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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2169 stories
People in the Amazon rainforest understory. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

A blueprint for communicating about the Amazon rainforest (commentary)

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 Nov 2025
Cacao. Image courtesy of Instituto Arapyaú

Brazil can protect its forests while growing its economy, says Arapyaú’s Renata Piazzon

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 Nov 2025
Girl with a seedling in Northern California. Image by Rhett Ayers Butler

Investing in the next generation of environmental journalists (commentary)

Rhett Ayers Butler 4 Nov 2025
Puerto Caimán Island in the Curare-Los Ingleses Indigenous Reserve’s conservation area.

Indigenous communities protect Colombia’s uncontacted peoples

Rhett Ayers Butler 4 Nov 2025
Rainforest in Vietnam. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

Beyond deforestation: redesigning how we protect and value tropical forests (analysis)

Rhett Ayers Butler 3 Nov 2025
Wilmar Eliaser Simandjorang

One man’s mission to rewild a dying lake

Rhett Ayers Butler 3 Nov 2025
Banyan tree in Vietnam. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

What might lie ahead for tropical forests (analysis)

Rhett Ayers Butler 2 Nov 2025
Long-tailed macaques living in the mountains of Cambodia's Battambang province

The price of a monkey

Rhett Ayers Butler 31 Oct 2025
Corals and fish in Lighthouse Reef atoll, Belize.

Belize’s blue reputation vs. reef reality: Marine conservation wins, and what’s missing (commentary)

Rhett Ayers Butler 31 Oct 2025
Hagar Kudzordi Widow of Samuel Abayateye, looks at photos of her deceased husband, hoping to get answers. Image by Gideon Anku

A fisheries observer disappeared at sea. His family still waits for answers

Rhett Ayers Butler 31 Oct 2025
Annual deforestation in the Legal Amazon (Amazonia) from 1988-2025, according to a preliminary estimate from Brazil's national space research institute, INPE.

Heading into COP, Brazil’s Amazon deforestation rate is falling. What about fires?

Rhett Ayers Butler 30 Oct 2025
A Bornean orangutan. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

Why facts alone won’t save the planet

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 Oct 2025
Austin and his technician, Nathan Tang, searching the sand dunes for insects at Death Valley National Park

California’s grand insect census

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 Oct 2025
Visitors to a safari park in Gazipur enjoy a ride on an elephant.

Bangladesh to reintroduce captive elephants to the wild

Rhett Ayers Butler 28 Oct 2025
A beaver explores its new home at Tásmam Koyóm in 2023.

California learns from its beaver reintroductions

Rhett Ayers Butler 27 Oct 2025
A representation of a bisected nautilus.

Why independent journalism is a strategic investment for philanthropy (commentary)

Rhett Ayers Butler 26 Oct 2025
Christmas Island shrew

In memory of the Christmas Island shrew

Rhett Ayers Butler 24 Oct 2025
Cultivated poke bowl produced by Ivy Farm. Photo courtesy of Ivy Farm

Reimagining meat: The Good Food Institute’s bid to redesign the global food system

Rhett Ayers Butler 24 Oct 2025
Clearing of peat forest in Indonesia's Riau Province. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Forest Declaration Assessment reveals a forest paradox

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Oct 2025
Chris Allnutt at the Heiltsuk First Nations' Koeye Lodge. The dogs are bear dogs to warn and protect the youth if there is a Grizzly bear coming into the camp. Image by Jens Wieting

Chris Allnutt, negotiator who helped protect the Great Bear Rainforest, died on September 21st

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Oct 2025
Consumed book cover

Plastic’s triumph was no accident. It built an economy addicted to throwaway living

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Oct 2025
Starling Murmuration. Image by Rhett Ayers Butler

Trust-based philanthropy: Lessons from MacKenzie Scott and Laurene Powell Jobs (commentary)

Rhett Ayers Butler 20 Oct 2025
Willie Shubert in Madagascar with lemurs at a rehabilitation center. Note: visitors are not permitted to touch lemurs, but lemurs do as they please. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Measuring success in trees, not clicks

Rhett Ayers Butler 20 Oct 2025
Tony James. From the Stabroek News Facebook page.

Chief Kokoi, defender of the Rupununi, died on October 12th

Rhett Ayers Butler 17 Oct 2025
Mamai Lucille William. Photo courtesy of the North Pakaraimas District Council

Mamai Lucille Williams, a quiet symbol of dignity amid destruction, has died, aged about 93

Rhett Ayers Butler 16 Oct 2025
Aloyce Mwakisoma. Photo by Andrea Bianchi

Aloyce Mwakisoma, keeper of forest knowledge in Tanzania’s Udzungwa Mountains, has died at 45

Rhett Ayers Butler 15 Oct 2025
Coralscape in Komodo, Indonesia. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Protecting Earth’s oldest data system: the case for biodiversity

Rhett Ayers Butler 14 Oct 2025
Akhyari Hananto. Courtesy of Hananto

Connecting Indonesia’s environmental stories to millions

Rhett Ayers Butler 13 Oct 2025
Blue dart frog (Dendrobates azureus).

The bias in saving nature: How conservation funding favors the familiar

Rhett Ayers Butler 13 Oct 2025
Redwoods in California. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

Supporting frontline leadership in a time of crisis (commentary)

Rhett Ayers Butler 12 Oct 2025
Diane Keaton from her Instagram account.

Diane Keaton, actress and animal advocate, has died, aged 79

Rhett Ayers Butler 12 Oct 2025
Giant monkey frog in the Western Amazon. Image by Rhett Ayers Butler

The hidden environmental cost of psychedelics

Rhett Ayers Butler 11 Oct 2025

News and Inspiration from Nature's Frontline.

Collage, Giant African Harvester Ant
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Still image from the film A Salmon Nation, courtesy of Patagonia Films.
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