The Empty Houses That Foreign Aid Built
After the devastation of the 2004 tsunami, aid agencies promised to rebuild Indonesia “better.” Fifteen years later, their failures are all too obvious.
Dec 3, 2019 | 3,200 words, about 16 minutes
Topic: People & Society
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Article list
Coastal Job: Seafood Inspector
Scott Albrecht has a trained eye for spotting harmful defects in the ocean’s bounty.
Nov 29, 2019 | 600 words, about 3 minutes
Picking Up the Bones
Moving burial grounds before the sea takes them away is painstaking and expensive. Why do we do it?
Nov 26, 2019 | 5,300 words, about 26 minutes
A Rising Sea Doesn’t Lift All Boats
Measures to avoid sea level rise that rely entirely on voluntary action threaten to exacerbate inequality.
Nov 20, 2019 | 850 words, about 4 minutes
From Berth to Death
The history of influenza as a global disease is inextricably tied to steamships and the expansion of world trade. A war demonstrated how big a pandemic could get.
Nov 19, 2019 | 4,200 words, about 21 minutes
Rumors of Dory’s Demise Were Greatly Exaggerated
Blue tangs just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.
Nov 5, 2019 | 750 words, about 3 minutes
Chasing the Far, Far Away Fish
Each year, an increasing number of traditional fishers from southwestern Madagascar sail away from their villages, seeking ever-dwindling fish stocks far from home.
Nov 4, 2019 | 1,400 words, 12 photos
The Fight Over a Shitty Rock
A tiny, uninhabitable islet in the North Atlantic has become an unlikely battleground in the fight for fishing rights.
Oct 29, 2019 | 2,200 words, about 11 minutes