Solipsism is the belief in the idea that my self and my mind is the only thing that I can be certain of. If this is something people struggle with, then a path to overcoming it would be found in the last two days of the Explorers Festival. This past Saturday a main question was…
If yesterday was a day in which we focused on the connections and the connective tissue that we share by being part of this planet and thanks to our work at National Geographic, then today is the day that we identify some of the catalysts, some of the sparks, that will be ignited. On the…
We are always part of interrelated processes of momentary events. That is what one of my mentors in college used to explain to us, his students, during the Buddhist Philosophy course. He was teaching us about the interconnectivity of it all, according to a buddhist system of thought called abhidharma. Nothing is independent. Everything is interdependent….
By Owen Agnew It’s hard to keep track of how much plastic is in the ocean. We’ve all heard about the floating garbage gyres in the Pacific, but it’s such a large problem that it defies statistics. Scientists estimate that anywhere from 5 to 13 millionmetric tons of plastic trash make it into the world’s oceans…
Returning to sea for the first time in nearly a decade brought back memories of the wildest three weeks of my life — when we sailed Mir down the Red Sea in July 2010 during her maiden voyage from Malta to Singapore and were faced with suffocating heat, sun-blotting dust, grumpy sharks, and the very…
Lately, the news about immigrant children have been bleak. The stories have been controversial, heartbreaking, and deeply disturbing. When one story, a story about immigrant children being lost by the US government, proved to be untrue, there was a moment of hope: perhaps all the horrors along the US-Mexico border that we had heard of…
I have a theory. Taiwan’s waste management system is dependent on a subtle, strong, yet almost invisible force–women. Walk into a bathroom in any Taipei City subway stop and you’ll see an older woman in a bright green or orange vest moving seamlessly in and out of the stalls, a pair of tongs in hand….
The week geography trivia enthusiasts look forward to the whole year is finally here. The 2018 National Championship of the National Geographic Bee will be held at the Grosvenor Auditorium at National Geographic Society Headquarters in Washington, D.C. this coming Wednesday, May 23. From the 54 state and territory champions, 10 finalists will be competing…
By: Erin Myers Madeira and Tyronne Garstone Aboriginal people have been managing the land in Australia for more than 50,000 years, and traditional practices like fire management have shaped the landscape. The decline of these practices over the last two centuries due to displacement of Indigenous people has caused the Kimberley region to suffer. Learn…
If you thought you knew the story of how – and more importantly, why – the R.M.S. Titanic was found in the North Atlantic ocean in 1985, well, better think again. The story we have heard about the discovery of the Titanic by Navy Reserve Commanding Officer, oceanographer, and National Geographic Explorer-at-Large Dr. Bob Ballard,…
I spend a lot of time thinking about how people perceive trash. Adjectives like “dirty,” “gross,” and even, “whatever,” top the list. But I rarely hear the word “resource.” ‘Waste’ begins as a resource and transforms into a product. We then use and dispose of it. This linear “take-make-dispose” method is followed almost unconsciously; in fact,…
By: Jean Marie Twambaze To see more of Twambaze’s Photographs of Akegara National Park and wildlife, please click here I guided a Rwandan tourist named Josiane through Akagera National Park in eastern Rwanda back in 2015. It was her first trip to the park in decades and she told me, “We used to leave Kigali…
Los insectos generalmente no son muy atractivos a los ojos de muchos, fuera de las coloridas y “carismáticas” mariposas y escarabajos. ¿Cómo mostrar a las moscas y “gusanos” de una manera interesante y atractiva? El secreto está en exponer las vidas secretas de los insectos. ¿Sabías que puedes usar “gusanos” para ver si el agua del río es buena…
Insects are not generally appealing to most, outside the “charismatic” colorful butterflies and beetles. How can flies and “maggots” be presented in an interesting and appealing way? The secret lies in exposing the insects’ secret lives. Did you know that you can use “maggots” to see if the water from a stream is good to…
“Life always changes. If you don’t accept the changes, what are you going to do? You’re going to suffer.” “But what do you expect? No one ever promised us that life was going to be easy.” “Well, that’s life: you turn around and see what happens.” These are the voices of the very elderly…
