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 9
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Greenpeace Can Continue Protests Against Shell, Dutch Court Rules
Restrictions have been placed on the length of protests, however.
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Electric Cars Only as Green as the Electricity Powering Them, Another Study Says
Electric cars do offer environmental benefits over gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles, but until we green the electricity mix, perhaps not as much as manufacturers claim or consumers believe.
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Texas Farmer Arrested for Trespassing on Her Own Land Protesting Keystone XL
Oh, and Daryl Hannah was also arrested while supporting her...
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Photo of the Day: Playa Guiones, Costa Rica
Hardly a secret anymore, but still off the beaten track a bit, Playa Guiones in Nosara, Costa Rica doesn't disappoint.
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Clean Energy Investment Falls to 2009 Levels
Major policy uncertainty, particularly regarding the US wind power market, has led to sharp declines in the third quarter of 2012.
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Costa Rica to Ban Sport Hunting
Exceptions will be made for subsistence hunting and fishing.
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Super Absorbent Material for Oil Spill Cleanup Demonstrated
A new material can absorb 40 times its weight in oil, and could dramatically decrease environmental impact of oil spills, its developers claim.
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Texas Homeowner Speaks Out About TransCanada Taking Her Land for Keystone XL Pipeline (Video)
Eleanor Fairchild talks about TransCanada taking her land, and beginning tree clearing without promised notice or explanation.
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Plastic Pollution Costs Scotland's Maritime Industry £17 Million Annually
Beachgoers themselves are responsible for 37% of all plastic litter, which now accounts to two-thirds of Scotland's beach and coastal litter.
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FTC Updates Green Marketing Guidelines, Targeting "Broad, Unqualified Claims"
One example: Unless a product will biodegrade "after customary disposal" within one year, manufactureres shouldn't tout that it will break down.
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GMO Crops Leading to Increased Pesticide Use in US
Since their introduction in the mid-1990s genetically modified crops have failed to deliver on promised reductions in rates of herbicide use, with yearly increases in use climbing recently.
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5 Bits of Gandhi's Wisdom for the Green Movement
Mahatma Gandhi would've been 143 years old today. Going beyond his well-known maxims like being the change, here are five of my favorite bits of Gandhian wisdom and how I apply them to environmentalism.
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Activist Locks Himself to the Ground to Stop Keystone XL Pipeline Construction
Alejandro de la Torre, of Tar Sands Blockade, locked himself into a buried concrete capsule for several hours before being removed by local Texas police.
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New York Steps Back From the Fracking Abyss, For Now
The Cuomo administration has restarted the entire review process for fracking in New York State, opening up a new period of public commenting, pusing off a decision on permitting hydraulic fracturing into 2013 at earliest.
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Great Barrier Reef Lost Half Its Coral in Past 27 Years
Though reefs can recover from such damage, there hasn't been enough time between incidents for the Great Barrier Reef to recover.
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Fish Could Become 24% Smaller as Oceans Warm
In warmer, less-oxygenated seas fish may stop growing sooner, reducing the maximum body weight they can attain.
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'Green List' of Non-Endangered, Thriving Species Proposed by IUCN
The idea is to highlight those species which are doing well as part of intact ecosystems, to emphasize that good conservation isn't just about individual species but about communities.
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Will We Vote Our Values or Fears? TreeHugger Interviews Green Party Presidential Hopeful Jill Stein
TreeHugger talks with the Green Party candidate for president, Dr Jill Stein about her Green New Deal, energy, climate, agriculture, and health policy, and more.
