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Easter Island. Source: Nadge / Adobe Stock.

How the Civilization on Easter Island Collapsed (Video)

The civilization on Easter Island faced a complex and ultimately catastrophic decline. Initially, this tiny island boasted a lush palm forest and abundant bird species, allowing its inhabitants, the...
Top down view of an Ethiopian Church Forest in the early morning.  Several white-robed worshipers around the church.  Source: Gregory/Adobe Stock

Ethiopian Church Forests, Struggling Fragments of Sacred Greenery in the Desert

In the distant past, the world around us looked completely different in many ways. One notable aspect that changed is forestation. Once covered in lush forests, much of the world around us is now...
Shea butter making in Ghana. Source: nomadphotographs / Adobe Stock.

Women's Gold: The Shea Butter Makers of Ghana (Video)

For centuries, women in West Africa have been turning shea nuts into butter, known as "women's gold", as it is the only source of income for many families in northern Ghana . However, the biggest...
What happened to the Maya? This mysterious civilization dominated parts of Central America for over a 1000 years, but then, seemingly fell quite dramatically.     Source: PeekCC / Adobe stock

What Happened to the Maya?

The Maya civilization was a Mesoamerican civilization that was located in Central America. The beginnings of the Maya civilization have been dated to the 2 nd millennium BC. Around the 9 th century...
Humans Began Mass Ecological Destruction 3,000 Years Ago

Humans Began Mass Ecological Destruction 3,000 Years Ago

A new paper with 250 scientific authors suggests human beings had impacted Earth’s fragile ecosystems much earlier and to a far greater extent than currently believed. This huge collaborative study...
Barricades of Hambach Forest protest.

The Battle For 12,000-Year-Old Hambach Forest: Police At-tacked By A Unit Of Masked Petrol Bombing Activists

Thousands of environmental protesters have unified in a plight to save the last 200 hectares of Germany's ancient Hambach Forest from being felled by the coal hungry German energy giant RWE. In the...
Stylized artists impression of Easter Island.

Can Any Civilization Make It Through Climate Change?

A case study of the inhabitants of Easter Island served in part as the basis for a mathematical model showing the ways a technologically advanced population and its planet might develop or collapse...
Amazon jungle from above.

Lost Amazonian Tribes: Why the West Can’t Get Over Its Obsession with El Dorado

A number of ancient settlement sites were recently discovered in the Amazon’s Upper Tapajós Basin. This is no El Dorado – although you’d be forgiven for thinking so. The press coverage demonstrates a...
The Ancient Inhabitants of Easter Island were not the Cause of the Deforestation on the Island

The Ancient Inhabitants of Easter Island were not the Cause of the Deforestation on the Island

A team of Spanish scientists has managed to reconstruct the past 3,000 years of history of Easter Island. Their new findings show that deforestation of the island occurred gradually, and not in all...
Chaco Canyon

Unravelling the mystery of the Chaco Canyon culture collapse

For over 2,000 years, ancient Pueblo peoples occupied a vast region of the south-western United States. Chaco Canyon, a major centre of ancestral Pueblo culture between 850 and 1250 AD, was a focus...
Awa

People Power forces government to protect Brazil's most threatened tribe

The Awá tribe, was named by Survival International as the world’s most threatened tribe, according to Vanity Fair. The Awá (or Guajá) are an indigenous group of people living in the eastern Amazon...
Easter Island

New Research Challenges Reason for Easter Island Collapse

Easter Island , or Rapa Nui, in the Polynesian language, is a small remote island a few thousand miles west of South America. One of the most interesting features of this island is its 887 giant...