The muddy waters of the Li River churn in the erratic wind that blows in. The weather is unusually inclement for a summer evening. Dark clouds hover above the pointed ridges of the Karst mountains to our north. Hwang stops rowing and points downstream towards a bend of the river.  A couple of bamboo rafts [...]

The small Thiokol Memorial Museum in Kingsland, Georgia, tells a big story about one of the worst industrial tragedies in US history. The tragedy struck Camden County on February 3, 1971, when a plant explosion killed 29 and injured another 50 people. Thiokol Chemical was a complex of 36 buildings between Kingsland and Woodbine, another small town about 12 miles to the north, which manufactured trip flares for the Vietnam War. The victims were primarily women of color who did not know the dangerous nature of the material they were using.

Unlike in most parts of Europe, the alpine frontier in Bhutan begins at around 4,000 meters above sea level. These windswept plateaus, made up of vast rugged terrain, are not only home to the highlanders but also a treasure trove of biodiversity — stunted firs and dwarf rhododendrons, blue sheep, marmots, takins, snow leopards, and, most notably, yaks and the highly sought-after golden fungus (Cordyceps sinensis), which are the pulse and lifeblood of the highland economy.