It's been a grim year for the environment and our stories covering the subject were among our most widely read, but our most popular on bringing a forest back to life using gorse offered hope.
Pet numbers need to shrink to help save the planet
Pet ownership around the world continues to grow, and the environmental cost is skyrocketing along with it, says nutritional ecology expert David Raubenheimer.
Raising the Bar: how to make our rivers healthy
Dismayed by the increasing degradation of our waterways - and drawing on a traditional Māori worldview - Dan Hikuroa says it's time to think of our rivers as sentient beings.
Professor Jared Diamond: 'The world is in more trouble than it has ever been'
"The present situation is the most dangerous situation of my life, just because there are more people with more consumption and more impact on the world.”
Climate pioneer Dave Lowe "we only have one atmosphere"
New Zealander Dave Lowe is a legend in atmospheric science, being one of the first people to find proof that humans were driving global warming.
The early climate heroes who tried to warn us
Climate change was being discussed by some unlikely heroes in the early 1980s, says New York Times journalist Nathaniel Rich. He's written a book about them.
David Wallace-Wells: Inaction on climate change will turn Earth into 'a hell'
if people don’t mobilise to tackle the issue immediately, our planet will face untold disaster, drought and famine, says David Wallace-Wells.
The psychology behind climate change disbelievers
By nature, climate sceptics are slightly suspicious, sometimes religious and usually politically conservative, says psychologist Marc Wilson.
Gorse for the trees: How one man brought back a forest
In 1987, Hugh Wilson had the idea of turning some hilly farmland back into native forest. Thirty years later, the Hinewai Nature Reserve is 15,000 hectares of flourishing native bush.
Predictions of sea-level rise severely understated
Many parts of the world are closer to sea level and many more people at risk of rising seas than previously believed.
Jonathan Safran Foer - can you eat your way to saving the planet?
How much power does the individual have in preventing climate change? More than you think, says American author Jonathan Safran Foer.