Clare Fieseler
Colombia's Former Guerrillas Need New Jobs. Why Not in Conservation?
Painted flowers of pink and blue grace the nails of two slender hands posed on the trigger and barrel of an assault weapon. Behind the weapon, a hot pink t-shirt serves as backdrop. There is nothing else in the frame. From the moment that I saw this photo last month in The California Sunday Magazine,...
Conservationists Clash on #CecilTheLion, Hunting, and the Future
Cecil the Lion's illegal killing isn't just trending in news, it was trending in the hallways of the International Congress of Conservation Biology (ICCB) last week. The biennial, five-day gathering of 2,000 scientists is structured by formal, planned presentations. But on the conference's last day, an untraditional pop-up session called "#CecilTheLion: What Next?" revealed just how factionalized...
What a Group of 2,000 Biologists Talks About May Surprise You
Last night, amidst the many musicians filling the streets of France with song, one group stood out. The musicians were conservation biologists, and they played a strange assortment of exotic instruments sourced from the remote corners of the world where they do their research and conservation work. It was a jam session for an audience of their own global tribe...
This Scientist Made Superhero Headlines. Why Doesn't That Happen More Often?
Andrew Baker is the guy that rescues corals with his bare hands from the evils of industry. A recent article on National Geographic News featured him doing just that. Of course, as a scientist myself, I know Andrew through his alter ego: a renowned scientist unlocking the secrets of coral adaptation. But for those following the news in summer 2014,...
"Cuba's New Now" and the Oceans: Part II
Sharks…deep-water rigs…coastal development…fish for tourists…empty markets. As someone who studies the ocean, these are the words that pop out at me when reading National Geographic's November cover story "Cuba's New Now." Paolo Pellegrin's images reveal poignant photos of weary faces and urban crowds, but the ocean is generally an unseen character in the drama. Still,...
"Cuba's New Now" and the Ocean: Part I
Skin Diver Tells His Full Story, 40 Years Later
By Clare Fieseler, NGS Young Explorer Grantee His back muscles are taut. Poised, and with perfect buoyancy, Villamar Godfrey is pictured yanking a 30-pound jewfish from a spectacular colony of elkhorn coral. Godfrey, now 77, stares at a grainy scanned image of page 127 from National Geographic's January 1972 issue. "His name was Mike Long....