This post is an abbreviated response to a recent question about my journey into sustainability
My journey into sustainability didn’t begin in a classroom or a boardroom—but in a rainforest in Borneo.
I was a teenager, cooling my feet beside a jungle creek, when a wild orangutan emerged in the canopy overhead. We made eye contact—just for a few seconds—but that moment stayed with me. A few months later, I learned the very forest where that encounter happened was slated for destruction to make paper. That news devastated me—and lit a fire that still burns today.
I began researching tropical rainforests and wrote a book in college to raise awareness. When the publisher said it wouldn’t have the budget for color photos, I uploaded the entire manuscript online so people could read it for free. That became the foundation for Mongabay, named after an island off Madagascar.
It started as a side project. But I left a job in Silicon Valley to run it full-time from my apartment, publishing articles that people began translating into dozens of languages. The appetite for credible, accessible environmental information was clear—especially from regions overlooked by mainstream U.S. media.
In 2011, I founded a nonprofit and launched Mongabay-Indonesia, the first independent environmental news service in Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian) covering issues across the archipelago. Within three months, it became the most-read outlet of its kind. More importantly, it was helping inform policy, support frontline and Indigenous communities, and hold powerful interests to account.
That success shaped a bigger vision: a decentralized, global network of environmental journalists.
Today, Mongabay has bureaus in Latin America, India, and Africa. We work with more than 1,000 journalists in over 80 countries and publish in multiple languages. Our stories are freely republished by outlets ranging from grassroots newsletters to national newspapers. We support emerging reporters through paid fellowships in low- and middle-income countries, and our coverage spans ocean health, Indigenous rights, and science-based conservation.
Our aim is simple but ambitious: Ensure that credible environmental information is available to everyone—especially those in a position to act. We don’t just report on problems; we highlight solutions. And we measure success not by pageviews, but by real-world outcomes.
At its core, Mongabay exists to help people make better decisions—whether they’re policymakers, investors, conservationists, or community leaders.
I didn’t set out to build a news organization. I set out to tell stories that mattered. Along the way, I found a mission—and a responsibility—that continues to grow.
