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 12
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Tar Sands Development Already Bumping Into Air Pollution Limits for Sulphur and Nitrogen Dioxide
Sulphur dioxide is already 20x natural occurring levels, with nitrogen dioxide pollution being 10x what it'd be without tar sands mines.
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Chevron Failed to Properly Inspect Pipe That Ruptured, Causing Massive Calif. Fire
Chevron violated its own internal procedures in not replacing section of pipe that lost 80% of its wall thickness.
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Organic Factory Farm Dairy Pays $7.5 Million Settlement for Misleading Consumers
Consumers were angered after the image they had about Aurora's organic operation was much different than the reality.
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Virgin Births Observed in Wild Snakes for First Time
What's perhaps even more amazing is that 2.5-5% of the snakes studied gave birth without male involvement.
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UN Clean Development Mechanism in "Dire Need of Rescue"
Collapsing carbon credit prices mean fewer projects are financially viable. And then there are those projects which don't actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions at all.
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Transocean Talking Settlement with US, as BP Sells Oil Fields Fearing Fines over Gulf Spill
The details of the plea agreement between Transocean and the US Justice Department are not final, but it looks as though the Swiss company will be shelling out $1.5 billion for its role in the Gulf oil spill.
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California Fracking Set to Expand with New Federal Auction
Nearly 18,000 acres in the Monterey Shale is coming up for auction, with companies hoping to frack for shale oil.
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Wind Power Alone Could Easily Meet All Humanity's Electricity Needs, and Then Some
There's the geophysical potential to generate over 20-100 times more electricity than we currently use, just from wind power.
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Feed-In Tariffs Less Expensive for Consumers Than Wind Power Quotas
More evidence that feed-in tariffs are more effective, less expensive, and more efficient than other methods of promoting renewable energy.
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US On Track to Install 3 GW of Solar PV in 2012
Growth in utility-scale installations, supported in part by federal loan guarantees, means that the US market grew 45% in Q2 instead of declining.
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Just 8% of Caribbean Reefs Now Have Living Coral
The massive decline over the past four decades is blamed on overfishing, pollution, and climate change.
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Sharks Learn New Skills From Other More Successful Sharks
For the first time in cartilagenous fish social learning has been demonstrated.
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Obama, Romney, or Stein: Who Has the Greenest Energy Policy?
Hint: One's dark green, one greenish with some brown spots, and one a solid dark brown.
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Fracking Poses "High-Risk" to Human Health & Environment, EU Study Finds
The combined negative effects of hydraulic fracturing mean it's worse than other fossil fuels, the report finds.
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Destroying Coastal Habitats May Release 10 Times More Greenhouse Gas Emissions Than Thought
There's an under-abundance of data available on the carbon emissions from coastal ecosystem destruction, but we do know that by area they store more carbon than rainforests. New research tries to set some boundaries around how bad the situation made be.
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Climate Science Basics: Why Will Dry Areas Get Drier & Wet Areas Get Wetter (Video)
This short video from NOAA explains the atmospheric science behind why sub-tropical regions are likely to get even drier because of global warming, while sub-polar and equatorial regions will see more precipitation. Get schooled.
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All 2012's Extreme Weather & Climate Events in One Interactive Timeline
Want to check out all the extreme weather events of 2012 in one place? Start with this timeline from the World Resources Institute.
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US Open Rallies Green Efforts: Increasing Recycling, Public Transportation & Local Food Use
The US Open is now in its fifth year of greening the two week tennis tournament, making some serious progress on a number of worthwhile eco-efforts.
