Mike Shanahan
@mikeshanahan.bsky.social
Former rainforest biologist, now freelance writer/editor focused on biodiversity, forests, climate, etc. Two newsletters: Global Nature Beat https://thenaturebeat.substack.com/ and Planet Ficus https://planetficus.substack.com
Pinned
Looking for gift ideas? My book takes readers on a journey to rainforests, volcanoes and ancient temples to discover the mind-blowing story of the strangler figs and their kin, which have shaped our world and our species in many extraordinary ways. 🧪🌏 planetficus.substack.com/p/the-book
Reposted by Mike Shanahan
New at Planet Ficus: strangler figs regenerating burned forest in Indonesia, plans to restore hornbill habitat with figs, conflict over a fig tree in Kenya, the passing of the ‘Mother of Trees’, + grassroots movements defending heritage trees in India. planetficus.substack.com/p/planet-fic... 🧪🌏
Planet Ficus Monthly Roundup #7
Nature's first responders. Help for hornbills. India's fig tree defenders. A contentious tree in a Kenya.
planetficus.substack.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:14 PM
New at Planet Ficus: strangler figs regenerating burned forest in Indonesia, plans to restore hornbill habitat with figs, conflict over a fig tree in Kenya, the passing of the ‘Mother of Trees’, + grassroots movements defending heritage trees in India. planetficus.substack.com/p/planet-fic... 🧪🌏
Reposted by Mike Shanahan
Fascinating new research ➡️ Black Death kicked off by volcanic eruptions causing crop failures. Desperate for grain, Italian city states agreed truce with Mongol Horde to import grain. Fleas infected with Plague bacterium survived ship journey by feeding on grain dust. www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Climate-driven changes in Mediterranean grain trade mitigated famine but introduced the Black Death to medieval Europe - Communications Earth & Environment
Post-volcanic climate downtown in southern Europe around 1345–1347 CE caused widespread famine, leading to Italian maritime republics importing grain from the Black Sea region and introducing fleas ca...
www.nature.com
December 4, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Fascinating new research ➡️ Black Death kicked off by volcanic eruptions causing crop failures. Desperate for grain, Italian city states agreed truce with Mongol Horde to import grain. Fleas infected with Plague bacterium survived ship journey by feeding on grain dust. www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Looking for gift ideas? My book takes readers on a journey to rainforests, volcanoes and ancient temples to discover the mind-blowing story of the strangler figs and their kin, which have shaped our world and our species in many extraordinary ways. 🧪🌏 planetficus.substack.com/p/the-book
December 4, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Looking for gift ideas? My book takes readers on a journey to rainforests, volcanoes and ancient temples to discover the mind-blowing story of the strangler figs and their kin, which have shaped our world and our species in many extraordinary ways. 🧪🌏 planetficus.substack.com/p/the-book
New at Planet Ficus: strangler figs regenerating burned forest in Indonesia, plans to restore hornbill habitat with figs, conflict over a fig tree in Kenya, the passing of the ‘Mother of Trees’, + grassroots movements defending heritage trees in India. planetficus.substack.com/p/planet-fic... 🧪🌏
Planet Ficus Monthly Roundup #7
Nature's first responders. Help for hornbills. India's fig tree defenders. A contentious tree in a Kenya.
planetficus.substack.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:14 PM
New at Planet Ficus: strangler figs regenerating burned forest in Indonesia, plans to restore hornbill habitat with figs, conflict over a fig tree in Kenya, the passing of the ‘Mother of Trees’, + grassroots movements defending heritage trees in India. planetficus.substack.com/p/planet-fic... 🧪🌏
Reposted by Mike Shanahan
New dispatch from Planet Ficus planetficus.substack.com/p/how-strang... 🧪🌏
How Strangler Figs Drew One Man Into the Rainforest Canopy and Changed His Life Forever
In 2016, Tim Laman won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year award for an image that feels almost impossible: an orangutan scaling the pillar root of a strangler fig (Ficus stupenda) in Indonesian Bor...
planetficus.substack.com
December 2, 2025 at 5:10 PM
New dispatch from Planet Ficus planetficus.substack.com/p/how-strang... 🧪🌏
Reposted by Mike Shanahan
I thought you might like to see a video of seals here in #Cornwall -taken a couple of years ago. A favourite place which locals know. They are easily spooked and I have in fact seen an idiot kayaker scaring them off the beach.
December 3, 2025 at 9:07 AM
I thought you might like to see a video of seals here in #Cornwall -taken a couple of years ago. A favourite place which locals know. They are easily spooked and I have in fact seen an idiot kayaker scaring them off the beach.
