Can I get a little more eco-friendly every day? Four tips for a greener mindset
When it comes to climate change, I, like many others, often wonder: does it matter if we adjust our individual behaviors to be more sustainable, or are these efforts insignificant? Many experts argue that focusing too granularly on individual responsibility…
The synthetic coffee revolution: are ground date seeds really as delicious as the real thing?
Name: Synthetic coffee. Age: Three. Appearance: Hot, wet, brown. Synthetic? Is AI coming for my coffee? Calm down. AI might still eliminate humanity in the long term, but for now your coffee is safe. Synthetic coffee is made by humans….
Poorer nations must be transparent over climate spending, says Cop29 leader
Poor countries must demonstrate clearer accounting and transparency to back up their calls for trillions of dollars of climate finance, the president of global climate negotiations has said. Mukhtar Babayev, the ecology minister of Azerbaijan, who will lead the Cop29…
Scientists create vaccine with potential to protect against future coronaviruses
Scientists have created a vaccine that has the potential to protect against a broad range of coronaviruses, including varieties that are not yet even known about. The experimental shot, which has been tested in mice, marks a change in strategy…
Weather tracker: torrential rainstorms cause death and destruction in Brazil
Torrential rainstorms in Brazil’s southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul have caused the worst flooding the country has seen in 80 years, many deaths and the displacement of thousands of families. Central parts of the state were hit the…
Sport and the climate emergency: collating injustice with an action plan
If Madeleine Orr had been searching for a launch pad for her book, Warming up: How Climate Change is Changing Sport, last week provided the perfect rocket boosters. Only two years after the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, brandished a “green…
Country diary: Suddenly the beech leaves are out | John Gilbey
The buttercups are coming into flower in the churchyard of St Hilary’s, and a few dandelions have already set seed – the globular heads barely moving in the still morning air. Nearby, a metal plaque, slightly corroded by time and…
‘I’m a blue whale, I’m here’: researchers listen with delight to songs that hint at Antarctic resurgence
Centuries of industrial whaling left only a few hundred Antarctic blue whales alive, making it almost impossible to find them in the wild. New research suggests the population may be recovering. Australian scientists and international colleagues spent two decades listening…
Buddha taught us to be happy with less. How does this apply to the climate crisis? | Bhikkhu Sujato and Nadine Levy
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…
Work under way to bridge 32km gap in NSW dog fence – but ecologists say it should be taken down
In the far-western reaches of New South Wales, the world’s longest fence tracks through the red dirt making a cartographically straight path along state borders. The 5,614km fence starts in South Australia, where it’s called the dog fence, and joins…