The bluebells in Belgium’s Hallerbos forest are so beautiful, tourists aren’t allowed to see them this year. The flowers, also known as wild hyacinth, would draw so many visitors officials decided to close parks and parking lots and ban non-locals to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Two hours among the giant sequoias of Yosemite, drinking in reams of information from a National Park ranger, will redefine anyone’s interpretation of “a walk in the woods.” 

The great spotted lanternfly, a planthopper native to Southeast Asia, flies in people’s faces, lands on them, and dumps its sticky waste everywhere. Residents of Pennsylvania, where the species invades this time of year, are fighting back with vacuums, dish soap, sticky tape, and whatever else they can come up with. Lori Beatrice from Phoenixville, Pa., estimates she and her husband have killed thousands of the lanternflies swarming their yard. “It’s disgusting,” she said. “It’s like waking up in a nightmare.”

A neighbor, leaning over my fence while our dogs played, said: “The world as we know it could not exist without insects, but the world without humans? It would be better, infinitely better, than the world as we know it.” 

He’s well read and well traveled, but in my heart I know he’s wrong. God pronounced creation “good,” that is, until He made man. On that day, he surveyed a world where men and women were fruitful and multiplying and having dominion over “every living thing”—and for the first time He pronounced the world “very good.” 

A total of 69 countries pledged Monday to adopt stricter climate goals by the end of 2020, with 65 aiming to reach a net of zero emissions. The countries’ leaders gathered in New York for a United Nations summit on climate change after millions of student activists around the world skipped school on Friday to demand change. U.S.

Millions of students around the world skipped school on Friday for a global climate change strike. The movement included more than 5,000 demonstrations in 156 countries, including Germany, Nigeria, and Tokyo. Young demonstrators held signs that read, “You are destroying our future,” and “There is no planet B.” In the United States, organizers expect more than 800 events. New York City Public Schools said parents could excuse their students to participate in the strike.

More than 74,000 fires raged in Brazil’s Amazon region as of Tuesday—an 84 percent increase from last year.