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Indonesia

The nearly magical properties of fig trees

September 17, 2018October 25, 2018 / mike shanahan / 2 Comments
In Cherrapunji, India, locals mold the roots of the fig species Ficus elastica tree into living bridges. Credit: 2il.org Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Living bridges made of fig tree roots in Cherrapunji, India

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Rafts of rubber and a hotel for birds with spit that sells

February 17, 2012February 20, 2012 / mike shanahan / 3 Comments

There’s plenty of room at the Hotel Sri Tahjung. Any time of year… you can find it here. But if you want to stay, you’ll need a pair of wings and plenty of saliva. Continue reading →

Borneo’s eco-stranded apes with nowhere to call home

January 25, 2012January 19, 2013 / mike shanahan / 2 Comments

Who’s that hiding in the trees? It’s a Bornean orangutan, an ape with an unhappy history and an uncertain future. Continue reading →

Golden green grunge for rare red orangutans

January 22, 2012January 25, 2012 / mike shanahan / 6 Comments

It’s a biologist’s dream — a rock band that’s named after plankton and makes conservation cool. Continue reading →

Millions of long lost logs and a single special tree

January 19, 2012February 10, 2012 / mike shanahan / Leave a comment

If the ground beneath my feet last week could talk, it could tell a long story of land and logging, crime and conservation — the kind of story that defines rainforest politics. Continue reading →

They kill environment journalists, don’t they?

August 23, 2010October 1, 2012 / mike shanahan / Leave a comment

Journalists face many threats for uncovering environmental abuses. Some more solidarity from their safer colleagues around the world would put the media spotlight on a growing problem that nations are obliged to tackle under the Rio Declaration they signed in 1992.

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My book

I am the author of 'Ladders To Heaven: How fig trees shaped our history, fed our imaginations and can enrich our future' (Unbound, 2016). My book was published in the US and Canada as 'Gods, Wasps, and Stranglers: The Secret History and Redemptive Future of Fig Trees' (Chelsea Green, 2016).
Read a summary and advance praise from: Annie Proulx, Deborah Blum, Michael Pollan, Sy Montgomery, Simran Sethi, David George Haskell and others.

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