Rhett Ayers Butler

Rhett Ayers Butler

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About

Rhett Butler is the founder and CEO of Mongabay.

Rhett founded Mongabay out of his passion for wildlife and wild places.

He has traveled widely in the tropics and enjoys photography, hiking, and scuba-diving.

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Some background on Mongabay's origin:

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1786 stories
Dr. Ajith Kumar. Photo by Ishwar Narayanan

Indian wildlife biologist Ajith Kumar has died

Rhett Ayers Butler 2 Mar 2025
Randy Borman. Courtesy of the Cofan Survival Fund

Randy Borman (1955-2025): An unlikely guardian of the Amazon rainforest

Rhett Ayers Butler 19 Feb 2025
Gerry Flynn

Statement on Mongabay journalist Gerald Flynn’s blacklisting from Cambodia following his reporting on illegal logging

Rhett Ayers Butler 3 Feb 2025
Greenpeace Brazil conducted an aerial survey in southern Amazonas and northern Rondônia to monitor deforestation and fires in July 2024. Photo © Marizilda Cruppe / Greenpeace.

Drop in Amazon deforestation confirmed, but degradation soars 497% in 2024

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 Jan 2025
Mikkel Larsen

Carbon exchange leader and sustainability advocate Mikkel Larsen dies at 50

Rhett Ayers Butler 27 Jan 2025
Jane Goodall in Japan in June 2023. Photo taken by Kaori Nishida

Jane Goodall awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Rhett Ayers Butler 6 Jan 2025

Rainforest Outlook 2025: Storylines to watch as the year unfolds

Rhett Ayers Butler 30 Dec 2024

Conservationists and nature defenders who died in 2024

Rhett Ayers Butler 27 Dec 2024
YEAR IN RAINFORESTS BANNER

The year in tropical rainforests: 2024

Rhett Ayers Butler 24 Dec 2024
As he stepped carefully along the seafloor in the warm shallows of French Polynesia, I could hardly tell where the boy ended and the sea began. The pink whiptail ray swooped playfully around him and for a moment I could see clearly the path to coexistence between humanity and all the denizens of the sea.

How conservation photographer Cristina Mittermeier uses visual storytelling to inspire action

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 Dec 2024

Amazon deforestation in Brazil plunges 31% to lowest level in 9 years

Rhett Ayers Butler 10 Nov 2024
Glaciers play an important role in the balance of water cycles and ecosystems. Although receding glaciers can degrade these systems, they also serve as an indicator of climate change. We can use Earth-observation satellite imagery to monitor and track glaciers from space. This Landsat 8 image shows glaciers surrounding Lake Sofron, Alaska. Blue areas indicate glacial extent; red areas indicate extensive moraine from glacier debris.

50 years of geographic insight: In interview with Jack Dangermond on Esri’s journey and the future of GIS

Rhett Ayers Butler 28 Oct 2024
Pine forest in California's Sierra Nevada. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

Forests and the Fate of Civilizations: A Conversation with John Perlin

Rhett Ayers Butler 16 Oct 2024
Ryan Killackey

The life and legacy of Ryan Killackey, the filmmaker who rallied international support for Yasuni (Obituary)

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 Oct 2024
Rinnie and Gary Shapiro in a peat swamp in Central Kalimantan. Photo credit: Rod Brindamour.

Orangutan conservation and communication: Gary Shapiro’s half-century journey from zoos to the wilds of Borneo

Rhett Ayers Butler 8 Oct 2024
Green rice paddies in Udomxai province, Laos. Photo by Rhett A. Butler

Alan Dangour on reframing climate change as a health crisis

Matthew Boyer, Rhett Ayers Butler 24 Sep 2024
CO2e emissions between 1850-2018 imposed over warming stripes graphic depicting annual mean global temperatures (1850-2018, from World Meteorological Organization data). Credit for general concept of warming stripes: climate scientist Ed Hawkins, University of Reading. Data values are visualized using color rather than locations of points on a graph. Horizontal scale is time, from 1850 (left) to 2018 (right). Data is global (not for a locality). This is an early, original chart from Dr. Hawkins, and should not be updated as the years pass. Update: newer versions of the warming stripes under more permissive CC‑BY‑4.0 licensing available here: showyourstripes.info Date 4 December 2018 Source Hawkins, Ed

Action at Scale: Elizabeth Yee on The Rockefeller Foundation’s Climate Strategy

Matthew Boyer, Rhett Ayers Butler 9 Sep 2024
Event announcement. Goodall photo by Jeff Horowitz.

Jane Goodall is coming to San Francisco. Her event is sold out, but students can still get free tickets

Rhett Ayers Butler 30 Aug 2024
Mongabay logo

Mongabay at 25: A Reflection on the Journey and Future

Rhett Ayers Butler 24 Jun 2024
Wendy Schmidt explores Agog’s website in webXR as Amy Seidenwurm, chief of programs and strategy for Agog, looks on. Credit: Ben Gibbs / Agog

Using immersive media to strengthen support for the environment: An interview with Wendy Schmidt

Rhett Ayers Butler 17 Jun 2024
River in the Amazon rainforest. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

Deforestation in Earth’s largest rainforest continues to plummet despite a rise in fires

Rhett Ayers Butler 15 Jun 2024
jane goodall at 90

Jane Goodall at 90: On fame, hope, and empathy

Rhett Ayers Butler 3 Apr 2024
Flying a drone in New Guinea. Photo by Rhett A. Butler

Mongabay Data Studio: Revealing nature’s hidden stories through data (commentary)

Rhett Ayers Butler 8 Mar 2024
Verreaux's sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi) in a dry forest in Madagascar. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

Beyond the myths: Anthropologist Alison Richard on Madagascar’s environmental realities and future

Rhett Ayers Butler 3 Jan 2024
Rainforest in Sulawesi. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

2024 outlook for rainforests

Rhett Ayers Butler 3 Jan 2024
Danilo Villafañe in the Sierra Madre in Colombia in 2010. Photo by Rhett A. Butler

Indigenous leader Danilo Villafañe dies at 49 in trying to save drowning women in Colombia

Rhett Ayers Butler 30 Dec 2023
Planet satellite images of the confluence of the Rio Negro and Rio Jufari near the border of the states of Amazonas and Roraima in Brazil taken in October 2023, revealing sandbars and exposed riverbed during the severe drought that affected large parts of the Amazon rainforest. Photo courtesy of Planet Labs.

The year in rainforests: 2023

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 Dec 2023
Wolf. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

Wolves through the ages: A journey of coexistence, conflict, and conservation

Rhett Ayers Butler 11 Dec 2023
Petrel chick in the Galapagos. Photo credit: James Muchmore

How a group in Ecuador protects 10% of the world’s bird species

Rhett Ayers Butler 11 Dec 2023
Planet satellite image of the Anavilhanas Archipelago in the Rio Negro in Brazil in October 2023 during a severe drought. Courtesy of Planet.

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon falls 22% in 2023

Rhett Ayers Butler 11 Nov 2023
This Planet satellite image shows how extreme drought in the Amazon has reduced the Rio Negro to a trickle. Image Ⓒ 2023 Planet Labs PBC

Despite severe drought, Amazon deforestation continues to slow

Rhett Ayers Butler 13 Oct 2023
Timber extraction in Sumatra. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

Journalism’s role in the Nature Crime Alliance (commentary)

Rhett Ayers Butler 23 Aug 2023

News and Inspiration from Nature's Frontline.

A closer look at the unknown Brazilian fox
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Rainstorm over Pillcopata in the Peruvian Amazon. Photo by Rhett Butler/Mongabay.
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