I find it hard to believe Jane Goodall is gone. She was more than an icon to me. She was a friend, a mentor, and someone whose presence—whether with presidents, students, or my own children—felt like ...

The forest in northern Gabon didn’t look like a battleground. It was a patchwork of hunting trails and village paths, home to fruit trees and ancestral graves. When a logging concession encroached and...

Amid the calls of gibbons and the whir of drones scanning forest canopies, a quieter crisis is unfolding within the ranks of those trying to save nature. Conservationists, often seen as tireless stewa...

On a recent trip, Mongabay board member Debby Ng shared a story that keeps replaying in my mind. It’s been 19 years since her account, but it still cuts raw. I’m sharing it because I’ve witnessed loss...

Founder’s Commentary: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis and perspectives. This month marks 20 years since I started the Mongabay news service. At the time,...

When Marielle Ramires disclosed her diagnosis of cancer in December 2024, she chose honesty without despair, revealing vulnerability but emphasizing resilience. Her approach was pragmatic, yet deeply ...

Half a million barrels of toxic waste lurking beneath the waves just miles from California’s coastline sounds like the plot of a Hollywood thriller. Yet this environmental catastrophe is real, as docu...

Conservation authorities and groups, along with Māori people, recently established a new population of the critically endangered kākāriki karaka, or orange-fronted parakeet, on a New Zealand island. T...

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 ri...

What I wish I knew 25 years ago When I started Mongabay, I wasn’t thinking about building a global news organization. I just wanted to share my love for nature and make people care about what was happ...

Few ecosystems punch above their weight quite like seagrass meadows. These humble underwater pastures, spanning over 300,000 square kilometers across six continents, quietly perform a remarkable array of ecological services. They stabilize shorelines, shelter marine life, and sequester carbon at rates up to 40 times greater than terrestrial forests. Yet, like so many unsung heroes […]

Not all opportunities are worth taking. In 2010, a high profile literary agent approached me with an enticing offer: Write a book about my journey and the environmental trends shaping the world. It wa...

In his first week in office back in 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden signed a historic commitment to conserve 30% of America’s lands and waters by 2030. Two years later, the world agreed to a similar co...

Ecologists are spending less time in the field. That could be a problem. There was a time when an ecologist’s education was not complete without the mud of a marsh on their boots or the scent of damp ...

Pangolins, the world’s most trafficked mammals, hit the headlines more often for the illegal trade in their scales and meat than for their cherished role in their environment. As insectivores, these s...

Randy Borman was never meant to be Cofán. And yet, from the moment he was born in 1955, deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon, he belonged to them. His parents, American missionaries, had come to translate th...

Vimla Bahuguna, who spent a lifetime defending India’s forests, empowering women, and championing the rights of the poor, died on February 14th, at the age of 93. Her passing, four years after that of...

Kallur Balan did not seek recognition. He did not write books, nor command the podium at international climate summits. His work was quieter, the slow and unglamorous toil of one man against the arid ...

It’s been a rough few weeks for those who care about the fate of the planet, the wellbeing of others, and the health of the information ecosystem. In moments like these, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed—...

“When are you going to get a real job?” I heard this a lot in the early years—from my parents, my peers in Silicon Valley, even a partner at a consulting firm who tried to recruit me out of college. I...