Society
essay
Anthropology
A glimpse of the world’s heart
I wanted to visit Colombia’s sacred mountains. But there are some places we cannot go – and some things we cannot know
Nick Hunt
essay
Nations and empires
Dream of the Russian tropics
Imperial Russia had little access to the bountiful tropics that other empires enjoyed. So it created its own in the Caucasus
Oleksandr Polianichev
essay
Thinkers and theories
Why seek self-realisation?
In the face of climate crisis it might seem myopic but philosophers from Spinoza to Næss argue it is the only way forward
Helen De Cruz
video
The environment
Tree-sit with activists as they fight industrial logging from 100 feet above the ground
25 minutes
essay
Oceans and water
Here’s to blue foods
With care for the social and ecological consequences, foods from the ocean should provide sustainable protein to billions
Madhura Rao
essay
Anthropology
How to mourn a forest
The Marind people of West Papua deploy mourning not only to grieve their animal and plant kin but as political resistance
Sophie Chao
essay
Animals and humans
The free dogs of India
These canines have independent, peaceful, happy lives without a pet’s constraints. Why are they being persecuted and culled?
Krithika Srinivasan & Chris Pearson
essay
History of ideas
Self-satisfaction
The ancient Cynics taught that masturbation is about more than pleasure: it suggests how to live simply and autonomously
M D Usher
essay
Earth science and climate
The return of silvopasture
This ancient practice, nurturing animals and trees in an ecological system, fights climate change and restores the land
Liz Carlisle & Niki Mazaroli
video
Animals and humans
Laura fights to protect the magnificence of wild horses running free
6 minutes
essay
The environment
Our contaminated future
In Fukushima, communities are adapting to life in a time of permanent pollution: a glimpse of what’s to come for us all
Maxime Polleri
essay
War and peace
Trenches in Chernobyl
Disturbing and inhaling radioactive dust, in their haste Russian soldiers unburied the wrecked, undead Earth itself
Michael Marder
essay
The environment
Here’s to the aquapolis
Unkempt, beguiling and lacking conventional geometry, wetlands bring a roguish, raffish wildness to the city
Tom Blass
essay
Cities
Living closer together
Urban density was once seen as a sign of unhealthiness and poverty. But today it is necessary to make cities sustainable
Max Holleran
essay
Environmental history
Dancing with water
As storms, droughts and floods become more intense, what can the world learn from Japan’s profoundly wet history?
Giulio Boccaletti
essay
Anthropology
Keeping our options open
Frantic human activity has reduced both cultural and biological diversity. Now we must protect the dwindling alternatives
Thomas Hylland Eriksen
video
The environment
Photographs of rainforests dissolving in acid strike a beautiful note of warning
10 minutes
video
Ecology and environmental sciences
Experience the dazzling displays that fireflies create when humans are far away
5 minutes
essay
The environment
The power of shit
Our excrement is a natural, renewable and sustainable resource – if only we can overcome our visceral disgust of it
Lina Zeldovich
essay
Ecology and environmental sciences
Pyrocene Park
Fire is a planetary feature, not a biotic bug. What can we learn from Yosemite’s experiment to restore natural fire?
Stephen J Pyne
essay
Ecology and environmental sciences
How to restore a savanna
Massive tree-planting programmes have come to substitute for the tradeoffs and complexity of restoring real ecosystems
Francis E (‘Jack’) Putz
essay
Travel
The end of travel
Driven by the need for a storied life, I relished the opportunity for endless travel. Is that a moment in time, now over?
Henry Wismayer
essay
Ecology and environmental sciences
Reweaving the wild
Human roads have utterly fragmented the world of wild animals but the engineering to reconnect the pieces is in our grasp
Darryl Jones
essay
Music
Songs of conquest
From Tallis’s choral beauty to the unnerving bells of Mexico City, early modern power created a whole new world of sound
Thomas Irvine & Christopher J Smith