New dispatch from Planet Ficus planetficus.substack.com/p/how-strang... 🧪🌏
How Strangler Figs Drew One Man Into the Rainforest Canopy and Changed His Life Forever
In 2016, Tim Laman won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year award for an image that feels almost impossible: an orangutan scaling the pillar root of a strangler fig (Ficus stupenda) in Indonesian Bor...
planetficus.substack.com
December 2, 2025 at 5:10 PM
New dispatch from Planet Ficus planetficus.substack.com/p/how-strang... 🧪🌏
Reposted by Mike Shanahan
Hard to think of a better image of how humanity is heading into climate breakdown
December 1, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Hard to think of a better image of how humanity is heading into climate breakdown
Reposted by Mike Shanahan
To mark Remembrance Day for Lost Species, which falls on 30 November each year, I am republishing something I wrote a few years ago.🧪🌏
thenaturebeat.substack.com/p/unhappy-en...
thenaturebeat.substack.com/p/unhappy-en...
Unhappy endlings
What tales of the last days of extinct and dying species can bring to our own story
thenaturebeat.substack.com
November 30, 2025 at 9:44 AM
To mark Remembrance Day for Lost Species, which falls on 30 November each year, I am republishing something I wrote a few years ago.🧪🌏
thenaturebeat.substack.com/p/unhappy-en...
thenaturebeat.substack.com/p/unhappy-en...
To mark Remembrance Day for Lost Species, which falls on 30 November each year, I am republishing something I wrote a few years ago.🧪🌏
thenaturebeat.substack.com/p/unhappy-en...
thenaturebeat.substack.com/p/unhappy-en...
Unhappy endlings
What tales of the last days of extinct and dying species can bring to our own story
thenaturebeat.substack.com
November 30, 2025 at 9:44 AM
To mark Remembrance Day for Lost Species, which falls on 30 November each year, I am republishing something I wrote a few years ago.🧪🌏
thenaturebeat.substack.com/p/unhappy-en...
thenaturebeat.substack.com/p/unhappy-en...
Reposted by Mike Shanahan
This edition has — Illegal trade in tigers, hornbills and pangolins — Deforestation — COP30 roundups — Indian river dolphins — CITES COP20 — Human-wildlife conflict. Plus the usual mix of news from around the world, new research papers, useful resources, opportunities and much more.🌏🧪
November 28, 2025 at 5:11 PM
This edition has — Illegal trade in tigers, hornbills and pangolins — Deforestation — COP30 roundups — Indian river dolphins — CITES COP20 — Human-wildlife conflict. Plus the usual mix of news from around the world, new research papers, useful resources, opportunities and much more.🌏🧪
Reposted by Mike Shanahan
Just published: The new edition of my newsletter for journalists (and anyone else) interested in biodiversity, the ecological crisis and nature-based solutions to climate change. 🌏🧪 thenaturebeat.substack.com/p/nature-bea...
Nature Beat #87
Updates, stories, resources and opportunities
thenaturebeat.substack.com
November 28, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Just published: The new edition of my newsletter for journalists (and anyone else) interested in biodiversity, the ecological crisis and nature-based solutions to climate change. 🌏🧪 thenaturebeat.substack.com/p/nature-bea...
Just published: The new edition of my newsletter for journalists (and anyone else) interested in biodiversity, the ecological crisis and nature-based solutions to climate change. 🌏🧪 thenaturebeat.substack.com/p/nature-bea...
Nature Beat #87
Updates, stories, resources and opportunities
thenaturebeat.substack.com
November 28, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Just published: The new edition of my newsletter for journalists (and anyone else) interested in biodiversity, the ecological crisis and nature-based solutions to climate change. 🌏🧪 thenaturebeat.substack.com/p/nature-bea...
Reposted by Mike Shanahan
Before the public can act, they must know. But China is silencing independent journalists reporting on the environmental impacts of its massive Belt and Road Initiative—mines, ports, dams, power plants etc in mostly poor countries.
Here’s how they’re doing it and why it matters.
Here’s how they’re doing it and why it matters.
China’s media suppression campaign is reaching around the globe to silence environmental journalists reporting on polluting Chinese companies.
How China Silences Environmental Reporters Beyond Its Borders - Inside Climate News
Journalists who report on the harms caused by China’s overseas infrastructure buildout in Africa face intimidation, surveillance and police pressure.
insideclimatenews.org
November 25, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Before the public can act, they must know. But China is silencing independent journalists reporting on the environmental impacts of its massive Belt and Road Initiative—mines, ports, dams, power plants etc in mostly poor countries.
Here’s how they’re doing it and why it matters.
Here’s how they’re doing it and why it matters.
Reposted by Mike Shanahan
I wrote about the roadmaps on ending deforestation and fossil fuels that disappeared from the COP30 decision text but have been resurrected in a new form.🧪🌏
thenaturebeat.substack.com/p/buried-and...
thenaturebeat.substack.com/p/buried-and...
Buried and Reborn: COP30’s Deforestation and Fossil Fuel Roadmaps
Even as some governments resisted formal commitments, the push to end deforestation and phase out fossil fuels has gained momentum.
thenaturebeat.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:13 PM
I wrote about the roadmaps on ending deforestation and fossil fuels that disappeared from the COP30 decision text but have been resurrected in a new form.🧪🌏
thenaturebeat.substack.com/p/buried-and...
thenaturebeat.substack.com/p/buried-and...
