Patrick Greenfield

About Patrick Greenfield

Patrick Greenfield is a biodiversity and environment writer for the Guardian and the Observer.

17 Articles

Huge declines in wildlife have left one in eight bird species, like wild canaries, threatened. Photo by JanetandPhil / Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

What is COP15 and why does it matter for all life on the planet?

Once-in-a-decade plans to protect the natural world and halt its destruction will be decided in Montreal in December.

Race to a Safer World

Explainer | October 25th 2022

Lions are listed as vulnerable on the IUCN red list, with perhaps as few as 23,000 left in the wild. Photo by Zdeněk Macháček / Unsplash

Across the globe, nature loss is reaching catastrophic levels

The huge scale of human-driven loss of species demands urgent action, say the world’s leading scientists.

Race to a Safer World

News | October 14th 2022

Photo by dsg-photo.com/ Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

What really happened at Geneva’s critical biodiversity negotiations?

Talks ahead of the key COP15 summit on halting mass extinction of life were slow — and much has been asked of the developing world.

Race to a Safer World

News | April 6th 2022

Deforestation near Lieki, Democratic Republic of Congo. Cattle farming, palm oil, soy, cocoa, rubber and coffee are all leading causes of tropical forest loss. Photo by Axel Fassio-CIFOR/Flickr

Deforestation emissions far higher than previously thought

Carbon emissions from the felling of tropical forest doubled in just two decades and are accelerating, new research says.

Race to a Safer World

News | March 4th 2022

Grey Squirrel. Photo by Wildlife Terry/Flickr

Invasive species: If you can’t beat them, eat them?

Rack of squirrel, anyone? The chefs putting invasive species on the menu.

State Of The Animal

News | March 1st 2022

Fish love songs and fighting talk: Underwater sound library to reveal language of the deep

Scientists plan a vast global store of aquatic noises to help monitor marine life, identify species — and even uncover regional dialects.

State Of The Animal

News | February 25th 2022

Casey Harrell, photographed at home in Oakland, California. Photo by Carolyn Fong

Waging a climate war on Wall Street

Casey Harrell, the 43-year-old co-founder of BlackRock’s Big Problem, knows he may not have long to live thanks to the neurodegenerative disease ALS. But that won’t stop him from holding the U.S.’s biggest investors to account.

Race to a Safer World

News | November 22nd 2021

Fires, deforestation and global heating turn 10 UNESCO forests into carbon sources

World heritage sites in Canada, the U.S., Australia, and Russia are among those that have emitted more carbon than they absorbed since 2001.

Race to a Safer World

News | October 29th 2021

Vanilla and avocados among dozens of wild crop relatives on brink of extinction

Study finds the climate crisis, agriculture and pesticide use threaten relatives of the world’s most important crops, considered crucial to food security.

Race to a Safer World

News | September 10th 2021

Nakuru, Kenya. Photo by (getinspo.co) Bibhash / Unsplash

Major UN biodiversity summit postponed for third time due to COVID-19

COP15 negotiations to set this decade’s targets on nature to be split into two, with face-to-face meetings delayed until 2022.

Race to a Safer World

News | August 20th 2021