Podcast: What are the tropical forest storylines to watch in 2021?
For our first episode of 2021, we’re taking the opportunity to look at some of the most important trends and issues that will be affecting rainforest conservation over the next…
Articles by Mike Gaworecki
Mike Gaworecki is a journalist based in Brooklyn, NY. He has covered environmental science, forests, and climate issues for over a decade. His writing has appeared in The Guardian, Pacific Standard, BillMoyers.com, Alternet, Treehugger, and more.
Podcast: New innovations to clean up the impacts of mining
Today we have two stories about the impacts of mining and some of the new and innovative ways conservationists are attempting to deal with those impacts. Listen here: Our first…
Podcast: Is Brazil’s biodiverse savanna getting the attention it deserves, finally?
Today we look at efforts to preserve and restore the biodiversity of the Cerrado in Brazil, the world’s largest and most biologically-rich tropical savanna. Listen here: Comprising more than 20%…
Podcast: Indigenous land rights and the global push for land privatization
Today we’re taking a look at the importance of securing Indigenous communities’ land rights and the global push for privatization that can deprive those communities of access to their land.…
Podcast: Lemur love and award-winning plant passion in Madagascar
Madagascar is known for its lemurs, and we’ve got some recordings of Madagascar’s most famous fauna to listen to on this episode of the Mongabay Newscast. But today we’re looking…
Podcast: New Latin American treaty could help protect women conservation leaders — and all environment defenders
On today’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast we’re shining a spotlight once again on women who are leading Amazon conservation — as well as a new international treaty that would…
Podcast: A radio program is helping save critically endangered gorillas in Nigeria
Today we take a look at efforts to protect the Cross River gorilla, one of the world’s rarest great ape subspecies, which include a radio program broadcast to nearly 4…
Podcast: Can the planet support a clean energy transition?
On today's episode of the Mongabay Newscast, we look at whether or not mining is compatible with the clean energy revolution. Listen here: In order to rein in global climate…
Podcast: Great ape ‘forest gardeners of Africa’ benefit from conservation victory
On today's episode of the Mongabay Newscast we’re discussing great ape conservation in Africa and how that goes hand-in-hand with efforts to protect the second-largest rainforest in the world. Listen…
Podcast: In the Amazon, women are key to forest conservation
On today’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast we take a look at how women are leading the charge to protect the Amazon rainforest, the largest rainforest in the world. Listen…
Podcast: Singing and whistling cetaceans of southern Africa revealed by bioacoustics
On today’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast we’re taking a look at two examples of how bioacoustics studies have allowed us to discover things we never knew before about marine…
Podcast: From parks to payments, which conservation strategies work best?
This is the 100th episode of the Mongabay Newscast! We revisit Mongabay’s groundbreaking Conservation Effectiveness reporting project in order to see what developments there have been since we did the…
Podcast: Finding nature in cities
Today we’re exploring nature in cities with author Kelly Brenner and urban forester Georgia Silvera Seamans. Listen here: According to the UN, more than half of the world’s human…
Podcast: Five years after the death of Cecil the Lion, trophy hunting debate rages on
On this episode of the Mongabay Newscast, we take a look at the state of the debate over trophy hunting five years after the killing of Cecil the Lion sparked…
Podcast: Animals have culture, too, and for some it’s crucial to their survival and conservation
On today's episode of the Mongabay Newscast we explore animal culture and social learning with author Carl Safina and whale researcher Hal Whitehead. Listen here: It was once widely…
Audio: Conservationists find opportunity and community amidst current crises
On today’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast we look at how the environmental crises we’re currently facing intersect with two other major crises: the Covid pandemic and the systemic racism…
Podcast: Listening to elephants to protect Central Africa’s tropical forests
On today’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast we take a look at a project that aims to preserve the rainforests of the Congo Basin in Central Africa and the biodiversity…
Audio: What can we expect from tropical fire season 2020?
