Ida Yellowman stood at the top of Muley Point, seeing memories in every cardinal direction. To the north was Bears Ears and the Abajo Mountains, rock-strewn landscape where she first…
The summit of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park in the northeastern U.S. state of Maine offers sweeping, unobstructed views of Frenchman Bay. Surrounded by islands and rocky shorelines, the…
Tropical forests across the world are hurting. Climate change is intensifying drought and wildfires worldwide, and deforestation continues to challenge conservation efforts to save intact forests. This means scientists need…
As a biology undergraduate, Talia Speaker spent a grueling summer hiking around the mountains near Santa Cruz, California, interning with a team that monitored puma behavior. In one hand she…
For many people, extinction is a term that refers to the past. It’s meant for dinosaurs, woolly mammoths and so many other species only found in textbooks or on display…
As deforestation and subsequent human expansion into natural areas continue, separating people from wildlife is unrealistic. Even in “pristine” landscapes, like national parks, humans and wildlife are always sharing the…
Some people know that they want to be scientists from an early age. Not so with Sara Beery. The computer vision expert got started on her path to science in…
It was 2008, and Danielle Kessler was sitting in front of her computer, shocked by what she was seeing on the internet: a live rhino for sale. The internet and…
When Elisa Panjang was 10 years old, playing outside her home in Sandakan, a small town in Malaysian Borneo, she heard a snuffling sound near the forest’s edge. As she…
In 2016, during the height of the rhino poaching war, field rangers in Kruger National Park in South Africa saw sobering scenes day after day. The field reports showed just…
To the Haudenosaunee, water is life. In their creation story, deep water covered the Earth, until a woman, known as Sky Woman, fell from an island in the sky. Birds…
Nearing the end of her undergraduate studies in ecology, Drea Darby sat frustrated at her desk, searching for jobs in conservation. She had envisioned a career out in the field,…
To hear an audio version of this article, listen here: Technology isn’t always a practical solution for Indigenous communities fighting for their land rights. Some technology requires internet access, which…
Drifting down the Dubo River through Sapo National Park in Liberia, Shadrach Kerwillain, a project manager for Fauna & Flora International (FFI), takes a sample of fresh river water. It’s…
Sitting in a cloud forest on top of the Cordillera de Tilarán, the mountaintop town of Monteverde, Costa Rica seems isolated. But, its view stretches far beyond its boundaries. In…
It is no secret that mining destroys environments and communities throughout the world. But, beneath the surface there are specific details that are not as widely known. Communities affected by…
Coral reefs may be underwater, but they are also under fire: overfishing is dramatically altering these underwater treasures. While most people never get to see these ecosystems up close, they…
Life beneath the waters of the Amazon is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the world’s largest rainforest. All of the bright, primary…
Islands possess many unique gifts from evolution. Their isolation from the mainland give them an identity all their own: these small pieces of land are often filled with species that…
Laden with carefully thought-out food supplies, Greta Dargie carried her heavy pack as she waded through the mud. Getting to field sites in the swampy forests of the Cuvette Centrale…
Caitlin Looby is a science writer, editor and educator based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She’s written radio scripts for the Loh Down on Science Radio program, worked in university media and reported for The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate as a 2019 AAAS Mass Media Fellow. She also wrote an op-ed on climate change in cloud forests for The New York Times as well as feature articles for SUP Magazine and Canoe and Kayak Magazine, among others. She is a freelance editor where she’s edited books, dissertations, poetry collections and even restaurant menus. She also teaches a science communication class and writing workshops at the University of Minnesota.
As a former Mongabay intern, Caitlin is excited to join the team as the second Sue Palminteri Wildtech Reporting Fellow. Caitlin is a former scientist and spent twelve years hiking up mountains in the tropics to study microbes, soil and climate change. She holds a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology from the University of Connecticut, a master’s degree in biotechnology from Kean University and a doctorate degree in biology from the University of California, Irvine.
Caitlin spends her free time outdoors, paddling, hiking, camping and playing with her two dogs. One fun fact: she’s lived in every time zone in the continental US. You can follow her @caitlooby on Twitter or check out her website caitlinlooby.com.
