Rhett Ayers Butler
The following is some of what I shared during a recent conversation with Matt Pycroft on The Adventure Podcast’s ‘The Far Reaches’ series. For a long time Mongabay existed in a way that was almost embarrassing to describe. People would write to ask about the organization and imagine an office somewhere with editors, departments and [Continue reading]
Conservation has never lacked alarming facts. What it increasingly lacks is attention. After years of grim headlines, many people do not just feel sad. They disengage. They stop reading, stop donating, and in some cases stop believing that anything meaningful can still be done. That reality is no longer a side issue for the movement. [Continue reading]
People often say that good journalism requires a 30,000-foot view. I’ve found the opposite to be true. The stories that move the world rarely start in boardrooms or at summits; they start with someone standing knee-deep in a mangrove swamp, notebook in hand, asking a fisherman what has changed. At Mongabay, we built a network [Continue reading]
When I think about what makes someone care about the natural world, it rarely begins with statistics or graphs. It begins with a moment. For me, it was an encounter I had at age 12 with frogs in the Ecuadorian Amazon—a fascination that turned to urgency when I later read about an oil spill near [Continue reading]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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?
On January 24th, I did an interview with Chicago Public Radio’s Jerome McDonnell, host of Worldview, on the impact of U.S. biofuels policy on deforestation in the Amazon [minutes 22:15-38:00 on the podcast]: https://www.wbez.org/stories/the-dark-side-of-biofuels/56779a3c-1dac-4233-a0f0-dee2a41548ac