News Insights

The Mountain Has a Name: Nepal’s Rasuwa Flood Disaster, One Month On

The satellites have named the mountain — the same massif that destroyed Langtang village in 2015. K.J. Parker sorts a month of evidence into fact, inference, contested and speculation, states the Langtang hypothesis, and sets out how it could actually be tested

El Niño Explained: 2026 Impact & the Future Prognosis

Ocean temperatures hit a record 21.1°C in August, out of season. El Niño, climate change and what the hottest sea ever measured means for 2027

Latest Posts

The Trainable Heart: Buddhism and the Discipline of Kindness

Buddhism treats kindness as something you practise rather than something that visits you. On mettā as a trainable skill, Buddhaghosa's near enemies, and what happens when the most developed doctrine of loving-kindness in the world is set beside its own record

The Mountain Has a Name: Nepal’s Rasuwa Flood Disaster, One Month On

The satellites have named the mountain — the same massif that destroyed Langtang village in 2015. K.J. Parker sorts a month of evidence into fact, inference, contested and speculation, states the Langtang hypothesis, and sets out how it could actually be tested

Our Planet

El Niño Explained: 2026 Impact & the Future Prognosis

Ocean temperatures hit a record 21.1°C in August, out of season. El Niño, climate change and what the hottest sea ever measured means for 2027

The Mountain Sage: Arne Naess and the Deep Ecological Turn

Arne Naess's Deep Ecology: Life-centered philosophy on the intrinsic value of all life, urging a shift from Shallow Ecology to Ecological Self-realization.

Life on the Edge: How Extremophiles Redefine Biology and Expand Our Cosmic Search

Listen to our Deep Dive for an insight into this article Descend into the crushing,...

Featured

Why the World Is Burning: The 2026 Wildfire Crisis Explained

Inside the 2026 wildfire crisis across Europe and Canada — the climate and land-use causes, the human and ecological cost, and what actually works.

World Environment Day 2026: Climate Action – Why It’s Still So Hard — and What Works

Clean energy is booming, yet emissions keep breaking records. A clear-eyed 2026 look at climate action—what's working, what's failing, and what it will take.

Science & Future

Meditation & Mindfulness

The Gentle Monk Who Taught the World to Breathe: The Enduring Legacy of Thich Nhat Hanh

The highly respected Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Zen master, teacher, and peace activist who passed away in January 2022 at the age of...

Forest Bathing: The Ancient Japanese Practice of Shinrin-yoku

I have studied Shinrin-yoku and picked-up a Diploma in the practice along the way, so a modality close to my heart. Being in nature...

One Minute Zen Meditation Technique: Unlocking Calm by Counting to Five

In our fast-paced, demanding world, the idea that a profound sense of peace can be found by simply sitting and breathing can seem almost...

Breath of Life: A Comprehensive Guide to Mindful Breathing Techniques

Mindful breathing, also known as breath awareness meditation, is a type of mindfulness practice that involves focusing your attention on your breath. The practice...

Blessings to All Beings: A Loving Kindness Meditation Practice

1. Preparation: Find a quiet space where you won't be disturbed. Sit comfortably on a cushion, chair, or floor with your spine straight. Close your eyes gently...

The Tender Gravity of Kindness: An Ancient Virtue and Its Modern Science

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside, the poet Naomi Shihab Nye writes, you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing....

The Architecture of Inner Peace: Building a Sustainable Meditation Practice

Introduction: The Radical Act of Stillness In an age defined by perpetual connectivity and information overload, the search for silence has become a radical act....

