Writing on wildlife, technology, and nature
Holmes Rolston, III, was my mentor for over thirty years. I met him when I moved from England to Colorado for a master’s degree in 1990. A renowned environmental philosopher, Rolston died in early 2025. I made the four-thousand-mile journey for two reasons. First, there was Rolston, the so-called “father of environmental ethics.” He put …
Continue reading "Holmes Rolston, III (1932-1925): A Giant in Environmental Ethics"
Five years ago, I did a podcast with the Prindle Institute about a world taken over by technology. It was thrilling to do another recently on a world fizzing with recovering wildlife. Christian Wisehart asked the right questions about genetic purity, killing one species to save another, and improving one's relationship with wild animals. Enjoy …
The wildlife recoveries I tracked in Tenacious Beasts offer lessons from conservation success stories. Some species need only one thing from us: STOP KILLING THEM! This is true of whales, beavers, wolves, and many others. Once we stop killing them, the species returns rapidly. Other species require considerable intervention to help them return. California condors, …
Continue reading "How Much Should We Interfere in the Lives of Wild Animals?"
Penn Cove is a tranquil scoop of ocean situated on the eastern flank of Washington’s Whidbey Island. Douglas fir and Sitka spruce ring the cove giving its shores the signature, emerald hue of the Pacific Northwest. The town of Coupeville presides over the southern edge of the three-mile bight. The restaurants and shops on one …
Continue reading "Remembering Tokitae: What Killer Whales Can Teach"
The wolf is a lightning rod in discussions about wildlife recovery. Theodore Roosevelt called them "beasts of waste and desolation." If you can have a conversation about the wolf and not raise any tempers, you are doing well. When I had to pick the animal that would open my new book, Tenacious Beasts, I swallowed …
While everyone has been preoccupied with Covid-19, clean energy technology's rapid advance has continued. A thirty-year contract for a giant solar plant planned in Abu Dhabi got a record low bid of $0.0135 per kWh in April this year. This latest benchmark continues a shocking decline in renewable energy prices over the last decade. The …
Continue reading "Wizards, Prophets, and Profits…. (on the Way to Clean Energy)"
Christopher J. Preston 