One of the world’s leading ocean conservationists and award-winning nature photographers, Paul Nicklen has spent more than three decades documenting both the beauty of the natural world and the accelerating impact of climate change. Trained as a marine biologist and shaped by decades of fieldwork, Nicklen — a National Geographic contributor for more than 20 […]
Make It Better — that’s our natural instinct. We fill our lives with people, work, and opportunities that we love, then we want to pay those blessings forward. And hopefully help create a better world for them, and others, too. When we founded Make It Better 20 years ago, honoring our planetary home and protecting […]
The biodiversity crisis is often framed as a science problem, but at its core, it is a human one — and it calls for a human-centered solution. Around the world, species that anchor entire ecosystems are disappearing at an unprecedented rate. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services estimates that up to one […]
As support for in-depth environmental storytelling declines, the urgency of telling these stories continues to grow. Vital Impacts — a Make It Better Foundation 2026 Philanthropy Award winner — is a women-led nonprofit that harnesses the power of art and storytelling to support community-based conservation efforts. This year, the organization awarded $50,000 in environmental fellowships […]
From Chile’s Atacama Desert to Japan’s floating solar farms and Texas wind corridors, photographer Jamey Stillings uses his Fujifilm GFX100 to capture the sweeping transformation of the world’s energy landscape. Through his multi-decade project, Changing Perspectives: Renewable Energy and the Shifting Human Landscape, Stillings shows how photography can be both a source of information and a […]
When I first met Pierre Moise Louis in Jérémie, Haiti, 15 years ago, he had just finished university. Determined to help his family and his country, Louis had one goal: to build a business around breadfruit. He saw this humble, starchy fruit not just as a food staple, but as a solution to hunger, to […]
Access to nutritious food is one of the most basic and important human rights. Yet, more than 700 million people faced hunger in 2023. A staggering 35 percent of the global population, equivalent to 2.8 billion people, experience “hidden hunger,” which is more than restricted access to food, but the lack of adequate nutrition. Many […]
As sustainability efforts expand across the country, a growing number of initiatives are rethinking how packaging waste is handled in industries like wine and spirits — from glass bottles to shipping boxes and plastic wrap. In Northern California, one program is offering a practical, scalable model that reduces landfill waste while building green career skills […]
With cutbacks to federal government programs and layoffs of civil servants around the country, there’s been a lot of confusion about funding for wildfire prevention and mitigation under the new presidential administration. Yet, Santa Rosa, California resident Lynn Garric feels encouraged. “I’m a very hopeful, optimistic person,” she explains. “I’m the one who came back […]
Ami Vitale has spent her career on the front lines of our planet’s most urgent crises, using her camera not only to witness the world but to change it. A National Geographic photographer, writer, documentary filmmaker, and Nikon Ambassador, Vitale began her career covering conflict zones — places where human suffering was raw and unrelenting. […]
