SACRAMENTO — Heavy rain continued to drench California on Tuesday as an ongoing parade of storms left much of the state in disarray, with power outages, collapsed roadways, mud and landslides, and treacherous floodwaters widespread across nearly the length of the state. Authorities have attributed at least 17 fatalities to the onslaught of storms that… Read More California storm: floods, tornado warnings as death toll climbs
A new field of psychology has begun to quantify an age-old intuition: Feeling awe is good for us. HENRY WISMAYER We were halfway down the Point Reyes peninsula when Dacher Keltner wandered off-trail. He stopped at an outcrop of granite boulders, where the ground fell away toward Driftwood Beach and the wide, open Pacific beyond.… Read More Finding Awe Amid Everyday Splendor
Flora Feltham on Mana The island where I live, Te Mana o Kupe o Aotearoa, sits half an hour off the coast of New Zealand’s north island. It has one house and a permanent human population of two: my husband, Pat, and me. In April, this will increase to three because we’re having a baby.… Read More One house, two people and some rare flightless birds: welcome to Mana Island
Max Porter As I lie down under a 2,000-year-old small-leaved lime coppice, I contemplate what is truly sacred This is me trying to have a sacred encounter with the 2,000-year-old small-leaved lime coppice at Westonbirt Arboretum. Because of my terrible hunched posture I’m always looking for an opportunity to lie down and alleviate the pain in my… Read More In an ancient forest, I look for peace, but instead I find Happy the puppy
Jonathan Watts For anyone who cares about the Amazon rainforest, there will be an extra reason to celebrate the new year countdown in Brazil on 31 December because the first stroke of midnight will mark the last moment in power of Jair Bolsonaro. The defeat of the ultra-right former army captain, who unleashed a wave of… Read More Seven reasons to be cheerful about the Amazon in 2023 – and three to be terrified
A summer of extreme heat and drought around the world has been a reminder that water scarcity is a pressing issue and one that will only get worse with climate change. Already, more than two billion people worldwide lack easy access to clean water, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). For some countries, desalination plants offer… Read More How sunlight could turn seawater into freshwater for coastal communities
Graeme Green Imagine the privilege of smelling a wonderful perfume that no one else alive on Earth has smelled before,” says the conservation photographer Eladio Fernandez. This year, Fernandez had that pleasure. After a challenging search in the cloud forests of northern Haiti, he located several Magnolia emarginata, a critically endangered tree with white flowers that hadn’t… Read More Lost and found: how a photographer sniffed out the magnolia species not seen for a century
Rosemary Collard and Jessica Dempsey At the biodiversity Cop taking place in Montreal, much attention will focus on a policy proposal calling for 30% of the planet’s land and oceans to be protected by 2030, known as 30×30. Protected areas have their place in addressing the biodiversity crisis, but we also know that they are… Read More ‘Extractivism’ is destroying nature: to tackle it Cop15 must go beyond simple targets
Birdwatchers Mya, Arjun and Kabir have grown up seeing the effects of wildlife decline. They talk about what inspires them, their hopes for future action and how everyone can connect with the nature on their doorstep More than 300 young people from around the world are gathering in Montreal for a two-day youth summit ahead… Read More ‘We need to be braver’: young naturalists on the world beyond Cop15
George Monbiot In every conflict over the living world, something is being protected. And most of the time, it’s the wrong thing. The world’s most destructive industries are fiercely protected by governments. The three sectors that appear to be most responsible for the collapse of ecosystems and erasure of wildlife are fossil fuels, fisheries and farming.… Read More From the Amazon to Australia, why is your money funding Earth’s destruction?
After the truth-shower 