Environment
Paraguay’s soy bonanza leaves small farmers in the cold
The tiny landlocked South American country of Paraguay is one of the top soy producers on the planet. Soy is the country’s top export and it accounts for a major chunk of the country’s gross domestic product. But the soy explosion has wreaked havoc on Paraguay’s ecosystem and been a disaster for many small farmers whose farms have been inundated with pesticides from neighboring soy plantations.
Wildfires in Brazil’s Pantanal becoming more likely because of climate change
The Pantanal, Brazil’s wetlands region, covers an area roughly the size of England. Although this region is typically flooded for much of the year, droughts have led to wildfires, destroying large swaths of vegetation and wildlife.
In rural Japan, a closed school becomes a new kind of community hub
Japan’s rural population has been in decline for decades. That’s caused many towns to close schools for lack of students. But residents in the village of Takigahara transformed a former nursery school into a different kind of community gathering place.
Out of Eden Walk: Walking through western China
In China’s southern province of Yunnan, a community known as the Bai expresses itself mostly by singing. And they have a song for everything: from history lessons to mourning to flirting. Host Marco Werman speaks with National Geographic Explorer Paul Salopek, who also discusses the early 20th century Austrian-American botanist and explorer Joseph Rock, who traveled through this same region of western China.
