This part of South America is no stranger to major rainfall, but last week’s storms were particularly devastatingTorrential 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...

Llanilar, Ceredigion: Walking an old railway route I find carpets of bluebells under the canopy, and a burst of fresh foliageThe 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...

Audio collected with underwater microphones suggests numbers at least stable after centuries of industrial whaling left only a few hundred aliveFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastCenturies of industrial whaling left only a few hundred Antarctic blue whales alive,...

‘I’m very alarmed by everybody’s lack of alarm, that’s the scariest thing for me,’ says Warming Up author Madeleine OrrIf 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...

We must ask ourselves what it is that we really need. Only then can we stop our endless consumption and save the planetMaking sense of it is a column about spirituality and how it can be used to navigate everyday lifeFrom a Buddhist perspective, everyone can learn to live simply and be happy. There’s no great secret to it. Simplicity is not an aesthetic...

The 5,614km barrier runs from South Australia to southern Queensland and was built to keep dingoes out, but some experts say it’s ‘making things worse’ for semi-arid ecosystemsSign up for the Rural Network email newsletterJoin the Rural Network group on Facebook to be part of the communityIn the far-western reaches of New South Wales, the world’s longest...