Mat McDermott
Mat edits the Business and Energy sections of TreeHugger, as well as writing about resource consumption, animal welfare issues, and the response of religious communities to our current environmental problems.
Driving his work are two main convictions: 1) Our current environmental problems—climate change, biodiversity losses, peak fossil fuels, natural resource over consumption—are but symptoms of the greater problem of fetishizing material economic growth; and 2) only by first changing our minds, recognized the literal and metaphorical interconnected nature of all life, will we make the lasting external changes required to create an ecologically sustainable civilization.
In addition to his work with TreeHugger, Mat is an Advisor for The Bhumi Project, "a worldwide Hindu response to the environmental issues facing our planet...faciliated by the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies."
Beyond writing, Mat's creative output consists of documentary photography and filmmaking, with photographs appearing in a number of national and international print publications, as well as being exhibited in solo and group shows in the United States, France, and the United Arab Emirates. His last film, for which he was cinematographer, was Above Brooklyn and examined the dwindling but passionate pastime of pigeon fancying in New York City and Long Island.
He holds a Masters degree from New York University's Center for Global Affairs, where he concentrated in environment and energy policy. His Bachelors degree from Burlington College (Vermont) is in Writing & Literature, with research focused on the work of Rabindranath Tagore, Bengali devotional poetry, and the Beat Generation.
Mat currently lives in New York City. ૐ
In addition to Twitter and RSS below, you can also follow Mat on Facebook, and Flickr.
Latest Stories from Mat McDermott - Page 10
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4 Leopards Killed by Poachers Each Week in India
Over the past decade slightly under 3000 leopards have been killed in India, with the parts largely being trafficked to Tibet, Myanmar and Laos.
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Climate Week NYC Highlights: Warming, Health, Faith & Cleantech Investment (Video)
If you can't be in New York this week for Climate Week, make sure to check out these videos to stay up to date with the tone of this year's events.
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80% of Tropical Deforestation Caused by Agriculture
A new report finds that agriculture both commercial and subsistence is far and away the leading cause of tropical deforestation.
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Wind Power Passes 100 Gigawatt in EU
It took a decade to install the first 10 gigawatts, but just thirteen years to install the next 90 gigawatts.
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Wyoming Water Was Contaminated by Fracking - USGS Study Confirms EPA Findings
High levels of gas concentration appear to come from fossil fuels and are not naturally occurring.
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French Oil Company CEO Calls Arctic Oil Drilling a Potential "Disaster"
Total's Christophe de Margerie says the risk to his company of Arctic oil drilling is too much to consider. Greenpeace concurs.
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Most Biofuels Better Than Oil For Greenhouse Gases, Worse or Similar Eco-Impact Otherwise: New Study
A new Swiss assessment of the environmental impact of biofuels shows that they are actually worse than oil on a variety of important criteria, such as contributing to ocean dead zones and resource depletion.
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Haiti Bans Plastic Bags & Disposable Foam Products
The big question is how well will it be enforced and what alternatives are currently readily available.
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Climate Change Shifting US Plant Zones, Will Shift Pacific Ecosystems Hundreds of Miles
In the past 20 years, 20% of places in the US have shifted one zone in the USDA plant hardiness map, with one-third shifting half a zone.
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Methane Leaking From Arctic Seafloor Likely Not Caused by Human-Induced Warming
Some leaks of methane hydrates in the Arctic seafloor off Norway may have been leaking for hundreds of years.
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Wildlife Crime Called a Threat to Global Rule of Law in UN Talks
For the first time the UN General Assembly has taken up the global illegal wildlife trade as an issue of rule of law, alongside drug trafficking and similar issues.
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US Navy Looks to Make Jet Fuel From Seawater
The Navy thinks it may be able to get the cost per gallon to the $3-6 range eventually.
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12 Green Questions I'd Ask If I Were Moderating a 2012 Presidential Debate
Some passing questions about green issues may make it into the upcoming presidential debates, but given the seriousness of these issues I'd have a special green debate. This is what I'd start by asking.
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Two-Thirds of All Solar Panels Installed Last Year Were in Europe
China may be making half of all the solar panels in the world, but Europe is installing them, with an additional 18.5 GW installed across the continent last year.
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Fox News & Wall Street Journal Both Grossly Misrepresenting Climate Science: UCS Study
There haven't been many references to climate in either media outlet recently, but when it does come up, both are getting the science badly wrong.
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Shell Sues Greenpeace to Stop More Anti-Oil Drilling Protests
Get this, Shell accuses Greenpeace of putting human lives and the environment at risk.
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Quebec's New Government Looks to Ban Fracking
New natural resources minister Martine Ouellet says she doesn't think fracking can ever be done safely.
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Arctic Oil Drilling Moratorium Needed to Protect Environment: UK Parliament Committee
The race for resources is outpacing both our legal capacity to regulate it and deal with any potentional accidents.
