In April and May 2024, relentless rain turned Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul into a vast inland floodplain, pushing families onto rooftops and into crowded shelters as roads, bridges, and power lines failed around them. The floods killed 181 people, displaced 775,000, and affected 2.4 million residents.

Across North America, ribbons of crows stretch over highways, rivers, and neighborhoods, converging with uncanny precision on favored roosts. They arrive in waves, first a dozen, then hundreds, then thousands, until entire trees seem to pulse with life. The air fills with a chorus of caws, clicks, and rattling calls.

Language does more than describe reality—it shapes it. For example, Scandinavians use the word “friluftsliv” (pronounced free-loofts-liv) to convey “getting out into nature.” Friluftsliv translates to “open-air living.”

Commercial buildings are often seen as long-term assets—but their interiors are not. That’s because modern office spaces are in constant flux: Companies will typically do a full renovation every decade with additional changes every three to five years, design companies say.

In Sicily, where citrus groves glow under the shadow of Mount Etna and prickly pear cacti dot the landscape, agricultural waste has long been part of the scenery. Each year, more than a million tons of orange peels, pulp, and cactus by-products are left behind—too often discarded, overlooked, or treated as a burden.