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¿Proteger los árboles de la Amazonía puede ser más rentable que la ganadería?
Buddha taught us to be happy with less. How does this apply to the climate crisis? | Bhikkhu Sujato and Nadine Levy
We must ask ourselves what it is that we really need. Only then can we stop our endless consumption and save the planet
- Making sense of it is a column about spirituality and how it can be used to navigate everyday life
From a Buddhist perspective, everyone can learn to live simply and be happy. There’s no great secret to it. Simplicity is not an aesthetic or a lifestyle choice. It’s how your life expresses itself when you are content.
How can this thinking help us navigate the climate crisis?
Continue reading...Readers reply: which conspiracy theories have been proved true?
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts
Which conspiracy theories have been proved true? Anne Gibson, Leicester
Send new questions to nq@theguardian.com.
Continue reading...‘We’re looking at losing 20% of Olympic nations’: how the climate crisis is changing sport
Athletics Kenya is worried about how the climate might shape the future of its country, let alone its sport. And it is not alone
The drive from the tiny Eldoret airport to the town of Iten in the south-west corner of Kenya takes about an hour. It’s a winding unlit road with few road signs: you need to know where you’re going to get there. The town’s population isn’t known – there hasn’t been a census in more than a decade – but the local municipal authority estimates it around 56,000, up from 40,024 in 2009.
Roughly 35% live below the poverty line. And yet, a sign on the only paved road into town calls this the Home of Champions, owing to its phenomenal athletic success. This corner of Kenya has produced 14 men’s and nine women’s Boston Marathon winners since 1991, who have brought home 22 and 14 wins, respectively. They have also won 13 of 18 gold medals in the 3,000m steeplechase at the World Athletics Championships since the event was introduced in 1983.
Continue reading...Cop29 summit to call for peace between warring states, says host Azerbaijan
Organisers of this year’s environmental conference hope cooperation on green issues could help ease global tensions
This year’s Cop29 UN climate summit will be the first “Cop of peace”, focusing on the prevention of future climate-fuelled conflicts and using international cooperation on green issues to help heal existing tensions, according to plans being drawn up by organisers.
Nations may be asked to observe a “Cop truce”, suspending hostilities for the fortnight-long duration of the conference, modelled on the Olympic truce, which is observed by most governments during the summer and winter Olympic Games.
Continue reading...‘Inside an oven’: sweltering heat ravages crops and takes lives in south-east Asia
Governments issue health warnings as schools shut and crops fail, with fears that worse is to come as heatwave tightens grip
Extreme heat has gripped much of south and south-east Asia over recent weeks, killing dozens of people, forcing millions of students to miss school and destroying crops.
Both the Philippines and Bangladesh shut schools due to the unbearable heat last month, while governments across the region have issued health warnings. In Thailand, at least 30 people have died from heatstroke since the start of the year.
Continue reading...Capacity crunch: why the UK doesn’t have the power to solve the housing crisis
Our inadequate electricity network is stopping the building of thousands of new homes. And the necessary move to low-carbon heating and cars is only increasing demand
Oxford has a severe housing problem. With house prices 12 times the average salary, it has become one of the least affordable cities in the country. Its council house waiting list has grown to more than 3,000 households, with many having to live in temporary accommodation.
An obvious solution is to build more homes, but those trying to do this face a big barrier: electricity.
Continue reading...Some NASA Satellites Will Soon Stop Sending Data Back to Earth
Florida Bans Lab-Grown Meat
The week around the world in 20 pictures
War in Gaza, US campus protests, missile strikes in Kharkiv and floods in Kenya: the last seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists
Warning: this gallery contains images that some readers may find distressing
Continue reading...Oil Companies Expand Offshore Drilling, Pointing to Energy Needs
Gas Stove Pollution Risk Is Greatest in Smaller Homes, Study Finds
Florida sees thriving future if climate resilience managed, research finds
Florida wildlife corridor will spearhead climate resilience if allowed to evolve and essential preparatory work done, study says
Climate predictions in Florida, for the most part, make pretty grim reading. Rising oceans threaten to submerge most of the state by the end of the century, and soaring temperatures could make it too hot to live here anyway.
But new research by a coalition of prominent universities paints a more upbeat picture of Florida’s future as a thriving state for humans and wildlife, with natural resources harnessed to mitigate the worst effects of the climate emergency generally, as well as extreme weather events such as hurricanes and floods.
Continue reading...Britain’s climate action plan unlawful, high court rules
Environmental campaign groups took joint action against decision to approve carbon budget delivery plan
The UK government’s climate action plan is unlawful, the high court has ruled, as there is not enough evidence that there are sufficient policies in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The energy secretary, Claire Coutinho, will now be expected to draw up a revised plan within 12 months. This must ensure that the UK achieves its legally binding carbon budgets and its pledge to cut emissions by more than two-thirds by 2030, both of which the government is off track to meet.
Continue reading...Venomous snakes likely to migrate en masse amid global heating, says study
Researchers find many countries unprepared for influx of new species and will be vulnerable to bites
Climate breakdown is likely to lead to the large-scale migration of venomous snake species into new regions and unprepared countries, according to a study.
The researchers forecast that Nepal, Niger, Namibia, China, and Myanmar will gain the most venomous snake species from neighbouring countries under a heating climate.
Continue reading...How a ‘Hidden’ $1.4 Billion Tax Will Make N.Y.C. Water Bills Rise
Cool solution: how ice-cream saved drought-hit farmers in India
As the climate crisis forces people to abandon their land in Rajasthan, a new industry has sprung up in the desert state, with thousands of gaily decorated vans setting off to sell ice-cream across the country
The parched villages of Gangapur in the desert state of Rajasthan have a new season in their calendar. Between November and February, car workshops along the town’s dusty mile-long market open before sunrise, cylindrical stainless-steel food containers are put on display, and traders stock up on chocolate and strawberry syrups.
Come March, the villagers start preparing to migrate. In the workshops, thousands of vehicles are converted into vans for selling a variety of ice-cream, from plain condensed milk flavoured with cardamom to chocolate, vanilla and pistachio, while local farmers turned dessert makers have their old mini-trucks serviced in readiness for the drive to distant towns and cities, where they will sell the sweet treat for the next nine months.
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