Rhett Butler

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Rhett Butler is the founder and CEO of Mongabay. He also servers as managing editor.

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7110 stories

Palm oil expansion triggers ecological cascade, boosting pigs but hurting other species

1 Dec 2015

Controversial Nicaragua canal on hold

Mongabay.com 30 Nov 2015
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Photo by Rhett A Butler

Amazon deforestation jumps in Brazil, but remains historically low

Rhett Ayers Butler 27 Nov 2015

Rainforests could provide half global climate solution by 2050

Rhett Ayers Butler 25 Nov 2015
Muskrat Falls in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, the future site of the hydroelectric dam. The falls will be flooded in 2017. Photo by Amina Schartup.

New dams may expose Canadian seafood consumers to higher levels of neurotoxin

Emily Benson 23 Nov 2015

Preservatives from cosmetics build up in the bodies of far-flung marine mammals

Bethany Augliere 23 Nov 2015

Poisonous amphibians may be more likely to go extinct

Erin E.A. Ross 23 Nov 2015

Environmentalist gunned down by illegal miners in Peru

Rhett Ayers Butler 20 Nov 2015

New fund lands $4M to protect the Amazon

Mongabay.com 20 Nov 2015

Birds, butterflies, and flowers might be blander than expected in the tropics

Alison F. Takemura 20 Nov 2015

New rat species find sheds light on Philippine mammalian diversity

Kolawole Talabi 20 Nov 2015
A kelp forest off the California Coast, where pockets of full protection alternate with zones allowing limited fishing. Photo by Greg Asner.

Ocean protections drift behind those on land, but science can help

Natalie Jacewicz 20 Nov 2015
Firefighters created fire breaks by setting back burns during the 2013 Rim Fire in California’s Sierra Nevada. Photo by Mike McMillan, U.S. National Park Service.

Small, controlled fires are the only way to prevent large wildfires, researchers argue

Lindzi Wessel 20 Nov 2015
Tourists can spread invasive species on unwashed fishing kits. Photo courtesy of Paula Rosewarn.

Invasive species hop on tourists worldwide

Amy McDermott 20 Nov 2015
The study authors counted carcasses from hundreds of markets like this one, where visitors can purchase whole birds and their body parts. Photo by Gerhard Nikolaus.

Vanishing vultures: Africa’s fetish and bushmeat trade is driving its scavengers to extinction

Brendan Bane 19 Nov 2015
Air pollution from outdoor cooking fires like this contribute to millions of global deaths, according to the study. Photo by Engineering for Change / Flickr.

Air pollution causes millions of preventable deaths in East Asia, say scientists

Ramin Skibba 17 Nov 2015
A giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) climbs a tree at the Bifengxia Giant Panda Breeding and Conservation Center in Sichuan, China. Photo by Binbin Li, Duke University

Protecting pandas shields other species in China

Laurel Hamers 17 Nov 2015

Singapore court: illicit timber trafficking through our ports not our problem

Rhett Ayers Butler 13 Nov 2015
Members of the indigenous community live at the riverbanks in Kapuas river where the air is engulfed with thick haze at Sei Ahass village, Kapuas district, Central Kalimantan province on Borneo island, Indonesia. These fires are a threat to the health of millions. Smoke from landscape fires kills an estimated 110,000 people every year across Southeast Asia, mostly as a result of heart and lung problems, and weakening newborn babies.

Indonesia bans peatlands destruction

Mongabay.com 10 Nov 2015

An optimistic call for saving life on Earth

Jeremy Hance 10 Nov 2015
Oil palm in Sabah

With fires wreaking havoc across Indonesia, Malaysian state targets greener palm oil

Mongabay.com 8 Nov 2015
Sierra del Divisor's famed cone. Photo by Diego Pérez / El Taller.pe

Peru creates ‘Yellowstone of the Amazon’: 3.3M acre reserve home to uncontacted tribes, endangered wildlife

Rhett Ayers Butler 7 Nov 2015
Picture courtesy of Greenpeace.

Photos confirm Indonesia being burned for palm oil

Mongabay Haze Beat 5 Nov 2015
Members of the indigenous community live at the riverbanks in Kapuas river where the air is engulfed with thick haze at Sei Ahass village, Kapuas district, Central Kalimantan province on Borneo island, Indonesia. These fires are a threat to the health of millions. Smoke from landscape fires kills an estimated 110,000 people every year across Southeast Asia, mostly as a result of heart and lung problems, and weakening newborn babies.

Greenpeace releases dramatic haze photos as Indonesian fire emissions surpass 1.6B tons

Mongabay.com 1 Nov 2015
Juvenile syntype of the Golden-crowned langur (Presbytis johnaspinalli). Courtesy of Nardelli 2015.

Bird market photo yields an unknown monkey species in Indonesia

Rhett Ayers Butler 23 Oct 2015

Indonesia’s massive haze problem is Jokowi’s big opportunity

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Oct 2015

Carbon emissions from Indonesia’s peat fires exceed emissions from entire U.S. economy

Rhett Ayers Butler 15 Oct 2015

Plantation companies challenged by haze-causing fires in Indonesia

Rhett Ayers Butler 14 Oct 2015
Two Global Forest Watch images showing near-term (left) and long-term (right) change in forest cover inside PT. Tualang Raya's concession.

Palm oil company caught destroying primary forest in endangered ecosystem

Rhett Ayers Butler 12 Oct 2015

Can elephants cure cancer? (Weekly environmental news roundup)

Brittany Stewart 10 Oct 2015

Sneak Peek into Paris: new climate change draft treaty revealed

Patrick Cage and John O. Niles 9 Oct 2015

Coastal dune lakes: the threatened ‘jewels’ of Florida

Marie Frei 9 Oct 2015

News and Inspiration from Nature's Frontline.

Rinchin Jomaba. Chef, Damu's Kitchen.How a remote diner in India is fueling a culinary and ecological revival
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Fishers bring in their catch in Tran Vinh Nghia, Vietnam, in 2010. Image courtesy of United Nations Development Programme via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
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Saiga herd during a calving period. Image by Albert Salemgareyev and courtesy of the Association for the Conservation Biodiversity of Kazakhstan/Vera Voronova.
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