Ford’s mass production of the automobile via a moving assembly line beginning in 1913. Together with the creation of the interstate highway system, we are able to commute to work and make cross-country road trips at our leisure.

In addition to cars, we have also created several other modes of transportation and spaces for work, living, and entertainment. However, our problem-solving efforts have transformed the way the earth looks. There is less green on the ground and more gray in the air.

While there are eco-conscious people out there, Mother Nature has her own way of fighting back. She reminds us of her existence in little ways, flowers growing through the cracks of sidewalks for instance, and in much bigger ways, seen in the 30 photos below.

01. A Victorian tree house in Florida.

02. Visions of pink over an old railroad in Paris.

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03. Tent of Tomorrow, originally built for the ’64 World’s Fair, in Flushing, Queens.