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Thoreau and the Value of Mangroves

I travelled to Massachusetts to talk to a mangrove expert about ecological economics, and took time out to pay respect to one of nature’s greatest freedom fighters, who showed us the way to transcend the soulless rhetoric of materialism. . . Read more »
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Leave the Suntan Lotion

Sometimes the best way to move forward is to go sideways, and while exploring mangroves in Brazil I took time out to visit my son in Salvador de Bahia, and gained inspiration from an art exhibition and a Brazilian sport. . . Read more »
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Pilgrim at Key West

Writers need heroes—or at least this one does, and while looking at mangroves in Florida I decided to make a pilgrimage to the home of one of American literature’s most famous sons: Papa Hemingway. I wasn’t disappointed. . . Read more »
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Thank God Environmentalism Is Dead

A recent Gallup poll found "historically low levels of public worry about environmental problems," and more than a third of those polled believe the environmental movement "has done more harm than good." Once upon a time, Americans responded to environmental disasters by passing landmark laws like the Clean Air Act. Now it seems our support for the environment decreases with each new oil spill. What happened?
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The Path to Restoration

I was privileged to meet one of the leading experts in mangrove restoration in his home state of Florida. Robin Lewis has spent his working life fine-tuning methods for restoration former mangrove wetlands to full ecological functionality. As he explained and showed me, mangrove restoration is a lot more than just planting seedlings in the mud. . . Read more »
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Seeking Sustainability, One Shrimp at a Time

Students at Pace University have produced this mini-documentary on sustainable shrimp farming. It tells the story of Linda Thornton, an aquaculture entrepreneur pushing the frontiers of sustainable shrimp farming in Belize.
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Panthers and Airboats

As well as being a fabulous place to get to know mangroves, the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge is home to one of nature’s rarest big cats: the Florida panther. I talked about panther management with the leader of the recovery program while airboating around the Picayune Strand. That night, a panther showed itself, to the elation of one person and the frustration of another . . . Read more »
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Don't Have a Banana

The Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge is one of the great mangrove preserves of the United States. In fact, here mangroves are spreading where they’re not wanted—into former freshwater swamplands that were drained for a grandiose housing project that failed to get off the ground. I travelled to the refuge with a Fish and Wildlife researcher who was gathering groundwater data that will help environmental managers make the right decisions about how to restore the unique ecology of the area.
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Kill the Frogs?

Feeling overwhelmed by civilization? Dreaming of getting away from it all? Before embarking on your great escape, you should know that these days we intensively manage all our "wilderness" areas, the wildlife you encounter out there will undoubtedly include exotic species that are wreaking ecological havoc, and that some natural resource managers now believe there is nothing we can or should do about these increasingly human-dominated "novel ecosystems." Welcome to the Brave New Eco-World.
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Win-Win for Wind Energy and Wildlife Conservation

Wind energy offers the potential to reduce carbon emissions while increasing energy independence and bolstering economic development. I am a huge proponent of harnessing wind to power our lives but this form of energy development has a larger land footprint per Gigawatt (GW) than most other forms of energy production, making appropriate siting and mitigation particularly important (Figure 1).

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