Think 2020’s disasters are wild? Experts see worse in the future

A record amount of California is burning, spurred by a nearly 20-year mega-drought. To the north, parts of Oregon that don’t usually catch fire are in flames.

Meanwhile, the Atlantic’s 16th and 17th named tropical storms are swirling, a record number    for this time of year. Powerful Typhoon Haishen lashed Japan and the Korean Peninsula last week. Last month it hit 130 degrees in Death Valley, the hottest Earth has been in nearly a century…

The Resilience Project: Why we need to teach young people how to fail

This story is part of The Resilience Project, a Stuff and Sunday Star-Times investigation into how people can thrive amid Covid-19.

Throughout much of Ezekiel Raui’s teenage years, his family was homeless.

Sometimes, he, his parents and his younger brother and sisters slept in cars. Other times they stayed at whānau and friends’ places.

He estimates he changed schools between 10 to 12 times as his family moved from Tokoroa to Auckland and then to the Far North to look after a sick grandparent. Despite this transience, Raui did well academically…