Ecoclimax

These three maps illustrate forest cover in New Zealand at three points in time, using vegetation and land‑use data derived from pollen records, charcoal sediments, landcover databases, and modern forestry inventories. Imagine New Zealand before humans: around 80–85 % of the land was dense forest, with only alpine peaks, volcanic soils, and river terraces open to grassland or shrubland. Then Māori arrived in roughly the 14th century. Within a few hundred years, fire‑setting and hunting had reduced forest cover by about half, often in lowland areas most suitable for settlement and bracken fern growth. The second map shows forest cover just before European colonisation (mid‑1800s). At this point, around 68 % of the land still had forest—but half the lowland forests were gone , and erosion and forest fragmentation had set in. Fast forward to today: native forests cover roughly 23–29 % of the land area (with some variability depending on whether you include regenerating scrub), exotic p...

Ever wondered how researchers measure happiness for entire countries? It might surprise you. The World Happiness Report asks people to rate their own lives on a scale from 0 to 10, then looks at trends in things like income, social support, health, freedom, generosity, and trust in government. The result is the “Happiness Index”—basically a snapshot of how content nations are feeling right now. Between these two maps created by Vivid Maps , here's what you’ll notice: global happiness crept up from about 5.39 in 2015 to roughly 5.52 today. It may not seem like a huge jump, but across billions, that’s a meaningful lift. Who’s Sitting Pretty—and Who’s Struggling? Stable democracies with strong social systems tend to lead the rankings. Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, and the Netherlands score highest—Finland even wears the crown at around 7.7 out of 10. These places share a few key things : they trust each other and their institutions, have social safety nets, and give people freed...

A little more than a hundred years ago, most people around the world didn’t live past the age of 30. In fact, the global average life expectancy in 1900 was just 31 years. Today, that number has more than doubled, reaching over 70 worldwide. Some countries are even pushing close to 90. It’s a remarkable shift—and it didn’t happen by chance. The concept of life expectancy might sound like a distant statistical term, but it's really just a way of measuring the average number of years a newborn might live based on current conditions. It reflects the health, stability, and care systems of a society. And it has a lot to say about how well we take care of each other—and ourselves. So, what’s pushing these numbers up? Better healthcare is an obvious part of the answer. Widespread use of vaccines and antibiotics, improvements in sanitation and water access, and huge gains in maternal and child health have played a major role, especially in countries where basic needs were once out of reac...

Even ancient Rome proves that one person’s waste is another’s resource. Emperors have always needed money, and Vespasian (AD 69–79) turned a stinky problem into tax revenue. Public latrines collected gallons of urine rich in ammonia, which tanners and fullers used to soften hides and bleach togas. When his son Titus balked at taxing human waste, Vespasian famously held a coin under his nose: Titus smelled nothing – “money does not stink,” the emperor quipped. The tax on vectigal urinae (urine duty) coined the phrase pecunia non olet (“money doesn’t smell”). It was an early lesson that in a money-driven world, value can come from the foulest sources. With an environmental twist, this odd chapter has modern resonance. After all, we still flush away mountains of pee and poo: an average person produces about 128 g (4.5 oz) of feces and 1.42 liters (48 oz) of urine daily . Multiply that by today’s ~8 billion people and it adds up fast – on the order of billions of tons of solid waste an...