Cartoon guide to biodiversity loss LXVI
Here is the third set of biodiversity cartoons for 2021. See full stock of previous ‘Cartoon guide to biodiversity loss’ compendia here.
View ArticleIs the IPCC finally catching up with the true severity of climate change?
I’m not in any way formally involved in either the IPCC or IPBES, although I’ve been involved indirectly in analysing many elements of both the language of the reports and the science underlying their...
View ArticleJournal ranks 2020
This is the 13th year in a row that I’ve generated journal ranks based on the journal-ranking method we published several years ago. There are few differences in how I calculated this year’s ranks, as...
View ArticleCartoon guide to biodiversity loss LXVII
Here is the fourth set of biodiversity cartoons for 2021. See full stock of previous ‘Cartoon guide to biodiversity loss’ compendia here.
View ArticleIt’s a tough time for young conservation scientists
Sure, it’s a tough time for everyone, isn’t it? But it’s a lot worse for the already disadvantaged, and it’s only going to go downhill from here. I suppose that most people who read this blog can...
View ArticleThe very worn slur of “neo-Malthusian”
After the rather astounding response to our Ghastly Future paper published in January this year (> 443,000 views and counting; 61 citations and counting), we received a Commentary that was rather...
View ArticleAvoiding a ghastly future — The Science Show
Just thought I’d share the audio of an interview I did with the famous Robyn Williams of ABC Radio National‘s The Science Show. I’d be surprised if any Australians with even a passing interest in...
View ArticleAn eye on the past: a view to the future
originally published in Brave Minds, Flinders University’s research-news publication (text by David Sly) Clues to understanding human interactions with global ecosystems already exist. The challenge is...
View ArticleNeo-colonialist attitudes ignoring poachernomics will ensure more extinctions
No matter most people’s best intentions, poaching of species in Sub-Saharan Africa for horn and ivory continues unabated. Despite decades of policies, restrictions, interventions, protections, and...
View ArticleThe sixth mass extinction is happening now, and it doesn’t look good for us
Mounting evidence is pointing to the world having entered a sixth mass extinction. If the current rate of extinction continues we could lose most species by 2200. The implication for human health and...
View ArticleBest and worst countries by different environmental indicators
I’ll preface this post with a caveat — the data herein are a few years old (certainly pre-COVID), so things have likely changed a bit. Still, I think the main message holds. Many years ago, I compiled...
View ArticleWhich countries are the ‘wealthiest’?
Last week I wrote a post about various indices of country-level environmental performance, which I prefaced with a caveat that the data are a few years old. This week I’m going to discuss national...
View ArticleWhy a shrinking human population is a good thing
The other day I was asked to do an interview for a South Korean radio station about the declining-population “crisis”. Therein lies the rub — there is no crisis. While I think the interview went well...
View ArticleJournal ranks 2021
Now that Clarivate, Google, and Scopus have recently published their respective journal citation scores for 2021, I can now present — for the 14th year running on ConvervationBytes.com — the 2021...
View ArticleTerror management
As is my tendency, I like to wade carefully into other disciplines from time to time to examine what components they can bring to the conservation table. I do not profess any sort of expertise when I...
View ArticleWhat does ‘collapse’ mean, and should we continue using the term?
The conservation, environment, and sustainability literature is rife with the term ‘collapse’, applied to concepts as diverse as species extinction to the complete breakdown of civilisation. I have...
View ArticleInfluential conservation papers of 2022
Following my annual tradition, I present the retrospective list of the ‘top’ 20 influential papers of 2022 as assessed by experts in Faculty Opinions (formerly known as F1000). These are in no...
View ArticleKeeping babies alive will lower population growth
We’ve just published a paper in PLOS ONE showing high infant mortality rates are contributing to an incessant rise of the global human population, which supports arguments for greater access to...
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