On today’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast we look at what’s driving the intense fire seasons we’ve seen around the world in recent years, what can we expect from the…
South Korea subsidizing biomass so heavily that wind and solar are being crowded out of the market
The government of South Korea is subsidizing the development of biomass power so heavily that it’s hindering the adoption of renewable energy technologies like solar and wind, new research finds.…
Audio: How to be an ethical wildlife photographer, and why it’s necessary
On today’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast we discuss how to take photographs of wild animals without harassing, exploiting, or harming them — in other words, today we’re taking a…
Audio: Celebrating the 50th Earth Day amidst a global pandemic
On today’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast we discuss what it means to be celebrating the 50th Earth Day amidst the coronavirus pandemic. Listen here: The first Earth Day…
Audio: The links between COVID-19, wildlife trade, and destruction of nature with John Vidal
On today’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast, we speak with acclaimed environmental journalist John Vidal about the coronavirus pandemic's links to the wildlife trade and the destruction of nature. Listen…
Audio: Songs and sounds of Bering Sea whales and seals reveal a story of change
On today’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast, we listen to recordings of marine mammals in the Arctic with Dr. Howard Rosenbaum, the director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Ocean Giants…
New right whale protection measures announced by Canadian government
Canada has announced new protection measures for North Atlantic right whales, which face severe threats to their survival due to human activities off the Atlantic Coast of North America. With…
Audio: Shah Selbe on how open source technology is creating new opportunities for conservation
On today’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast, we speak with Shah Selbe, an engineer and technologist who founded Conservify, a conservation tech lab that uses open-source technologies to empower local…
Audio: Fred Swaniker on conservation as an economic growth opportunity for Africa
On today’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast, we speak with Fred Swaniker, the founder of the African Leadership University, which recently launched a School of Wildlife Conservation to help young…
Audio: Galina Angarova on the indigenous relationship to land, conservation, and the sacred feminine
On today's episode of the Mongabay Newscast, we speak with Galina Angarova, executive director of Cultural Survival, an NGO based in the United States that fights for the rights of…
Audio: The sounds of tropical katydids and how they can benefit conservation
On today’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast we speak with Laurel Symes, a biologist who is using bioacoustics to study tropical katydids in Central America. Listen here: Laurel Symes…
Audio: Ami Vitale on how meeting Sudan, the last male northern white rhino, changed her life
On today’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast, we speak with Ami Vitale, a photographer for National Geographic who documented the death of the last male northern white rhino, Sudan. Listen…
Audio: The best animal calls featured on the Mongabay Newscast in 2019
This is our last episode of 2019, so we took a look back at the bioacoustic recordings we featured here on the Mongabay Newscast over the past year and today…
Special series
Forest trackers
- Indigenous Cacataibo of Peru threatened by land grabbing and drug trade
- Colombian and Ecuadorian Indigenous communities live in fear as drug traffickers invade
- Cocaine production driving deforestation into Colombian national park
- Industrial agriculture threatens a wetland oasis in Bolivia
Oceans
- 2020’s top ocean news stories (commentary)
- ‘Tamper with nature, and everyone suffers’: Q&A with ecologist Enric Sala
- New paper highlights spread of organized crime from global fisheries
- Study: Chinese ‘dark fleets’ illegally defying sanctions by fishing in North Korean waters
Amazon conservation
- Brazil’s collapsing health service, new COVID variant, raise Indigenous risk
- Lack of protection leaves Spain-size swath of Brazilian Amazon up for grabs
- Soy moratorium averted New Jersey-size loss of Amazon rainforest: Study
- Brazilian woman threatened by Amazon loggers wins global human rights award
Land rights and extractives
- Papua tribe moves to block clearing of its ancestral forest for palm oil
- Protesters hold back military takeover of Balkans’ largest mountain pasture
- Podcast: New innovations to clean up the impacts of mining
- Environmentalists seek to block Bahamas oil drilling bid near U.S. coast
Endangered environmentalists
- Brazilian woman threatened by Amazon loggers wins global human rights award
- Indonesian fishers opposed to dredging project hit by ‘criminalization’ bid
- Life as an Amazon activist: ‘I don’t want to be the next Dorothy Stang’
- In Philippines’ Palawan, top cop linked to assault on environmental officer
Indonesias forest guardians
- Why I stand for my tribe’s forest: It gives us food, culture, and life (commentary)
- Reforesting a village in Indonesia, one batch of gourmet beans at a time
- Restoring Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem, one small farm at a time
- Indigenous Iban community defends rainforests, but awaits lands rights recognition