I wrote about the roadmaps on ending deforestation and fossil fuels that disappeared from the COP30 decision text but have been resurrected in a new form.🧪🌏
thenaturebeat.substack.com/p/buried-and...
thenaturebeat.substack.com/p/buried-and...
Buried and Reborn: COP30’s Deforestation and Fossil Fuel Roadmaps
Even as some governments resisted formal commitments, the push to end deforestation and phase out fossil fuels has gained momentum.
thenaturebeat.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:13 PM
I wrote about the roadmaps on ending deforestation and fossil fuels that disappeared from the COP30 decision text but have been resurrected in a new form.🧪🌏
thenaturebeat.substack.com/p/buried-and...
thenaturebeat.substack.com/p/buried-and...
Reposted by Mike Shanahan
This, by @giacgrassi.bsky.social, remains one of the simplest and best climate visuals
November 23, 2025 at 9:30 PM
This, by @giacgrassi.bsky.social, remains one of the simplest and best climate visuals
Reposted by Mike Shanahan
To give you an idea about just how eventful the end of COP30 was, I wrote and rewrote this entire 2000 story for @drilledmedia.bsky.social three times over a period of about six hours as it was all happening.
COP-tastrophe: How the COP of Implementation, Truth, Forests, and Indigenous Peoples Failed on All Counts
COP30 began full of promise but ended as yet another reminder that the mechanism for global climate governance is broken.
drilled.media
November 23, 2025 at 9:03 AM
To give you an idea about just how eventful the end of COP30 was, I wrote and rewrote this entire 2000 story for @drilledmedia.bsky.social three times over a period of about six hours as it was all happening.
Citizens took on India's government to show that road widening and century-old trees are not mutually exclusive. The landmark legal judgment they won sets a precedent for balancing development with environmental integrity. But the victory is bittersweet…🌏 planetficus.substack.com/p/the-fight-...
November 23, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Citizens took on India's government to show that road widening and century-old trees are not mutually exclusive. The landmark legal judgment they won sets a precedent for balancing development with environmental integrity. But the victory is bittersweet…🌏 planetficus.substack.com/p/the-fight-...
Reposted by Mike Shanahan
My latest dispatch from Planet Ficus planetficus.substack.com/p/the-fight-... 🌏🧪
The Fight for Fig Trees on India's Death-Trap Lane
Lives end suddenly and often on National Highway 163 in the Indian state of Telangana.
planetficus.substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 12:21 AM
My latest dispatch from Planet Ficus planetficus.substack.com/p/the-fight-... 🌏🧪
Reposted by Mike Shanahan
"Every media era gets the fabulists it deserves." This
@nickhunebrown.bsky.social
piece about journalism grifters in the age of AI slop is fantastic, bonkers & sad on so many levels thelocal.to/investigatin...
@nickhunebrown.bsky.social
piece about journalism grifters in the age of AI slop is fantastic, bonkers & sad on so many levels thelocal.to/investigatin...
Investigating a Possible Scammer in Journalism’s AI Era | The Local
A suspicious pitch from a freelancer led editor Nicholas Hune-Brown to dig into their past work. By the end, four publications, including The Guardian and Dwell, had removed articles from their sites.
thelocal.to
November 19, 2025 at 2:59 PM
"Every media era gets the fabulists it deserves." This
@nickhunebrown.bsky.social
piece about journalism grifters in the age of AI slop is fantastic, bonkers & sad on so many levels thelocal.to/investigatin...
@nickhunebrown.bsky.social
piece about journalism grifters in the age of AI slop is fantastic, bonkers & sad on so many levels thelocal.to/investigatin...
My latest dispatch from Planet Ficus planetficus.substack.com/p/the-fight-... 🌏🧪
The Fight for Fig Trees on India's Death-Trap Lane
Lives end suddenly and often on National Highway 163 in the Indian state of Telangana.
planetficus.substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 12:21 AM
My latest dispatch from Planet Ficus planetficus.substack.com/p/the-fight-... 🌏🧪
Reposted by Mike Shanahan
This edition includes: CITES COP20 — Snakebites +climate — Endangered Species Act — World’s first Cali Fund deposit — Marine prosperity areas — Parrot trafficking — Asian roadkill — Conflict with bears. Plus the usual mix of news from around the world, useful resources, opportunities + much more.🧪🌏
November 20, 2025 at 5:07 PM
This edition includes: CITES COP20 — Snakebites +climate — Endangered Species Act — World’s first Cali Fund deposit — Marine prosperity areas — Parrot trafficking — Asian roadkill — Conflict with bears. Plus the usual mix of news from around the world, useful resources, opportunities + much more.🧪🌏
Reposted by Mike Shanahan
Just published: The new edition of my newsletter for journalists (and anyone else) interested in biodiversity, the ecological crisis and nature-based solutions to climate change. 🌏🧪 thenaturebeat.substack.com/p/nature-bea...
Nature Beat #86
Updates, stories, resources and opportunities
thenaturebeat.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Just published: The new edition of my newsletter for journalists (and anyone else) interested in biodiversity, the ecological crisis and nature-based solutions to climate change. 🌏🧪 thenaturebeat.substack.com/p/nature-bea...