Rhett Ayers Butler
It’s difficult to describe the feeling of standing beneath Auyán-Tepuí, that towering table mountain in southern Venezuela, except to say that something in me changed. In the mid-1990s, I visited this place—part of Caimana National Park—drawn by the allure of Angel Falls, the tallest waterfall on Earth. But nothing prepared me for the sheer presence [Continue reading]
For Ben Ochieng’ Ogodo, science was never a subject to be sequestered in ivory towers. It belonged in the hands of the people—decoded, demystified, and, above all, delivered with clarity and conviction. Across nearly three decades, he did just that: in newspapers and journals, in classrooms and workshops, in newsrooms stretching from Nairobi to London. [Continue reading]
In Reddipalli, a village tucked into the dry red soils of Telangana’s Khammam district, there lived a man who measured life not in years or wealth, but in saplings. By his own modest estimate, Daripalli Ramaiah planted more than ten million trees. For over six decades, he travelled—on foot, later by bicycle, and sometimes on [Continue reading]
At a time when traditional news outlets are shedding reporters and chasing clicks, Mongabay is bucking the trend: it’s growing. One key, says David Martin, our director of philanthropy, is that Mongabay isn’t selling ads or stoking outrage—it’s cultivating trust. “Our currency,” he told Mike DiGirolamo in a recent conversation, “is really impact.” Martin, who [Continue reading]
“Resilience means getting through something—tough, messy, with losses, but surviving.” So said Andrew Whitworth of Osa Conservation, summing up a growing shift in conservation thinking. As the planet hurtles toward a future 3-5°C warmer by 2075, holding the line is no longer enough. The goal now is to help nature endure what’s coming, reports Jeremy [Continue reading]
“We already knew that.” I frequently receive complaints from readers about findings in scientific papers being common sense or obvious. And yes, it’s true: science often confirms what we’ve long suspected or seen in practice. By its nature, science is slow and methodical. It doesn’t chase novelty for novelty’s sake. It seeks to verify, quantify, [Continue reading]
In a quiet corner of northern New York, the white pines of the Adirondack Forest Preserve rise like sentinels, untouched for over 125 years. Their silence speaks volumes. These towering trees—some 150 feet tall and over a century old—stand as evidence of a counterintuitive climate solution: do nothing. Well, not quite nothing. Proforestation, a term [Continue reading]
Since 1970, North America has lost 3 billion birds. The decline hasn’t stopped. Bird populations across the United States are plummeting, according to a new report from the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) that paints a sobering picture of ecological decline. One in three species—229 in total—are now in urgent need of conservation. Among [Continue reading]
Life on Earth is changing—not just in numbers, but in essence Human activity is reshaping life on Earth in profound and alarming ways. A landmark study published in Nature offers the most comprehensive synthesis to date of how five primary anthropogenic pressures—habitat change, pollution, climate change, resource exploitation, and invasive species—are affecting biodiversity across all [Continue reading]
We’re planting trees — but losing biodiversity. Global efforts to restore forests are gathering pace, driven by promises of combating climate change, conserving biodiversity, and improving livelihoods. Yet a recent academic review warns that the biodiversity gains from these initiatives are often overstated — and sometimes absent altogether. Forest restoration is at the heart of [Continue reading]
Few apes have done more to unsettle human certainties than Kanzi. He was not the first non-human primate to use symbols to communicate, but he was the first to do so with such fluency, subtlety, and apparent ease that it prompted uncomfortable questions about the supposed uniqueness of human language, culture, and thought. Born in [Continue reading]
For months on end, he would maroon himself on remote islands—no phone, no company, no fanfare. Just a transistor radio, a hammock, and the possibility of seeing a turtle. It was enough. For Satish Bhaskar, the joy lay not in discovery as much as in the quiet act of observing: measuring tracks in the sand, [Continue reading]
