Children in the Willows forest nature program in the Humber Valley in west Toronto are drawn to water and sticks, simple materials for exploring and investigating. Here the children explore water accumulated from spring rains.
(Louise Zimanyi)
When parents walk in the forest with their children and us and see how children are drawn to spiral snails, together we see how connections with the land are critical for the Earth’s future.
The thin layer of soil on our planet’s surface ultimately sustains us all, but it’s a finite resource. With a growing global population, perhaps it is time to start looking for alternatives.
A necessary sea change.
Larina Marina/Shutterstock
While the world gathers to negotiate on climate change, governments must recognise the public desire for action on plastic pollution and work together to solve it.
Brisbane’s South Bank parkland isn’t exactly getting out in the wild, but experiences of urban nature are important for building people’s connection to all living things.
Anne Cleary
Moves to connect people with nature for both the conservation and health benefits point to the need for people to experience nature as they find it in the city, rather than only out in natural areas.
Many Americans view the Amish as living simply and in touch with the land, but their views about the environment are complicated and not always ‘green.’
Opportunities to help drive the energy transition are everywhere - even in Western Australia’s remote salt pans.
Peter C. Doherty
Peter C. Doherty, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
Nobel Prizewinning health researcher Peter Doherty reflects on the challenge of delivering a healthy climate for the world. From hydrogen power to wooden skyscrapers, the options are endless, but all require leadership.
Are you really making a difference?
Shutterstock.com
You could take the bus to work, or eat less meat. But how do you know if your efforts are making a difference? A new approach aims to break global environmental budgets down into digestible chunks.
Missing the wood for the trees.
iDraw/Shutterstock
Sharks have a PR problem. But new research shows that shark ecotourism programs boost people’s knowledge and attitudes towards shark conservation – even among those who are green-minded to begin with.
Can Walmart go green while maintaining its commitment to low prices?
AP Photo/Tom Uhlman
Two business professors spent five years studying Walmart’s ambition project to bring sustainability to its millions of budget-conscious customers – a plan that began with the birth of a granddaughter.
This weekend sees a major youth climate rally in Washington DC. But do young people really hold the key to overcoming climate inaction, or are we wrong to put our faith in their ability to drive change?
‘Earthrise,’ which appeared on the cover of the second and third Whole Earth Catalog, was taken by Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders during lunar orbit, Dec. 24, 1968.
NASA
The Whole Earth Catalog was a blueprint for sustainability that envisioned humans living in balance with nature. Its creative spirit was welcomed in a year riven by war, assassinations and riots.
Citizens protesting at the Volokolamsk town hall, after noxious fumes from a local landfill sent 50 children to the hospital.
Radio Free Europe
Massive noxious garbage dumps piling up around Moscow have sparked citizen protests. And those protests are turning into criticism of the political system, which could threaten the Putin regime.
Forging emotional bonds through care, companionship and shared experiences, two very different countries built civic ties from the rubble of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
While some argue globalization has been bad for the environment, the move towards deglobalization could spell serious trouble for climate. This photo from 2014 shows smoke streams from the chimneys of a coal-fired power station in Germany.
(AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)
Some experts argue globalization has been bad for the environment. But moving away from globalization could have other consequences that could be even more devastating for the environment.