JESSICA RAWNSLEY
Categories: All Climate Protest + Activism Global Social Justice Data-driven Science + Tech
THE GUARDIAN
‘Humans are designed to connect outdoors’: community hiking in Slovakia’s High Tatras
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We are giddy as we reach the summit, breathless with exertion and a guileless, childlike joy. In every direction the jagged peaks of Slovakia’s High Tatras stretch out into the distance, nubs on a colossal spine, glittering lakes embedded like shards of glass far below the rocky, ice-streaked slopes. An eagle wheels above. Somewhere on the lunar landscape a marmot squeaks. Easy laughs ricochet around the group, photos are snapped, backs thumped, words of encouragement offered to the more vertigo-inclined.
The summit of Slovakia’s Kôprovský štít had been playing a Kafkaesque game of mountain mirage with us for several hours, always just over the next ridge which, once conquered, revealed a string of further, seemingly endless ridges. Eight hours and about 23km after we had set off on our hike through the Vysoké Tatry mountain range, an eddy of smiles rippled from person to person (some, granted, of the more clenched-teeth variety). “Yes, team! We did it!” Roman, our high-spirited Slovakian mountain guide, stood atop the tip, clasping each of our hands in congratulation as we crested the peak.
The summit of Slovakia’s Kôprovský štít had been playing a Kafkaesque game of mountain mirage with us for several hours, always just over the next ridge which, once conquered, revealed a string of further, seemingly endless ridges. Eight hours and about 23km after we had set off on our hike through the Vysoké Tatry mountain range, an eddy of smiles rippled from person to person (some, granted, of the more clenched-teeth variety). “Yes, team! We did it!” Roman, our high-spirited Slovakian mountain guide, stood atop the tip, clasping each of our hands in congratulation as we crested the peak.
THE OBSERVER
Is ECT therapy safe? Postcode prescribing leaves patients at mercy of psychiatric opinions
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Soon after her “episodes” began in 2008, Abigail was admitted to a psychiatric ward. She told doctors of the domestic abuse she had endured during her 15-year marriage, and of the plan she had made to escape with her three children. She was diagnosed with depression and sent home.
But the suicidal thoughts persisted and the anti-depressants and anti-psychotics she had been prescribed failed to alleviate her distress. Eventually, Abigail was diagnosed with “treatment-resistant depression” and was started on a course of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), in which electric currents are passed through the brain under general anaesthetic to induce a seizure.
The memory loss began almost immediately. “I went from being a doctor to not remembering what I’d done a few seconds before, or my kids’ names,” says Abigail, who did not want to use her full name. She could not recall words, or the faces of friends or family, even how to count. Decades on, entire chapters of her life remain erased from her memory. She never returned to work.
But the suicidal thoughts persisted and the anti-depressants and anti-psychotics she had been prescribed failed to alleviate her distress. Eventually, Abigail was diagnosed with “treatment-resistant depression” and was started on a course of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), in which electric currents are passed through the brain under general anaesthetic to induce a seizure.
The memory loss began almost immediately. “I went from being a doctor to not remembering what I’d done a few seconds before, or my kids’ names,” says Abigail, who did not want to use her full name. She could not recall words, or the faces of friends or family, even how to count. Decades on, entire chapters of her life remain erased from her memory. She never returned to work.
The world's oceans hit their hottest ever recorded temperatures for July, partly fuelled by developing El Niño conditions in the Pacific, according to the EU's climate monitoring service.
The average sea surface temperature (SST) outside the world's polar regions - between 60 degrees north and 60 degrees south - was 20.96C last month, beating the previous high of 20.89C, set in 2023.
Last month was the joint second-warmest July globally on record, with temperatures 1.47C above the estimated pre-industrial average, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Meanwhile, Western Europe experienced its hottest ever June and July, with prolonged hot and dry conditions fuelling extreme wildfires across the region.
The average sea surface temperature (SST) outside the world's polar regions - between 60 degrees north and 60 degrees south - was 20.96C last month, beating the previous high of 20.89C, set in 2023.
Last month was the joint second-warmest July globally on record, with temperatures 1.47C above the estimated pre-industrial average, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Meanwhile, Western Europe experienced its hottest ever June and July, with prolonged hot and dry conditions fuelling extreme wildfires across the region.
THE SUNDAY TIMES
With flip flops and no gear, these volunteers stop the Amazon burning
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A streak of canary yellow emerges from the forest. José Martins speeds across the sand on a bright red quadbike, dressed in his full firefighter uniform, yellow helmet glinting in the sunlight.
Martins is chief of the fire brigade in Anã, a community of 350 ribeirinhos — riverside dwellers — living on the banks of the Arapiuns River in the northern Brazilian state of Para. Like many firefighters in the Amazon, he is a volunteer, and the quadbike is his fire engine.
For these firefighters, the fight is existential: a battle to protect their people, as well as the land and creatures their lives depend on. Martins’s grandfather died trying to put out a fire alone. Many have similar stories. “It’s very hard to be a volunteer, not earning anything, working just for love, for your territory,” the 49-year-old says. “But I feel so good when we extinguish the fire and give the land back to the community. It’s a big joy.”
Martins is chief of the fire brigade in Anã, a community of 350 ribeirinhos — riverside dwellers — living on the banks of the Arapiuns River in the northern Brazilian state of Para. Like many firefighters in the Amazon, he is a volunteer, and the quadbike is his fire engine.
For these firefighters, the fight is existential: a battle to protect their people, as well as the land and creatures their lives depend on. Martins’s grandfather died trying to put out a fire alone. Many have similar stories. “It’s very hard to be a volunteer, not earning anything, working just for love, for your territory,” the 49-year-old says. “But I feel so good when we extinguish the fire and give the land back to the community. It’s a big joy.”
THE FINANCIAL TIMES
How crisp packets unwrap the challenges of the circular economy
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Whether salt and vinegar, sweet chilli, wasabi or barbecue, most parts of the world have their own take on the crisp. Salty, crunchy, more-ish, it is a globally esteemed snack. But as with many modern-day trappings – enjoyed as a momentary indulgence to be discarded – the packaging lingers on long after the saltiness has left our lips.
According to environmental charity WRAP, 6bn packets of the fried potatoes are consumed each year in the UK alone. Stretched end-to-end, that’s enough crisp packets to wrap around the planet 25 times. Unlike other packaging materials with standardised recycling systems, such as aluminium, cardboard and glass, most of the multi-layered plastic and foil packets end up in landfill, nature or the ocean, where they have been shown to take six decades or more to decompose.
The afterlife of the crisp packet points to a broader global challenge: how to establish a recycling ecosystem in which every material made can be repurposed or reused.
According to environmental charity WRAP, 6bn packets of the fried potatoes are consumed each year in the UK alone. Stretched end-to-end, that’s enough crisp packets to wrap around the planet 25 times. Unlike other packaging materials with standardised recycling systems, such as aluminium, cardboard and glass, most of the multi-layered plastic and foil packets end up in landfill, nature or the ocean, where they have been shown to take six decades or more to decompose.
The afterlife of the crisp packet points to a broader global challenge: how to establish a recycling ecosystem in which every material made can be repurposed or reused.
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