Through the lens

COP22: As the United Nations climate summit enters its final days, a news story appeared this week, which didn't come as much surprise to anyone. 2016, we learned, is "very likely" to be the hottest year on record. According to the UN this would mark the third consecutive year that temperature records have been broken, while all 16 years of this century were among the 17 hottest years ever recorded.
 

A sacred forest: Global Ideas visited a sacred grove this week, which locals have cared for for a very long time. The lushly green area of Mangar Bani lies barely an hour's drive from India's capital New Delhi. But the ancient forest is at the heart of a conflict that pits the environment and tradition against development and politics.
 

Suing the leaders: This week, a group of American youths officially won the right to sue the United States government for failing to curb climate change. The 21 plaintiffs, who are between 9 and 20 years old and come from all over the US argue that "the government has known for more than 50 years that the carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels was destabilizing the climate system in a way that would significantly endanger plaintiffs with the damage persisting for millennia."
 

Supermoon: On Monday, a so-called "supermoon" came very close to Earth. Only 356,509 kilometers (221,524 miles) separated the two celestial bodies. The moon hadn't been this bright or this close to earth since 1948. This phenomenon led to unusually high tides, followed by plunging low tides the morning after.