As the governor of Oregon, Tina Kotek, petitions to have the state’s Owyhee Canyonlands made a protected natural monument, we take a look at canyons from across the globe ..read more

Studying geography can help students meet the challenges of climate change, writes Steve Brace The Guardian’s reporting on the Spanish floods highlights how “natural disasters” are now, rightly, seen as climate disasters (Editorial, 1 November). As Dr Ilan Kelman describes in Disaster by Choice, the uncomfortable truth is that the majority of “natural disasters” are created or exacerbated by human choices. In order to better prepare for such challenges, we need young people to become knowledgeable about, and positively engaged with, how the human and physical worlds interact – work t ..read more

After 14 years, it’s time to leave the woods and fields that have meant so much to me. I know I’ll see my friends again – but what about the spot where I first saw a kingfisher? There’s a footpath opposite my house; it slips between two bungalows ending at a stile that takes you into the fields. In spring, it’s one of the first places you can spot cuckooflower and Jack-by-the-hedge; in summer, borage sprawls on to the path, humming with bees. I have walked and run along this path thousands of times – sometimes alone, sometimes with my dog, husband, friends or neighbours. While the route remain ..read more

Locals and tourists alike complain that navigating the Greek capital’s sidewalks by foot can be fraught with peril Early this year I took a fall. In broad daylight, on a street in downtown Athens, I tripped, clipping my right foot on a marble step jutting on to the pavement in front of the entrance to a furniture store. The step’s railing, grabbed in a desperate attempt to break the fall, then did what I never expected: ­collapsing in my hands, it threw me with even greater force across the pavement. A broken shoulder was diagnosed. Seven months later physiotherapy continues. In this I am far ..read more

My grandfather Edward Derbyshire, who has died aged 91, was an influential geoscientist. His research encompassed everything from landslides and glaciers to desertification and climate change. For much of his career he was based at what is now Keele University, where he began as a geography lecturer and rose to be professor of geomorphology, before leaving to become head of the geography department at the University of Leicester until his retirement in 1990 ..read more

My husband John Adams, emeritus professor of geography at University College London, who has died aged 85, was one of the first academics to rigorously explore the field of risk, bridging the divide between data-driven and psychological approaches. “Risk management – it’s not rocket science,” he would say. “It’s more complicated.” He produced groundbreaking work on road safety and expanded the concept of ‘risk compensation’ – a theory that suggests people adjust their behaviour in response to perceived levels of risk ..read more

Doubling of related street, house and farm names since 1900 gives glimpse of flower ‘ghosts’, says National Trust Over the last century orchards and blossom trees have been slipping out of the British landscape at an alarming rate but the “ghosts” of lost flowers are glimpsed in an increasing number of placenames recalling the vanished pinks and whites, researchers have found. A National Trust study has discovered that the number of street, house and farm names relating to orchards and blossom has doubled across England and Wales since the turn of the 20th century, a period in which more than ..read more

Steve Brace of the Geographical Association on how young people can be supported to get into nature at a local level The director general of the National Trust, Hilary McGrady, is correct when she says that “the benefit of ensuring access to nature is plain to see but there is unequal access to it” (Three-quarters of children want more time in nature, says National Trust, 1 April). Sadly, evidence shows that this situation is also reflected in our schools. Over the last 20 years, Ofsted reports have shown that school fieldwork has been declining. And a survey of geography teachers in 2023 indi ..read more

Collapse in system of currents that helps regulate global climate would be at such speed that adaptation would be impossible The circulation of the Atlantic Ocean is heading towards a tipping point that is “bad news for the climate system and humanity”, a study has found. The scientists behind the research said they were shocked at the forecast speed of collapse once the point is reached, although they said it was not yet possible to predict how soon that would happen ..read more

Eruption comes a month after nearly 4,000 inhabitants of the fishing town of Grindavik were evacuated when the area was hit by a 'seismic swarm' of more than 1,000 earthquakes in 24 hours. The Reykjanes peninsula in recent years has seen several eruptions in unpopulated areas, but the latest outbreak could pose a risk to Grindavik, authorities say. Iceland declares state of emergency over volcanic eruption threat Iceland volcano: eruption begins on Reykjanes peninsula after weeks of activity ..read more