nature

7 Smokable Plants You Can Grow That Aren’t Marijuana

7 Smokable Plants You Can Grow That Aren’t Marijuana

By Brian Barth Here’s a non-trend that you’d think would be more hip: tobacco-free herbal smoking blends. Quite a few plants may be safely, and pleasurable, lit up in a pipe or rolling papers. Those listed below are legal, unregulated, and totally safe to use. They are also non-hallucinogenic and non-addictive—perhaps that explains their lack […]

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    Slow Motion Ocean: Why Are North Atlantic Currents Weakening?

    Slow Motion Ocean: Why Are North Atlantic Currents Weakening?

    By Alex Kirby The Gulf Stream is slowing, the North Atlantic is cooling. An international scientific study has found new and harder evidence that one of the planet’s key heat pumps, the currents which exchange warmth between the tropics and the Arctic, are weaker today than at any time in the last thousand years. The […]

    Giant Sloth Fossils, Mayan Relics Discovered in World’s Largest Flooded Cave

    Giant Sloth Fossils, Mayan Relics Discovered in World’s Largest Flooded Cave

    Archaeologists exploring the world’s largest flooded cave—discovered last month just outside of Tulum, Mexico—have found an impressive treasure trove of relics. The vast, 216-mile cave actually connects two of the largest flooded cave systems in the world, the 164-mile-long Sistema Sac Actun and the 52-mile-long Dos Ojos system. Aside from an extensive reserve of freshwater […]

    One More Benefit of Nature: It Makes You Like Your Body Better

    One More Benefit of Nature: It Makes You Like Your Body Better

    By Tom Jacobs Not happy with what you see when you look in a mirror? Well, you can take a hike. Seriously. New research from the United Kingdom finds strolling in nature—or even looking at photographs of the natural world—leaves people feeling better about their bodies. In recent years, a series of studies have found […]

    A Wilderness Like No Other: Chile’s New Patagonia National Park

    A Wilderness Like No Other: Chile’s New Patagonia National Park

    By Robin Walter After fording a rib-deep and bone-cracking cold river whose current could have easily swept away a person much bigger than I am, I took stock of my surroundings. My companions and I were sodden and soggy, huddled against slanting hail on the banks of the Jeinimeni River in Patagonia. Miserable? You bet. […]

    How the Wonder of Nature Can Inspire Social Justice Activism

    How the Wonder of Nature Can Inspire Social Justice Activism

    By Adrienne Maree Brown “If we are in rhythm with nature, we are in rhythm with ourselves.” — Micah Hobbes Frazier If we pay close attention, we can experience the wonder that emerges from the beauty, magic, miracles and patterns all around us. Wow! Isn’t it amazing? The world is full of emergence—one of the […]

    Connecting With Nature Improves Minds and Moods

    Connecting With Nature Improves Minds and Moods

    By Marlene Cimons Twentieth Century German social psychologist Erich Fromm first advanced the notion that humans hold an inborn connection to nature. Later, it was popularized by biologist E.O. Wilson as “the urge to affiliate with other forms of life.” In the ensuing years, support for the positive effects of nature has gained considerable traction, […]

    Next Three Years Will Decide Fate of Our Planet’s Climate, Experts Warn

    Next Three Years Will Decide Fate of Our Planet’s Climate, Experts Warn

    By Andy Rowell Never has the paradox been greater. While the most powerful politician in the world is a climate denier, scientists are now warning that we have just three years to start making radical reductions to greenhouse gases. Put it another way: that is the term of the Trump presidency. We have three and […]