Rhett Ayers Butler
Over the next couple of months, I plan to share weekly posts like this, offering context and insights on my journey in a format different from my usual style. My goal is to explore whether this approach resonates with new audiences and communities. I never set out to become a journalist. When I started Mongabay, [Continue reading]
Today, Rowan Philip from the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) published a piece that offers an overview of how Mongabay operates. I appreciated his analogy of the aye-aye—a unique lemur native to Nosy Mangabe, the island for which Mongabay is named—as a symbol of our work. “And the island’s native aye-aye lemur is perhaps the [Continue reading]
Singapore is my favorite big city. I’m typically associated with natural environments like tropical forests, but on The Urban Q podcast, Jaya Dhindaw of World Resources Institute India challenged me to think about cities. Our conversation explored how urban spaces and conservation intersect, and what lessons we can draw for a sustainable future. Cities, I [Continue reading]
The Columbia Journalism Review (CJR), one of the most authoritative and respected voices in journalism, recently profiled Mongabay. The piece, written by Lauren Watson, provides an in-depth look at how our nonprofit newsroom navigates the challenges of reporting on conservation and environmental issues globally, often in high-risk areas. Key points from the article include:🌍 International [Continue reading]
It doesn’t seem like the news is getting much better. What gives you hope for the future? This was one of the questions, Jennifer Wu asked during our conversation on The Founder Spirit podcast. 🌳 A summary of my response:I see progress in many areas—education, poverty reduction, and health outcomes have improved. People are living [Continue reading]
I recently had the pleasure to speak with Brodie Hopkins for the “Protect the World” podcast. The episode is titled Journalism for People and the Planet with Rhett Butler. Protect the World is dedicated to the people and orgs making the world a better place. Every month, Hopkins connects with an NGO that’s addressing inequality [Continue reading]
A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to speak with David Casselman, a philanthropist and retired trial lawyer who is the founder of Ecoflix. Ecoflix is a video streaming platform dedicated to sharing uplifting and positive stories about nature and wildlife. With a focus on conservation and environmental awareness, it aims to inspire [Continue reading]
Veronika Perková recently interviewed me for her Nature Solutionaries pocast. Here is the YouTube version of the podcast: Some of the ground we covered in the podcast: Early Days of Mongabay:🌳 My decision to start the website was carefully planned rather than a risky leap, beginning as a side gig to a job with a [Continue reading]
Last year I talked with Mark Brand, a social-impact entrepreneur, chef, and systems designer who is committed to ending hunger. I met Mark at the Sun Valley Forum, where we both spoke. Today I learned that the podcast episode featuring our conversation aired in July 2022. You can hear it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or [Continue reading]
Earlier this year I agreed to join the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Food and Water Security. This may seem like an odd fit given my background and area of focus, but I saw it as an opportunity to ensure that nature was part of the conversation. Indeed, when I was asked at [Continue reading]
This week the Mongabay Newscast published an interview with me about developments in the Amazon, my recent travels, and what’s upcoming for Mongabay.
A few months ago I was a guest on Dr. Mark Plotkin’s “Plants of the Gods: Hallucinogens, Healing, Culture and Conservation” podcast which explores medicinal plants, Indigenous cultures, and conservation. Plotkin is a conservationist, ethnobotanist, and author who co-founded the Amazon Conservation Team and has won many accolades. I’ve interviewed Plotkin for Mongabay in the [Continue reading]
An interview with Alejandro Muñoz for Sinc (Ciencia Contada en Español): “No vamos detrás del clic, nuestro periodismo busca mejoras reales en el medioambiente”. A few extracts translated from from the interview: Do you think interest in environmental journalism has increased? Yes. I think the effects of environmental degradation are more evident than ever. This [Continue reading]
Spanish media published multiple stories about Mongabay winning the 2023 Biophilia Award. Here are two examples: La Fundación BBVA galardona a ‘Mongabay’ por crear una plataforma mundial de periodismo ambiental (ABC.es) Rhett Butler, fundador de la web ambiental Mongabay: “La gente prefiere creer lo que encaja con su visión del mundo” (El Mundo)
Last week I participated in the Sun Valley Forum. Beyond meeting lots of interesting and inspirational people, I did a fireside chat with the forum’s founder Aimée Christensen on the state of reporting from Nature’s frontline; conducted interviews with author David Ewing Duncan and artist/activist Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri; and moderated the “Mega Deals For Nature” panel [Continue reading]
The Heinz Family Foundation produced a short video that provides a nice overview of Mongabay’s work and how we think about the impact environmental journalism can have.
In September I met with Robin Hicks of Eco-Business to talk about Mongabay, non-profit media, and trends in environmental journalism. The resulting interview was published at ‘Page views are not real impact’: Mongabay founder Rhett Butler. A few excerpts from the interview: The challenge for newsrooms in finding the balance between gloomy environmental news and [Continue reading]
In September I spoke with Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb about the latest trends in tackling deforestation in the world’s tropical forests. The conversation touched on the importance of including Indigenous and local communities in conservation efforts, the development of Mongabay’s tree-planting transparency tool, and more. Progress on deforestation: where are the chinks of light?
In June 2022, I spoke with Aimée Christensen at the Sun Valley Forum on “Reporting on the State of Nature”. I talked about the origin of Mongabay; how Mongabay works; the current state of environmental journalism including trends, threats, and opportunities; and more. I also shared some of my nature and wildlife photos. Here is [Continue reading]
Today I spoke with Jameson Berkow at BNN Bloomberg about the impact of macroeconomic factors on tropical forests in 2022.
In November, I was interviewed for Praveen Gupta’s Diversity Blog: “Net zero without the proper standards leaves huge loopholes for environmental degradation, human rights abuses, and other harms.” Praveen Gupta (PG): How do you suggest we address the biodiversity hotspots of the world? Both in terms of containing and regenerating them? Rhett Butler (RB): I think most [Continue reading]
Today I spoke with Bobby Bascomb on NPR’s Living on Earth about the Glasgow Leaders Declaration on Forests and Land Use.
A few weeks ago Jane Goodall interviewed me for her Hopecast podcast. The episode came out today: RHETT BUTLER – HOPE IS SHARING KNOWLEDGE TO EMPOWER (JANE GOODALL HOPECAST EPISODE #19). Here is the episode description: For this episode of the Hopecast, Dr. Jane Goodall meets with longtime collaborator and fellow storyteller, Rhett Butler! Rhett is the founder and [Continue reading]
Andreas Dahl-Jorgensen of Norway’s International Climate & Forest Initiative (NICFI) joins Planet Explore 2021 to share recent progress from one of the most ambitious global forest monitoring programs, and highlights the range of users who are benefitting from access to Planet’s high-resolution Basemaps across tropical forest countries.
Reporting in jungles isn’t for the faint of heart. Rhett Butler, founder and editor-in-chief of environmental news website Mongabay, talks about getting stranded in a dangerous situation in Suriname, the many jungle diseases he has gotten, and some tips for getting phone signal in the rainforest. He also tells us the origins of Mongabay go [Continue reading]