Best of 2025 … so far: the great abandonment: what happens to the natural world when people disappear?

The Audio Long Read

The Guardian

Society & Culture

4.3 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 6 August 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Every Wednesday and Friday in August we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2025, in case you missed them, with an introduction from the editorial team to explain why we’ve chosen it. This week, from February: across the globe, vast swathes of land are being left to be reclaimed by nature. To see what could be coming, look to Bulgaria. By Tess McClure. Read by Sara Lynam The Oath documentary: www.theguardian.com/world/video/2025/jul/30/the-oath-to-be-a-palestinian-doctor-in-israels-healthcare-system. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is The Guardian.
0:09.2	Hey everyone, it's Max from the University of York's admissions team.
0:12.8	wishing you and yours all the very best for any exam results coming up.
0:16.2	It's okay to be nervous and it's okay to be excited.
0:18.7	Just remember that clearing is always on hand as another
0:21.2	option on results day. We're ready to talk anyone through their options, whether they've not
0:25.7	quite got what they'd hoped, or they're wanting to aim even higher with our lifelong career
0:29.2	support. Find your place at a Russell Group uni this year, ranked 12th in the UK in the
0:34.0	2026 Complete Uny Guide. Search Clearing at York to learn more.
0:38.3	All the best.
0:44.0	Hi, I'm Jess Gormley, executive producer of Guardian documentaries.
0:48.7	We wanted to let you know about our latest film release called The Oath.
0:52.5	It follows a Palestinian doctor working in Israel's healthcare system,
0:56.7	where a quarter of all physicians are Palestinian citizens of Israel.
1:00.4	As conflict rages, Dr. Lina Kassem Hassan grapples with her commitment to the medical oath.
1:05.9	This documentary is available to watch on The Guardian and YouTube.
1:09.5	A film link can be found in this podcast show notes.
1:20.1	Hi, my name's David Wolfe and I'm the editor of the Guardian Longreed.
1:24.3	Over the summer, we'll be picking a few of our favourite pieces of the year so far and giving you a bit of
1:29.4	background information about them. So this week I've picked the Great Abandonment, What
1:35.5	Happens to the Natural World When People Disappeared by Tess McClure? Like a lot of people,
1:41.0	I'm always fascinated by images of abandoned buildings, abandoned cities, things like that.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 3 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Guardian, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Guardian and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.