How forests act as natural flood defences: New research shows trees can slash flood risk
New research finds that healthy forests act as natural infrastructure that can significantly reduce the frequency and severity of floods, both small and large.
climate change
Beyond Growth: Building a wellbeing economy can help us avoid collapse
As the planet strains under endless GDP growth, econometrician Gaya Herrington makes the case for a “wellbeing economy” that trades our obsession with more for a future of enough: redirecting innovation, work and policy toward human flourishing and healthy ecosystems within the Earth’s limits.
How to stay sane in a burning world: The four neural states of the polycrisis
From climate collapse to permanent war, our nervous systems are stuck between numbness and panic. A climate scientist argues that surviving the polycrisis means learning to move deliberately between neural states and building smaller, more grounded movements that protect our ability to care without breaking.
How Pacific communities use sea worms to track time and seasonal shifts through a changing climate
In the Pacific Islands, the annual spawning of palolo sea worms feeds communities, marks time and sustains cultural traditions. Why this Indigenous tradition is becoming increasingly important as climate change intensifies weather events.
Climate cracks are spreading — and even the system knows it can’t hold
From scientists to intelligence agencies, repeated warnings about climate and ecological collapse have gone largely unanswered by governments, media and markets.
The myth of managing the biosphere
A recent piece in New Scientist has reminded me that it is a myth that humans, if they are wise and clever enough, can learn to “manage” the biosphere.
Dog days in D.C.
Our bodies respond to heat by adapting if we let them. But with the widespread use of air conditioning, few people are obliged to adapt. That actually makes them more susceptible to heat-related illnesses.
No safety net: Insurance starts to go away
The increasing costs of climate-change linked disasters is pushing the insurance industry to the brink.
Climate change and the Overton Window
Our political discourse is actually far narrower than our total public discourse which makes addressing big problems such as climate change very difficult.
Second- and third-order effects: Immigration, bird flu and climate
It’s difficult to see the knock-on effects of our actions and it can be very dangerous not to.
Single point of failure: Hurricane Helene and high-tech’s low-tech vulnerability
Supply chain problems keep popping up as industries fail to recognize their vulnerabilities. A little-known and critical vulnerability for the tech industry just made itself visible in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
Not if, but when: The coming North Atlantic deep freeze
In the next few decades, climate change is likely to have a counterintuitive effect on the North Atlantic and northern Europe when a major ocean current which brings heat from the tropics is projected to shut down.
