The little-known “third pole,” in Asia’s high peaks, is one of the most ecologically diverse places on Earth

By Gaia Vince

Many moons ago in Tibet, the Second Buddha transformed a fierce nyen (a malevolent mountain demon) into a neri (the holiest protective warrior god) called Khawa Karpo, who took up residence in the sacred mountain bearing his name. Khawa Karpo is the tallest of the Meili mountain range, piercing the sky at 6,740 metres (22,112ft) above sea level. Local Tibetan communities believe that conquering Khawa Karpo is an act of sacrilege and would cause the deity to abandon his mountain home. Nevertheless, there have been several failed attempts by outsiders – the best known by an international team of 17, all of whom died in an avalanche during their ascent on 3 January 1991. After much local petitioning, in 2001 Beijing passed a law banning mountaineering there. READ ON

An epic journey by river and road reveals the horrible price of the Amazon inferno

By Tom Phillips

From afar, it resembles a tornado: an immense grey column shooting thousands of feet upwards from the forest canopy into the Amazonian skies.

Up close it is an inferno: a raging conflagration obliterating yet another stretch of the world’s greatest rainforest as a herd of Nelore cattle looks on in bewilderment.

“It started this morning,” said Valdir Urumon, the chief of an indigenous village in this isolated corner of Rondônia state, as the vast pillar of smoke loomed over his settlement’s palm-thatched homes.

By late afternoon, when the Guardian arrived on the scene, the fire had intensified into a catastrophic blaze, streaking north through a strip of jungle perhaps two miles long. READ ON

Scientists record whale songs from the South Pacific

By Rhys Blakely

Just like us, humpback whales succumb to musical fads. Every few years, all the males in one part of the ocean will swap their complex chorus of squeaks and moans for an entirely new one.

This new tune will ripple across the waves, to be adopted by other males separated by thousands of miles — much farther than the song can carry in the water. One humpback melody is displaced by another, much as today’s hit single dislodges yesterday’s No 1.

Until now, how the whales shared their music was a mystery. One theory had suggested it was down to lone troubadour humpbacks who swam between breeding groups, carrying their musical motifs with them. READ ON

In defiance of international restrictions, Japan has resumed commercial whaling. They’ve also wasted no time: as of late August they have killed 150 Bryde’s whales and were on pace to kill more than 50 minke whales by September’s end. As Yoshifumi Kai, head of Japan’s Small-Type Whaling Association, said, “September is the best season, when whales with plenty of fat are caught. I’m looking forward to the hunt.” Japan broke from the International Whaling Commission, a coalition of 87 countries that regulates whaling and conserves populations, after it vetoed their proposal to hunt species “considered abundant.” Conservationists are concerned that Japan’s exit from the I.W.C. may prompt South Korea, Russia, Norway, and Iceland to leave the group as well. READ ON

Meet the stylish socialites who are making environmentalism chic

By Vassi Chamberlain

A couple of years ago, I was invited to a fund-raising lunch in a surprisingly down-at-the-heels part of London. Rather than a gilt-and-mirrors five-star hotel, which is the norm, the home for this event was a massive ground-level raw space, glass-fronted on all sides. Passersby had a prime view of the 200 women—a standard mix of Gucci, diamonds, and blowouts—seated at long tables. And they weren’t the only spectators: lying on sleeping bags, gawping at the goings-on inside, were three of the city’s homeless. Was that Tom Wolfe I could hear choking with laughter above?

Ah, rich women and philanthropy—what READ ON