Rhett Butler will be joining the Third Annual New York Wildlife Conservation Film Festival

Mongabay.com‘s Rhett Butler will be joining the New York Wildlife Conservation Film Festival and speaking after series 5 Saturday February 2nd about the impact of changing drivers of deforestation on wildlife conservation.

Rhett A. Butler

Rhett Butler founded mongabay.com in 1999 with the mission of raising interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging local and global trends in technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development. Today he serves as president and editor-in-chief of the web site. He is also the senior writer and photographer, creating much of the site’s content, including writing more than 10,000 articles and taking more than 75,000 of the photos that appear on the site. Unless noted otherwise all content and pictures on mongabay.com have been written or produced by Rhett Butler.

Beyond mongabay.com, Rhett Butler runs WildMadagascar.org, a site that highlights the spectacular cultural and biological richness of Madagascar and reports on environmental news for the Indian Ocean island nation.

Rhett Butler is also co-founder of Tropical Conservation Science, an open-access academic journal that aims to provide opportunities for scientists in developing countries to publish their research, and the Tropical Forest Network, a social network in the San Francisco Bay Area broadly interested in tropical forest conservation and ecology.

Outside of these pursuits, Rhett Butler has advised a wide range of organizations, including governments, multilateral development agencies, media outlets, academic institutions, foundations, and private sector entities. He has been an information source for the BBC, CNN, CBS, NBC, Fox News, National Geographic, the Wall Street Journal, Fortune Magazine, Business Week, Bloomberg, the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Reuters, Voice of America, the Associated Press, the San Francisco Chronicle, the L.A. Times, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Forbes, among others.

Rhett Butler’s work has been published outside of his web sites, including magazines, newspapers, online media, and academic journals (see below). His photos have appeared in hundreds of publications. © Mongabay.com

Rhett Butler’s work has been published outside of his web sites, including magazines, newspapers, online media, and academic journals. His photos have appeared in hundreds of publications. Rhett Butler also speaks regularly on topics surrounding forests and the environment (especially trends in deforestation) and new media. He has spoken at Stanford University, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of California at Santa Cruz, the National University of Singapore, ETH Zurich, the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation 2010 meeting in Bali, UNFCCC COP 16 in Cancun, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and Stony Brook University, among other places and events. In 2011 and 2012 he participated in the U.S. State Department Speakers Program in Indonesia.

In September 2011 Rhett Butler published RAINFORESTS, a book about rainforests geared toward kids. The text is based on the popular mongabay kids’ section and includes more than 150 photos.In April 2012 Rhett Butler hired a team in Indonesia to run mongabay.co.id, an Indonesian-language provider of environmental news and analysis. Mongabay.co.id officially launched in May 2012.

Rhett Butler has been profiled in the San Francisco Chronicle (2006), the Wall Street Journal (2006 and 2008), and Voice of America (2008).

See Rhett Butler’s motivation for starting mongabay.com. Further background on Rhett Butler is available at the FAQs/Interview page.

First Annual E.O. Wilson Award for Outstanding Science in Biodiversity Conservation

First Annual E.O. Wilson Award for Outstanding Science in Biodiversity Conservation
Presented to Nevada’s James Deacon

TUCSON, Ariz.— The Center for Biological Diversity today presented the first annual E.O. Wilson Award for Outstanding Science in Biodiversity Conservation to James Deacon, distinguished professor emeritus at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Over the course of his 52-year career, Deacon has focused on conservation of desert fish and other freshwater species and on sustainable water-use advocacy in the Southwest. His work contributed to the protection of several threatened and endangered aquatic species, helped secure water rights for Death Valley and Zion national parks, and helped create Ash Meadows and Moapa national wildlife refuges in Nevada.

E.O. Wilson award. Sculpture by Anne Bujold. Photo by Tierra Curry. Photos are available for media use. © http://www.biologicaldiversity.org

“Dr. Deacon’s relentless commitment to preserving life in some of its rarest forms, and to conserving the limited resources that sustain us all, makes it a great honor to recognize his life’s work with this award,” said Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center. “His remarkable career exemplifies the leadership role scientists must take in helping us to better understand and protect the biodiversity of our planet.”

The award will be presented annually to a scientist who has made an outstanding contribution to biodiversity conservation. It is named after renowned scientist Edward O. Wilson of Harvard University, known as “the father of biodiversity.” Wilson is considered to be the world’s leading authority on ants; his career has focused on promoting worldwide understanding of the importance of biodiversity and the preservation of our biological heritage.

“I’m very happy to congratulate Dr. James E. Deacon on his award, and more to thank him, as I know many others do, for his distinguished research on some of Earth’s most threatened ecosystems,” said Wilson.

The award consists of a hand-crafted ant sculpture by artist Anne Bujold and a $1,000 cash prize.

Deacon has published more than 90 scientific articles focused on the ecology and conservation biology of desert fish and other imperiled aquatic species. He has served as an expert witness in state and federal water-rights litigation, and has been involved in development of recommendations for water-quality standards and flow criteria essential to maintenance of ecosystem health and biodiversity. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Kansas in 1960 and immediately joined the University of Nevada Las Vegas faculty, where he helped create the university’s bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. programs in biology and environmental studies. He has served as chair in both departments and continues his research and advocacy work with projects in Death Valley, Devils Hole and the eastern/central Nevada water project.

The award’s sculptor, Anne Bujold, is the owner of Riveted Rabbit Studio in Portland, Ore., where she creates sculpture and custom functional objects. She graduated from the Oregon College of Art and Craft and works primarily in mild steel, blending traditional craft techniques with modern processes to produce unique objects.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 450,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2012/biodiversity-conservation-award-12-20-2012.html

50 Years To Save This Species (UCSC Long Marine Laboratory)

Saving endangered species through physiology. We have 50 years to save the Hawaiian monk seal — to stop them from going extinct. The students that we train today are going to be absolutely key to saving the species. This episode of Onward California follows Terrie Williams, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz, as she provides students with the hands-on knowledge that they need to make a difference. To see more stories visit http://www.onwardcalifornia.com/#stories

A Margay and Her Kittens by Phil Slosberg

A Margay and Her Kittens by Phil Slosberg

This video follows a female margay cat and her kitten in the jungles of Central America. The kitten is seen from just weeks after birth until it is able to follow the mom through the highest trees in the jungle.