Part 30 of The Poetry Pulse’s 100-part journey through Indian poetry. Gieve Patel’s poem “On Killing a Tree” is often read as a striking account of how difficult it is to destroy a living organism that has grown over years. Its plain, almost instructional voice creates an unsettling contrast with the violence of its subject. This discussion analyses the poem’s key images and phrasing without repr…
Antarctica’s sea ice has undergone a striking reversal over the past decade. After decades when winter ice around the continent generally expanded slightly, the trend changed sharply after 2015. In 2026, Antarctic sea ice reached its annual winter maximum on September 14, covering approximately 17.59 million square kilometres, or 6.79 million square miles. That was the third-lowest winter maximum…
Along Mozambique’s coastline, submerged forests, peat-rich seabeds and reef habitats are drawing attention to the complexity of marine ecosystems and the importance of protecting environments that are not always visible from the surface. The linked report describes an unusual combination of underwater landscapes and marine life, highlighting how coastal ecosystems can store carbon, shelter specie…
Human civilisation is built upon the desire to overcome limitations. We construct bridges over rivers, fly across oceans, cultivate deserts and develop medicines against diseases. Laws created by human beings regulate how societies function, while science allows us to understand and sometimes manipulate the forces of nature. Yet there remains a fundamental boundary that civilisation cannot perman…
Switzerland is often imagined through its snow covered mountains, deep Alpine valleys and glaciers that have shaped the country's landscape, economy and identity for centuries. The white peaks of the Alps have long appeared almost permanent, part of a natural landscape that seems capable of outlasting generations. But the latest measurements from Switzerland's glacier monitoring network present a…
A dramatic mountainside collapse in Nepal has captured the destructive force of the country's latest spell of extreme weather, with video showing a huge section of terrain breaking away and crashing into a river within seconds. The footage, recorded near Lete in Mustang district, shows debris rushing down the mountainside and plunging into the Kali Gandaki River as people watching from a distance…
When we hear that another month has broken a temperature record, it can sometimes feel like just another climate headline. We read it, perhaps worry about it for a few minutes, and then move on with our day. But the latest numbers are difficult to ignore. August 2026 was the joint-hottest month ever recorded globally, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service. The averag…
