Rhett Ayers Butler
April 3 now carries a different kind of weight. It was always Jane Goodall’s birthday. Now it is also a marker—a point in the year when people are asked not just to remember her, but to do something with what she began. The idea behind the first Jane Goodall Day is simple. Take one action. [Continue reading]
For a movement so often framed by loss—and confronting a particularly difficult moment—conservation is relearning how to talk about itself. This shift may signal something deeper than messaging: a recalibration of what persuades people to care, to fund, and to act, especially as the world edges toward 2030 amid ecological strain, political volatility, and thinning [Continue reading]
Over the years, Mongabay staff and contributors have conducted numerous interviews with Jane Goodall. The following is a recap of her ideas and reflections from these conversations, organized by theme—here’s the full piece. Gombe and the revolution in science Goodall overturned assumptions about what separates humans from animals, revealing chimpanzees as tool-makers with emotions, relationships, [Continue reading]
Five years on from the publication of The Ministry for the Future, Kim Stanley Robinson finds little he would change in his sweeping speculative novel—aside from a regrettable mention of blockchain. “What I really meant was simply digital money,” he says, dismissing the term’s cryptocurrency baggage. But the core of the book remains intact: a [Continue reading]
Sustainability officers are now an endangered species. This week, I spoke with a group of sustainability officers navigating a corporate landscape where terms like CSR, ESG, and climate change have become politically charged. Many companies are pulling back from public commitments on sustainability—not necessarily because the urgency has diminished, but because the risk of political [Continue reading]
Funding conservation is not always a straightforward moral good. At times, it has been tied to human rights abuses, from forced evictions of Indigenous communities to violence by eco-guards. Donors—be they governments, multilateral agencies, or NGOs—are increasingly being asked to account for such abuses. Yet the question remains: when violations come to light, what should [Continue reading]
Earlier this month, I joined science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson for a conversation about conveying climate change and other environmental issues to the public. The virtual event took place at the University of California-San Diego’s Triton Leaders Conference 2024 and was emceed by Michael Bumbry. We discussed communicating environmental issues via news reporting and [Continue reading]