Rhett Butler

About

Founder of Mongabay.

RSS
993 stories
Boy with a 'dorado' catfish. Photo by Michael Goulding.

Why the health of the Amazon River matters to us all: An interview with Michael Goulding

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 Sep 2020
Heat spots in areas with Prodes warnings (2017-2019). Area next to the borders of the Kaxarari Indigenous territory, in Lábrea, Amazonas state. Taken 17 Aug, 2020. CREDIT: © Christian Braga / Greenpeace

Greenpeace photos illuminate illegal Amazon fires

Mongabay.com 1 Sep 2020
Rangers in neighboring Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. Photo for Mongabay.com by Rhett A. Butler.

Communities, conservation, and development in the age of COVID: Time for rethinking approaches (commentary)

Michael Brown, Beth Allgood, John Waugh, Robin Martino, Samantha Cheng, Candice Carr Kelman, Ana Luz Porzecanski 31 Aug 2020
Deforestation in the state of Rondônia, Brazil. Courtesy of Maxar Technologies.

Despite expanding fires, Brazil suspends operations to combat Amazon deforestation

Mongabay.com 28 Aug 2020
Satellite image of a pulp and paper plantation on peatland in Riau, Sumatra. Courtesy of Zoom Earth.

Is Malaysia’s CIMB serious about addressing deforestation? (commentary)

Gulzhan Musaeva 19 Aug 2020
Microsoft Zoom Earth photo of Western Scotland.

Book Review: Cottongrass Summer – the book every eco-anxious conservationist should read

Erik Meijaard 17 Aug 2020
Soil erosion in the Kasai River, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

Mongabay’s most popular stories for July 2020

Mongabay.com 12 Aug 2020
Planet image of Altamira (-5.79, -53.69) in the State of Pará, Brazil taken on August 8, 2020. Courtesy of Planet.

Before burning comes felling: Brazil’s half-measure fire ban (commentary)

Angie Bolzan 12 Aug 2020
Santos Sauna at a sacred coastal site where the Sierra Nevada meets the sea.

COVID is killing Indigenous leaders (commentary)

Mark Plotkin 11 Aug 2020
Oil waste pit fire in Shushufindi in 1993 at a facility built by Texaco. Photo by Lou Dematteis

Don’t let Big Oil open a new front in its war on environmental defenders (commentary)

Steven Donziger 11 Aug 2020
Papuan girl swims in Kali Biru in the Knasaimos landscape in Teminabuan, South Sorong, West Papua. Credit line: © Jurnasyanto Sukarno / Greenpeace

Why I stand for my tribe’s forest: It gives us food, culture, and life (commentary)

Arkilaus Kladit 8 Aug 2020

Amazon rainforest the size of Sao Paulo cleared in July in Brazil

Mongabay.com 7 Aug 2020
This local guide located a Rhododendron in bloom in the Cromwell Mountains of Papua New Guinea. Credit RBG Kew

New Guinea has the most plant species of any island

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 Aug 2020
NASA Landsat image of agriculture in the Nevada desert.

Population and consumption: challenges we can win (commentary)

Enrique Ortiz 20 Jul 2020
Hotspot directly in the forest, next to a freshly deforested area, with Deter warning, in Alta Floresta, Mato Grosso state. © Christian Braga / Greenpeace

Amazon fires rage despite official ban, Greenpeace photos reveal

Mongabay.com 17 Jul 2020
Devil's Peak in the California Sierra Nevada.

Our most popular conservation news stories from June 2020

Mongabay.com 16 Jul 2020
Planet images showing fire on recently deforested near Itaúba in the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil on June 29, 2020.

Deforestation rate climbs higher as Amazon moves into the burning season

Mongabay.com 10 Jul 2020
Excavator working an acacia plantation in Riau, the Indonesian province that lost 22% of its primary forest cover between 2002 and 2019. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

It’s time to rein in the industries devouring the world’s last standing forests (commentary)

Gaurav Madan 26 Jun 2020
An exploration of ritual and liminal space. Photo by Erika Larsen.

Using photography and indigenous art to help Amazon communities during COVID

Mongabay.com 23 Jun 2020
Flowering rainforest tree in the Colombian Amazon. Photo by Rhett A. Butler for Mongabay.

World Rainforest Day: The world’s great rainforests

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Jun 2020
PORTO VELHO, RONDÔNIA, BRAZIL. Aerial view of burned areas in the Amazon rainforest, in the city of Porto Velho, Rondônia state. (Photo: Victor Moriyama / Greenpeace)

14 straight months of rising Amazon deforestation in Brazil

Rhett Ayers Butler 12 Jun 2020

Brazil revises deforestation data: Amazon rainforest loss topped 10,000 sq km in 2019

Rhett Ayers Butler 10 Jun 2020

The perfect firestorm: COVID-19 in Mesoamerica’s indigenous territories (commentary)

Jeremy Radachowsky 10 Jun 2020
Deforestation in Indonesian Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

How much rainforest is being destroyed?

Rhett Ayers Butler 10 Jun 2020

Our most-read conservation news stories in May 2020

Mongabay.com 7 Jun 2020
Zebra in Rwanda. Photo by Rhett A. Butler

From crisis to solutions for communities and African conservation (commentary)

Dickson Kaelo, Daniel Sopia, Damian Bell, Richard Diggle, Fred Nelson 20 May 2020
Uncontacted indigenous group in the Amazon photographed by authorities with the Brazilian Indian affairs agency FUNAI. Photo by Gleison Miranda-FUNAI.

Amazon indigenous leader: Our survival is at stake. You can help (commentary)

Beto Marubo 12 May 2020
Yohanes Terang in his beloved forest. © Titayanto Pieter

Indonesian environmental poet and Dayak leader Yohanes Terang, 1956-2020

Erik Meijaard 11 May 2020
Artibeus phaeotis. Photo by Adrian Forsyth

In defense of bats in a COVID world (commentary)

Enrique Ortiz 11 May 2020
Deforestation for soy in the Amazon. Photo by Rhett A. Butler for Mongabay.

Amazon deforestation increases for 13th straight month in Brazil

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 May 2020
Mark Plotkin and Yaloefuh in Suriname in 1982. Courtesy of Mark Plotkin.

Everything you need to know about the Amazon rainforest: an interview with Mark Plotkin

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 May 2020
Pangolin rescued from the wildlife trade in Vietnam. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

Jane Goodall: COVID-19 is a product of our unhealthy relationship with animals and the environment (commentary)

Jane Goodall 4 May 2020

News and Inspiration from Nature's Frontline.

Collage, Jahëna Louisin, Mongabay reporter, and a Vodun ritual
Videos
Dugong rescue in Thailand
Articles
Podcasts

you're currently offline