Under The Banyan

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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 →

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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.

North American edition

UK EDITION

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