Rhett Butler is a writer and conservationist who founded mongabay.com, a site focused on tropical rainforests; Tropical Conservation Science, an academic journal that aims to provide opportunities for scientists in developing countries to publish their research; and wildmadagascar.org, a site that highlights the spectacular cultural and biological richness of Madagascar. Apart from his web sites, Rhett's writing has appeared in The Washington Monthly, Yale Environment 360, BBC News, the Jakarta Post, Conservation Letters, Conservation Biology, GeoWorld, Biotropica, and Trends in Evolution & Ecology. Rhett has traveled widely in Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. He has a background in economics and is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.