The people most affected by the explosion of Reactor Four on the morning of April 26,1986, soon learned that the event known as Chernobyl was predicted by a feature film made seven years earlier. Stalker, by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, explored the limits of our technical power against the backdrop of a mysterious force that can only be approached on foot, by forest “stalkers” who have learned to accept its risky gifts. Today, real stalkers live inside Chernobyl’s official 30-kilometre Exclusion Zone and secretly strip the dead city of its valuables. A film by Donald Weber.

The recent climate change summit in Cøpenhagen illustrated the new relationships between magazines, bloggers, activists, and advocacy groups, revealing how journalists are now working with the groups they once reported on.

Maybe it’s because I’ve been hanging around environmentalists, urban planners, academics and other “change agents” lately, but the phrase “effect change” — often followed by a nebulous but inspiring call to action — seems to be on the tips of everyone’s tongues.

(Photo: Etica e Coragem/Ethics and Courage, Cf.)
As I finish up my work in Manaus and thereabouts, some last thoughts on current flashpoints of conflict, the resolution of which may point the way to the Amazon’s future—for better or worse.
In an area this vast, there, of course, are many disputes simmering at once: the drug-running that [...]

(Photo: Cf.)
Our boat floats up to Abrozinho’s dock, past a drowned tree, fútbol goal posts part-submerged, and a water-logged canoe. This is not uncharacteristic for the rainy season, as many ribeirinhos (river people) of Amazonia tend to settle on or near alluvial floodplains (várzea), living in floating houses, or, like Abrozinho, shanties erected on wood [...]

I have a thing for frogs. It’s not an affection I’ve spent much time analyzing, nor can I claim to be an expert on amphibians or even well-informed. I do know that their extremely thin and porous skin makes them acutely sensitive to changes in environment (often triggered by climate change or pollution) making them [...]

Demographers have been avidly waiting for this moment—when a majority of the human species had finally traded in its farm implements for pocket protectors, its grubby overalls for fine slacks. According to the United Nations, May 23, 2007, marked the day when the earth’s population became predominantly urban.