Of all sides of Everest - the south from Nepal, the north from Tibet, and the east, also from Tibet - it is the eastern approach via the Kama and Kangshung Valleys, which are the most stunning.

As I work on my ballot this morning, I’m going to resist the temptation – a very real one – to take the easy road, the comfortable one, and vote a partisan line. Instead, I’ll do my best to digest all I’ve read and researched, to implement my values and vote with my heart, not my wallet; vote with my mind, not my party; vote for the future, not the short-term; vote with compassion for all rather than contempt for and fear of some.

The image [of a coyote lifting a leg] should be struck on a new coin, with Charles Darwin on the other side, not negotiable, but a good-luck coin to remind us of change and evolution, and of creatures that will be happy to adapt if we ourselves cannot…The land has been hurt. Misuse is not to be excused, and its ill effects will long be felt. But nature will not be eliminated…Rain, moss, and time apply their healing bandage, and the injured land at last recovers. Nature is evergreen, after all.

The Gaanges River in India is both revered and reviled: it's worshipped as an incarnation of the divine by nearly a billion Hindus, and is also one of the most polluted rivers in the world.