Books by Kevin J Parker

Recent Posts

The Trainable Heart: Buddhism and the Discipline of Kindness

Buddhism treats kindness as something you practise rather than something that visits you. On mettā as a trainable skill, Buddhaghosa's near enemies, and what happens when the most developed doctrine of loving-kindness in the world is set beside its own record

The Mountain Has a Name: Nepal’s Rasuwa Flood Disaster, One Month On

The satellites have named the mountain — the same massif that destroyed Langtang village in 2015. K.J. Parker sorts a month of evidence into fact, inference, contested and speculation, states the Langtang hypothesis, and sets out how it could actually be tested

Melbourne, Australia: The Liveable City Under Heat Stress

Melbourne's liveability rankings measure the compact, tram-served inner city. They do not measure Tarneit on a 45-degree day. On 27 January 2026 the western suburbs ran three degrees hotter than the centre — and that gap, not the weather, is the story of a world-class urban forest, a sprawling metropolis, falling reservoirs and two cities under one name.

The Law of Laws: Theosophy and the Backbone of Kindness

"Is kindness merely a feeling, or is it a load-bearing structure for society? Kevin J Parker, author of 'The Backbone of Kindness: Restoring Our Oldest Virtue', explores the profound intersection of Theosophy and modern ethics, examining how compassion functions as the 'Law of laws' and the essential backbone of human arrangements."

The Reality of Global Warming

Explore the empirical reality of global warming right now. Uncover accelerating ocean heat, temperature overshoot pathways, and critical planetary tipping points.

Stonehenge: The Machine, the Landscape and the Making of a World

Hawkins's computer was too literal. But his instinct — that Stonehenge handled information — survives every test the sixty years since have thrown at it. An investigation through stone provenance, isotopes, ancient DNA and landscape archaeology, ending with a named, testable hypothesis: the Gathering Engine.

Smart City: The Word Finds an Owner

Cities ran sewers and traffic computers long before anyone sold them the word. Around 2008 “smart” acquired an owner. Four product cities show what it cost.

El Niño Explained: 2026 Impact & the Future Prognosis

Ocean temperatures hit a record 21.1°C in August, out of season. El Niño, climate change and what the hottest sea ever measured means for 2027

The Divine Within: Why I Keep Circling the Idea That the Sacred Is an Inside Job

The divine within: a personal reflection on Jung, mysticism, meditation and prayer, and why I still cannot decide whether the sacred is an inside job.

Commissioning Curiousity: Retraining the Our Social Media Echo Chamber to Serve Up Variety

Retraining Spotify revealed how AI recommendation algorithms narrow us — and why commissioning curiosity, not searching, is the literacy of the age.

The Compass and the Cosmos: Sacred Geometry

Sacred geometry, examined: the real history behind the ten forms, what nature actually does, and what physics has found in the shape of the universe.

The Greening of Riyadh Saudi Arabia

Riyadh is planting 7.5m trees and running a new metro against an Expo 2030 deadline. A look at the water, heat and money behind the desert city's greening

Ocean Plastic Pollution: Is the Tide Finally Turning?

Ocean plastic pollution is falling: 39% less on Australian coasts. The data, the clean-up technology and the policies proving change is possible

The Backbone of Kindness: Rekindling Our Oldest Virtue in Troubled Times

Kindness is not niceness. Kevin J. Parker argues it is civilisation's load-bearing structure—the backbone on which coexistence depends

The Digital Deva: The Future Relationship of Humans with Artificial Intelligence

As regular readers of this blog know I have an abiding interest in Artificial Intelligence, and, in particular, it's potential to develop proto-consciousness, or,...

Why the World Is Burning: The 2026 Wildfire Crisis Explained

Inside the 2026 wildfire crisis across Europe and Canada — the climate and land-use causes, the human and ecological cost, and what actually works.

Large Language Model Update August 2026- The Defenders Dilemma as Hugging Face Gets Cracked

An AI sandbox breach exposed a new risk: powerful agents can turn tools and permissions into action, leaving guardrail-bound defenders at a disadvantage.

Milan, Italy: Can Trees Cool a Dense European City?

Green Cities Series | Article 17 For a decade, the Lombard capital has captured...

