Author: Ms. R.

This piece was originally published in High Country News and appears here as part of our Climate Desk collaboration. Centuries-old sycamore trees tower over the dry riverbed of Harshaw Creek, in the Patagonia Mountains of southern Arizona. Where houses once stood, flat, barren earth stretches to the base of nearby low, oak-covered hills. A crumbling wooden building, relic of a mining supervisor’s home, and a cemetery are all that remain of what once was one of the West’s richest……

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The Wren’s Eggs are located along Blackhead path in the coastal seaside town of Whitehead on the East Antrim coastline. Blackhead Path is one of many coastal cliff walks along the Islandmagee peninsula including The Gobbins and Skernaghan Point. Blackhead Path leads visitors along a coastal pathway towards Blackhead Lighthouse after climbing the cliffside path through tunnels, and over bridges and steps. The Wren’s Eggs are actually glacial erratics, large rocks that were transported and deposited in the region……

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The Lake of Cutilia also known as the Paterno Lake was sacred to the Sabine people. Roman historians described a floating island with a temple dedicated to the oracular cult of the Sabine Goddess Vacuna, a fertility goddess who protected the waters. The lake was later exploited by the Romans, particularly by two locally-born Roman emperors, Vespasian and Titus.  The region is located strategically along an ancient road, the Via Salaria which connects Rome to the Adriatic Sea, is……

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When thinking of animals that reflect the breadth and diversity that is Edinburgh, there’s a plethora of species to choose from, from the mythical unicorn, which is the nation’s symbolic animal, to Greyfriars Bobby, a famed Skye terrier who is the city’s mascot. There is also Dolly the Sheep, the first mammal to be cloned, or  Wojtek the Soldier Bear, who helped allied forces during World War II. Now, what would one make of a rhinoceros having anything to do with……

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In the north of Saint Petersburg lies an astoundingly large and somber memorial complex dedicated mostly to the victims of the Siege of Leningrad carried out by Nazi soldiers during World War II. This siege—considered a genocide by some historians—was one of the longest and most destructive sieges in history. It was also perhaps the costliest in terms of casualties, with estimates totaling around 1,000,000 deaths, many of them civilians from starvation and exposure between September 8, 1941 and January 27, 1944…….

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In and around Amiens in the French Picardy region, a stretch of floating farmland poses an unusual challenge to local farmers and gardeners. Les Hortillonnages d’Amiens are an age-old, 300-hectare area of marshland where vegetables and flowers grow on gardens connected by 40 miles of canal. One legend claims that the Hortillonnages date back to Roman times, with the term for market gardens, hortillon, originating from the Latin word hortus. But it was in the Middle Ages that locals……

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