Rhett Butler

About

Founder of Mongabay.

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1008 stories
RAN Burger King protest in 1987. Image courtesy of Rainforest Action Network

How an activist network built pressure without political power

Rhett Ayers Butler 11 Jun 2026
A recently emerged Suraka silk moth (Antherina suraka) is held by an artisan in the SEPALI Madagascar demonstration garden in Maroantsetra. Trained local farmers use the CPALI method to collect this species’ brown silk, leaving the developing pupae unharmed. Image by Rachel Kramer/CPALI.

How silk caterpillars became a tool for conservation in Madagascar

Rhett Ayers Butler 10 Jun 2026
Soundscape Baselines Site in Baraboo Hills, Wisconsin, USA, includes view of bioacoustic recorder and camera trap

Why conservation urgently needs acoustic baselines

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 Jun 2026
A school of albacore tuna gathered by a seine net, off the Seychelles. Photo by Marc Taquet

Tuna are rebounding. The work is far from done.

Rhett Ayers Butler 8 Jun 2026
Popularly called the “ghost dog” (perro fantasma) in Bolivia, Atelocynus microtis is one of the world’s least-known canid species. Image courtesy of Guido Ayala & María Viscarra/WCS Bolivia.

The ‘ghost dog’ of the Amazon reveals the value of intact forests

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 Jun 2026
Mangrove forest in Indonesia. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

How small actions can become planetary forces

Rhett Ayers Butler 4 Jun 2026
Brooklyn Rivera. Photo courtesy of La Prensa,

Brooklyn Rivera, defender of Nicaragua’s Indigenous lands, dies in detention

Rhett Ayers Butler 1 Jun 2026
Thomas Crowther

Nature’s feedback loops can drive collapse. Thomas Crowther thinks they can also drive recovery

Rhett Ayers Butler 1 Jun 2026
Yakama leader Davis Yellowash Washines

Davis “Yellowash” Washines, Yakama elder who spoke for the river and salmon

Rhett Ayers Butler 30 May 2026
Amazon rainforest canopy. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

The Amazon’s path from crisis to durability

Rhett Ayers Butler 28 May 2026

Brazil has protected much of the Amazon. It now has to pay for it.

Rhett Ayers Butler 26 May 2026
Aerial view of a cargo ship. Photo by Cameron Venti / Ocean Image Bank

The most underfunded climate opportunities may be at sea

Rhett Ayers Butler 25 May 2026
Emergent tree in the Amazon rainforest. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Will my president save the Amazon? (commentary)

Enrique Ortiz 24 May 2026
Mike Salisbury in Tanzania in the 1970s. Photo courtesy of BBC

Mike Salisbury, wildlife filmmaker who made plants behave like characters, has died, aged 84

Rhett Ayers Butler 23 May 2026
Givaldo Santos Kaiowá

Givaldo Santos, Kaiowá and Guarani leader, was killed on May 1st, aged 40

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 May 2026

Norlan Pagal, fisherman and guardian of Tañon Strait, died on May 14th, aged 56

Rhett Ayers Butler 21 May 2026
Rice paddies, forest, and agroforest in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Smallholders are not the weak link in forest protection (commentary)

Aida Greenbury 20 May 2026
Monica Montefalcone. From her social media.

Monica Montefalcone, leading seagrass scientist, dies in Maldives diving accident, aged 51

Rhett Ayers Butler 16 May 2026
Oil palm plantation and rainforest in Jambi. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

FPC at a crossroads: clarity, credibility, and the cost of ambiguity (commentary)

Chip Fay 14 May 2026
A 2004 mapping expedition organized by the Trio and the Amazon Conservation Team in Suriname. Image courtesy of the Amazon Conservation Team

Whose map counts in conservation? The rise of participatory mapping

Rhett Ayers Butler 14 May 2026

Ocean philanthropy: small sums for a vast domain

Rhett Ayers Butler 11 May 2026
Mama ring-tailed lemur with baby in Anja, Madagascar. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

A Mother’s Day lesson from a digger wasp

Rhett Ayers Butler 10 May 2026
Ted Turner at CNN. Courtesy of the Ted Turner Foundation

Ted Turner, a media mogul who tried to repair the land

Rhett Ayers Butler 6 May 2026
Sir David Attenborough By BBC - Passion Planet

At 100, David Attenborough’s message is no longer just about wonder

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 May 2026
Tierney Thys with sunfish. Photo by Mike Johnson / Earth Window

Tierney Thys, marine biologist and interpreter of the sunfish

Rhett Ayers Butler 4 May 2026
RJ Nichole Ledesma. Via Facebook.

RJ Nichole Ledesma, chronicler of unsettled ground on Negros Island, was killed last month. He was 30.

Rhett Ayers Butler 3 May 2026
The Congo River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

A “good year” for forests changes less than it seems

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 Apr 2026
Amazon Mining Watch leverages artificial intelligence to map the impact of gold mining activities across all nine Amazonian countries.

A search engine for the planet opens to the public

Rhett Ayers Butler 28 Apr 2026
"Flower Power" was taken by Bernie Boston The Washington Evening Star on October 21, 1967, during the March on the Pentagon by the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam. It shows a protester placing a carnation into the barrel of an M14 rifle held by a soldier of the 503rd Military Police Battalion (Airborne).

When protest works: Examples where activists have successfully pushed for change

Rhett Ayers Butler 28 Apr 2026
Luis Arranza at Dzanga Bai. Photo by Nuria Ortega

What it takes to make conservation work in Central Africa: Luis Arranz’s 46-year journey

Rhett Ayers Butler, David Akana 27 Apr 2026
Peter H. Raven at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Photo by M. Jacob.

Peter Raven, botanist and advocate for biodiversity, has died, aged 89

Rhett Ayers Butler 27 Apr 2026
Don Janssen with an okapi. Courtesy of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).

Don Janssen, wildlife veterinarian who argued that caring for animals begins with people

Rhett Ayers Butler 26 Apr 2026

News and Inspiration from Nature's Frontline.

Yo Yaj at Songkhla Lake, Thailand
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A flock of greater flamingos wades in the Narta Lagoon, an important wintering site for the species. Image by Stefan Lovgren for Mongabay.
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Climate Wayfinding with a design background. Image by Amerpsand. Courtesy of Katharine Wilkinson.
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