Chile’s Atacama Desert, the driest desert in the world, has been a dumping ground for fast fashion leftovers. A mountain of discarded clothing, including Christmas sweaters and ski boots, cuts a strange sight in the desert, which is increasingly suffering from pollution created by the fashion industry. Find more details here
A video showing garbage piling up at a campsite on Mount Everest has drawn attention on social media.
It’s not just a phase.
By Jonathan Haidt
Illustrations by Nicolás Ortega
What would it have been like to live in Babel in the days after its destruction? In the Book of Genesis, we are told that the descendants of Noah built a great city in the land of Shinar. They built a tower “with its top in the heavens” to “make a name” for themselves. God was offended by the hubris of humanity and said: Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.
See the full article.
Nancy Krieger’s book ‘Ecosocial Theory, Embodied Truths, and the People’s Health’ employs the ecosocial theory of disease distribution to combine critical political and economic analysis with a deep engagement with biology, in societal, ecological, and historical context. See more details here.
Johnny Miller’s photo series seeks to portray the most unequal scenes in the world “as objectively as possible.”
See more details.
Human Flow is a 2017 German documentary film co-produced and directed by Ai Weiwei about the current global refugee crisis. In the film the viewer is taken to over 20 countries to understand both the scale and the personal impact of this massive human migration.
See the trailer
The world is eager to come out of lockdown. But if countries simply return to business as usual, new outbreaks of Covid-19 will follow. The only solution that public health experts see is to keep careful track of the coronavirus and clamp down on new flare-ups.
The trouble is that the most obvious way to monitor the virus — testing person by person — has already proved to be a huge, expensive challenge. Experts say we’re nowhere near the scale we need to get a good picture of the pandemic.
Now some scientists are looking for the virus not in our noses, blood or spit, but somewhere else: in our sewers.
See the full article.
The remnants of a shopping centre evoke concrete follies at Tainan Spring, a sunken park and public pool by MVRDV in southern Taiwan.
Described by MVDRV as a “lush lagoon”, the project replaces the vacant China-Town Mall close to Tainan’s canal network and forms part of a wider masterplan to rejuvenate the area.
It has been surrounded by local plants that will “develop into a lush jungle” overtime, offering the city greener public spaces that mimic natural landscapes found elsewhere on the island.
Read the full article
Once an all-dirt track cutting into the jungle, the Trans-Amazonian Highway is being paved, transforming life in its path. By Karin-Marijke, 4 November 2014
Coursing 2,000km through the heart of the Amazon rainforest, the Trans-Amazonian Highway was one of the region’s first roads, constructed in the 1970s as a crude track hacked through dense foliage – “highway” was a generous description. It was built to connect the Amazon to Brazil’s growing farming and cattle breeding economy, and over the years, virgin forests have given way to cattle ranches, logging stations and gold mines. (Coen Wubbels)
See more details here
Ladakh doesn’t need the same kind of industrialisation as rest of India, he says.
Sonam Wangchuk has stopped ironing his clothes. This renowned innovator and Magsaysay Award-winning environmentalist feels smart crease is an indulgence one can do without in order to help the planet. As he says, the power saved from ironing his clothes could power four rural households.
Read the full article.