Not all platforms are worth it After I shared the story behind Mongabay’s decision to deprioritize Facebook, several people asked: Where should impact-driven organizations focus their energy instead? There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. The best platform depends on your audience and what you want them to do with the information you share. Are you trying to [Continue reading]
Few creatures better embody the notion of peaceful coexistence than the manatee. Slow-moving and largely indifferent to human affairs, these aquatic herbivores graze on seagrasses and algae in the shallow coastal waters of the Americas and West Africa. Yet despite their unassuming nature, manatees are increasingly at the mercy of human activity. The West Indian [Continue reading]
In 2021, I grappled with a difficult decision. At the time, Facebook accounted for more than 80% of Mongabay’s external referral traffic — but we were increasingly questioning the value of that traffic. Mongabay’s mission as a nonprofit newsroom is to produce journalism that informs and drives impact, not just generate clicks. Years earlier, we’d [Continue reading]
You can’t fact someone into caring. Facts inform, but stories move. That idea came up often last week during discussions at The Villars Institute. The science is clear: our planetary systems are under immense stress. Yet, we’ve failed—dramatically—to communicate that reality in ways that resonate with most people. The challenge is compounded by the worsening [Continue reading]
There was something almost subversive about David Myers’s approach to conservation. He spoke the language of developers, negotiated like one, and sometimes even thought like one — but his ambitions ran in the opposite direction. Where others saw empty land as opportunity for subdivisions or shopping malls, he saw the scaffolding of nature itself: canyons, [Continue reading]
I’ve always loved forests—not just for their beauty, but for the feeling they evoke. Step into a forest and the world changes. The light softens. The air cools. The sounds shift from the chaotic clatter of human life to something older, gentler, and more patient. What draws me back, again and again, is the sense [Continue reading]
Vincent van der Merwe, Champion of the cheetah, died in Riyadh on March 16th, aged 42 For a species built for speed, cheetahs have run out of room. In their native Africa, they are marooned on islands of fragmented habitat, hemmed in by fences, farmland, and highways. It was Vincent van der Merwe’s unlikely task [Continue reading]
My obsession with Madagascar began in childhood. While my friends hung out at the mall or played video games, I hoarded books on the island’s chameleons and lemurs, dreaming of the day I would see them myself. I saved every spare dollar—from jobs, birthdays, even the Tooth Fairy—to fund my future adventure. By college, I [Continue reading]
In the waters surrounding Fiji, an ancient tradition endures. Indigenous (iTaukei) communities have long established aquatic funerary protected areas (FPAs) in honor of their deceased, temporarily forbidding fishing and harvesting in designated sections of freshwater and marine ecosystems. Though historically practiced for cultural and spiritual reasons, FPAs have inadvertently contributed to sustainable resource management—yet remain [Continue reading]
For my eighth-grade graduation, my parents gave me a basic 10-gallon aquarium. I quickly became obsessed with freshwater fish—not just the common pet store varieties like neon tetras and angelfish, but also more unusual species like elephant-nose fish and upside-down catfish. My fascination led me to devour books and academic papers, work in a fish [Continue reading]
I trust you are well. It’s meant to sound polite. It often isn’t. Over the years, I’ve come to see that how we open conversations matters. Yet this phrase lingers—empty, impersonal, and detached. This may seem trivial given everything happening in the world, but communication matters. If we want it to be meaningful, let’s rethink [Continue reading]
Elisabeth Vrba, who died last month at 82, did not set out to overturn the way scientists understood evolution. But her relentless inquiry, guided by a keen mathematical mind and a sharp eye for patterns in the fossil record, challenged some of Darwin’s most sacrosanct ideas. In a field where slow, incremental change had long [Continue reading]
Red lines. (This post discusses threats to press freedom and may be distressing for some readers. Please proceed with care.) We have entered a new era in the United States—one that carries profound risks for journalism. The assumption that the U.S. will remain a safe environment for independent reporting, especially on issues of power and [Continue reading]