Cape Town and the Watershed of Resilience: A Metropolitan Study of Post-Drought Transformation

GREEN CITIES SERIES | ARTICLE 15 The atmospheric tension in Cape Town during the austral summer of 2017–2018 was characterized by a distinct psychological phenomena...

Why Mexico City is Sinking: The Environmental History of a Modern Water Crisis

Mexico City faces sinking and water crises due to drained lakes and urban growth. Explore the environmental challenges and solutions shaping its future

The Common Table in a Burning World: Why the United Nations Must Be Revived, Not Abandoned

The chamber still looks improbably calm. Green marble. Translation headsets. Country names set out in alphabetical order, as though the world’s grief can be...

Los Angeles: Reinventing the Concrete River

Explore Los Angeles' ambitious efforts to transform its concrete flood-control river back into a living ecological corridor amidst urban and climate challenges.

Evolve

Green Cities

Vienna – Green Social Housing as Climate Policy

GREEN CITIES SERIES  |  ARTICLE 3 For a century, Vienna has built...

London. Clean Air, Congestion, and Retrofit Burdens

GREEN CITIES SERIES  |  ARTICLE 6 London has done something that most...

The Sapphire Empire: A Chronicle of Britain’s Blue Belt and the Resurrection of the Wild

Introduction: The Map and the Territory The ocean is a memory. It remembers the iron taste of the harpoon and the heavy drag of the...

Western European Wilderness Lost: Rewilding the Tamed Lands

1. Historical Baseline Pre-1750 Wilderness Extent The aurochs' last bellow echoed through Poland's Jaktorów Forest in 1627, marking Europe's first recorded megafaunal extinction.¹ This wild...

Marine Wilderness: The Blue Heart of Earth

Marine wilderness is vanishing fast—climate, overfishing, pollution, and mining threaten ocean life. Indigenous wisdom and bold protection offer hope.

Take a Deep Dive

The Mountain Has a Name: Nepal’s Rasuwa Flood Disaster, One Month On

The satellites have named the mountain — the same massif that destroyed Langtang village in 2015. K.J. Parker sorts a month of evidence into fact, inference, contested and speculation, states the Langtang hypothesis, and sets out how it could actually be tested

The Ocean Floor Under Siege: An Investigation into the Global Deep Sea Trawling Industry

I recall watching Attenborough's 'The World About Us' series on a black and white TV as a child back in the late 1960's, he...

The Silent Invasion: Reading the Ocean’s Genetic Fingerprints to Track a World on the Move

Abstract Climate change is forcing a global redistribution of marine life, yet tracking the vanguard of this migration is challenging with traditional visual surveys that...

Climate Change Reckoning: A Review of the 2025 Australia’s National Risk Assessment

It look as as without significant changes in policy direction, both in Australia and globally, we are in big trouble from climate change according...

The Architecture of Inner Peace: Building a Sustainable Meditation Practice

Introduction: The Radical Act of Stillness In an age defined by perpetual connectivity and information overload, the search for silence has become a radical act....

Epitaph for the Cape Verde Cone Snail

News in brief — October 2025 IUCN has listed the Cape Verde cone snail (Conus lugubris) as Extinct (EX) in its latest global Red...

Consider

Curitiba, Brazil: The Classic Model Revisited

GREEN CITIES SERIES  |  ARTICLE...

A Green and Pleasant Land? Charting the Past, Present, and Future of Great Britain’s Environment

Introduction The identity of Great Britain is inextricably linked with its landscape. The phrase "green and pleasant land," borrowed from William Blake's evocative poem, conjures images of rolling hills, ancient...

The Architects of Memory: An Investigative Report on the Elephant in the Anthropocene

From the deep-time silence of the Eocene swamps to the seismic rumblings of the modern savanna, the elephant is not merely a charismatic giant but the keystone of our...

The Reality of Global Warming

Explore the empirical reality of global warming right now. Uncover accelerating ocean heat, temperature overshoot pathways, and critical planetary tipping points.