Conservation
Ever since the HMS Beagle arrived in the Galapagos Islands with a young Charles Darwin aboard—who was soon to meet a fateful family of finches—ecologists have struggled to understand a particularly perplexing question: Why is there such a ridiculous abundance of species in some places on Earth and a scarcity in others?
Latin America
The Amazon Basin contains the largest rain forest on Earth, covering 2.7 million square miles—that’s twice the size of India, roughly the area of the Lower 48 states. It contains 10 percent of the world’s entire biodiversity. The Amazon River flows more than 4,000 miles through this massive biome and has 1,100 tributaries.
Conservation
The history of life on Earth has been marked five times by events of mass biodiversity loss caused by extreme natural phenomena. Today, a sixth mass extinction crisis is underway, this time almost entirely caused by human activities. In fact, one recent survey revealed that more species are threatened with extinction than we previously thought.
News & More
One of the great mysteries of late medieval history is why did the Norse, who had established successful settlements in southern Greenland in 985, abandon them in the early 15th century? The consensus view has long been that colder temperatures, associated with the Little Ice Age, helped make the colonies unsustainable.
Conservation
The Time is Now Established in 2017 by Rainforest Partnership, World Rainforest Day recognizes forests as one of the most powerful and cost-effective climate change mitigation tools we have. Their partner network comprises a global body of Indigenous groups, policy representatives, youth leaders and nonprofit organizations.
News & More
“Only one Earth. In the universe are billions of galaxies, in our galaxy are billions of planets, but there is #OnlyOneEarth. Let’s take care of it.” That’s the thought behind this year’s World Environment Day, June 5, 2022.
Nature & Wildlife
We’re living in an age of great biodiversity loss. And we’re trying to make our way through a worldwide pandemic on top of it. Some days, it seems like life itself on Earth is being wiped out. But there is great reason for hope.
Travel Tips
A year and a half of lockdowns and delayed plans have left many of us dreaming of our next great adventure. With countries across the globe now open to Americans, Nat Hab travelers are getting back into the field and immersing themselves in spectacular nature destinations once again.
Conservation
Throughout the United States, Native Americans own and/or manage nearly 95 million acres of deserts and forests, grasslands and mountains—much of it in still-intact habitats. That’s 10 million more acres than the National Park Service administers. These extensive holdings make tribes extremely important and significant partners in habitat and wildlife protections.
Nature & Wildlife
There’s the old maxim that you must know something to love it. And we’ve certainly heard that regarding nature: that if we don’t expose people—particularly the next generation—to the outdoors and the biodiversity that resides there, they won’t be or become good stewards of the environment.
Conservation
True wilderness areas—where human impacts are minimal or entirely absent—are dwindling. That probably comes as no surprise to you.
Conservation
When I was little, I learned about dinosaurs and extinction in the same breath. Those tree trunk sized leg bones I saw at the museum belonged to animals that died out millions of years ago. Why? There was some cosmic, massive event that killed the giants of Earth’s ancient history.
