Under The Banyan

Stories about us and nature

Skip to content
  • Home
  • About
  • Publications
  • Top reads
  • My book
  • Index
Search

South Africa

How Durban’s tree-preneurs helped turn football green

December 7, 2011February 13, 2013 / mike shanahan / 3 Comments

Busisiwe Ndlela was radiant when I met her yesterday. Just this month, and with money she earned selling tiny trees, she has bought a new cupboard and an electric stove and she is proud as can be.

Continue reading →

One less star in Africa tonight

October 31, 2011November 23, 2012 / mike shanahan / 28 Comments

Christina Scott — Africa’s foremost science journalist, an inspiration across the continent and beyond, and my colleague and friend — died today.  Continue reading →

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 4,288 other followers

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.

North American edition

UK EDITION

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

RSS Feed RSS - Posts

RSS Feed RSS - Comments

My Twitter Feed @shanahanmike

  • @champiDicty Hey, thanks Adrian. Glad you liked it. Corner was such an interesting character to write about. His so… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 13 hours ago
  • RT @AJListeningPost: Young people in #Myanmar have taken the lead in the recent anti-coup protests there. It's evident from so much of the… 1 day ago
  • Imagine peace, security and prosperity for all. Tackling climate change can get us there, says David Attenborough,… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 1 day ago
  • RT @unaipasku: bbc.com/news/av/scienc… 1 day ago
  • RT @UNDPabs: WEBINAR FOR JOURNALISTS 🗣️Join us on Wednesday, February 24 at 9 AM Panama/New York time. With @earthjournalism & @IIED we´ll… 1 day ago
Follow @shanahanmike

Hot off the press

  • A prescription for our sick planet
  • Scientists warn of rising denial of extinction and biodiversity loss
  • How to stop your pension fund from fuelling climate change and deforestation
  • The coronavirus backlash against bats is a bad idea
  • Demand for meat is driving jaguars towards extinction
  • Explainer: COP15, the biggest biodiversity conference in a decade
  • Can fig trees regrow lost rainforests?
  • Palm oil: The pros and cons of a controversial commodity

Popular right now

  • 10 things you need to know about banyan trees
  • King Bruno: A chimpanzee's tale of tragedy and hope
  • The majesty and mystery of India’s sacred banyan trees
  • What happened when Christian missionaries met Kenya's sacred fig trees
  • The trees of life that became agents of death
  • Can living fig-tree bridges save lives in a changing climate?
  • Confession: I ate shark fin soup
  • Why are so many strangler figs home to ghosts and goblins?
  • The orangutan, the strangler fig and the photographer — a story of entwined lives
  • My Father in his Suitcase: In Search of E.J.H. Corner the Relentless Botanist

Adaptation Africa Apes Art Australia Banyans Biodiversity Birds Blogging Blogs Books Borneo Brazil Buddhism Cambodia CBD Childhood Children Chimpanzees China Climate Change Colonialism Communication Conservation Deforestation Development Elephants Environment Extinction Ficus Fig-wasps figs Fig trees Film Food Forests Global Witness Gorillas human rights Hunting Illustration India Indonesia IPBES Journalism Kenya Keystone species London Malaysia Mangroves Media Murder Nature Oceans Orangutans Pacific Pastoralism Postcards Primates rainforest Rainforests Religion Sarawak South Africa Strangler figs Thailand Trade Trees Uganda UNFCCC United States Vietnam War Wildlife Zoos
ScienceSeeker
Blog at WordPress.com.