• John Cannon is a staff features writer at Mongabay, where he has reported since 2014.
• Cannon says that what inspires him is the chance to tell stories that connect conservation science with the daily lives of people affected by climate change, deforestation and land dispossession.
• He values curiosity, collaboration and the power of storytelling, and is especially proud of his reporting on carbon credit projects in Borneo and entanglement threats to endangered northern right whales.
• This interview is part of Inside Mongabay, a series that spotlights the people who bring environmental and conservation stories to life across our global newsroom.

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For John Cannon, reporting on nature begins with a story grounded in the truth. “Evidence-based reporting [is] at the heart of what we do at Mongabay,” he says. “I believe it’s perhaps the most profound way we can contribute to making things better.”

With a biology degree from Ohio State University and a graduate degree in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz, Cannon has dedicated himself to this belief, reporting from around the world, including several countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America. He also was a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger.

That background fuels Cannon’s curiosity as a journalist. “I find science’s disentangling of life’s mysteries on Earth incredibly inspiring, especially as we try to find our way out of the crises of climate change and biodiversity loss,” he says. Ultimately, his time is spent “connecting conservation science with the daily lives of people affected by the problems that face us today” as well as “finding ways to illustrate how interconnected we all are.”

Cannon hiking through Dogon country in Mali, 2011. Image courtesy of Anne-Claire Benoit.

Today, based in California with his wife and two cats adopted while living in Gaza, Cannon balances his work at Mongabay with a love of mountain biking, skiing and hiking, including taking on Spain’s Camino de Santiago and the Pacific Crest Trail across the U.S. and Canada.

Cannon began writing for Mongabay as a correspondent in 2014, joined full-time in 2016, and is now a staff features writer. His reporting has also appeared in outlets such as New Scientist, Slate.com, Yale Environment 360, Pacific Standard and Science. He has been a guest on the BBC and NPR’s All Things Considered and Living on Earth, and has published several short stories in literary magazines.

Cannon encourages his fellow journalists to continue putting pen to paper to connect with audiences amid an evolving media landscape. “There is a hunger for great stories, and many people are doing compelling work,” he says. “Don’t be afraid to be one of them.”

In this conversation with Cannon about his career at Mongabay, we explore the stories he’s proudest of, his dedication to evidence-based reporting, and the curiosity that drives his work. This interview is part of Inside Mongabay, a series that spotlights the people who bring environmental and conservation stories to life across our global newsroom.

An interview with John Cannon

Cannon interviewing a local level government representative in Namatanai, Papua New Guinea, 2023. Image courtesy of John Cannon.

Mongabay: What inspired your interest in the work you do for Mongabay?

John Cannon: Doing work that matters. Storytelling that brings the threats that communities and the natural world face to our readers. I also believe in the science- and evidence-based reporting that’s at the heart of what we do at Mongabay, and I believe it’s perhaps the most profound way we can contribute to making things better. Of course, we all care about the environmental challenges we face, and it’s important to bring that passion to the work we do. But I also think that journalists have an opportunity to illuminate the space for common ground, even between widely divergent opinions and viewpoints, and Mongabay continues to provide an excellent forum for that admittedly very difficult task.

Mongabay: What do you most enjoy about your work?

John Cannon: Getting to learn from people (sources and my colleagues) who are passionate about the work they do, the places they live and the causes they care about. I also value the opportunity, day in and day out, to indulge my curiosity about the world. I find science’s disentangling of life’s mysteries on Earth incredibly inspiring, especially as we try to find our way out of the crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, and I hope we can impart a bit of that awe to Mongabay’s audience through our coverage.

Cannon writing with a little help in Niger in 2011. Image courtesy of Anne-Claire Benoit.

Mongabay: How does the beat you work on shape the way you report on environmental issues?

John Cannon: My time is often spent connecting conservation science with the daily lives of people affected by the problems that face us today — climate change, the economic push for minerals, timber and other natural resources, the shifting policies and politics that translate into issues like the destruction of forest or the dispossession of peoples’ land — and all of that drives me to continue to learn more from the people who share their time with me and to find ways to illustrate how interconnected we all are.

Mongabay: What reporting project are you most proud of in terms of the impact it had?

John Cannon: Our coverage of the carbon credit project that sidelined Indigenous people in Sabah. When we first reported on the “natural capital agreement” in Malaysian Borneo in late 2021, it was the first time many Sabahans, Indigenous and not, were learning about it. The agreement, signed in secret by members of Sabah’s state government and representatives of private companies, restricted the rights of Sabahans, especially forest-dependent peoples, in how they use, maintain and protect their forests for at least the next 100 years. It also seemed to set limits on the benefits Sabahans would receive from the deal.

Breaking this news was the result of years of relationships built during several trips to towns, communities and homes all over Sabah and Malaysia, most recently by me, but also by Jeremy Hance and Rhett A. Butler dating back to the early days of Mongabay. The reporting, published at Mongabay between 2021 and 2024, drew from an extensive source network, often behind the scenes and involving sensitive information.

Ultimately, Mongabay’s reporting has shined a light on opaque carbon deals, which are becoming increasingly more common as companies and individuals look to profit from the push for climate change mitigation. Our work supported a strong response from Indigenous community leaders and several Sabah state officials who came out against the project, and the United Nations also carried out its own investigation. Leaders in Sabah now no longer see the carbon deal as a threat to the state’s forests.

Cannon hiking in Georgia along the country’s northern border with Russia, 2018. Image courtesy of Anne-Claire Benoit.

Mongabay: What story stands out to you as especially meaningful to report on?

John Cannon: “Will ‘ropeless’ fishing gear be seaworthy in time to save endangered whales?” was a unique opportunity to weave together the stories of right whales (one of my favorite animals, and definitely a favorite of Becky, senior editor for the ocean desk, who edited this story), on the brink of extinction, and the stories of the hard-working scientists grappling with how to pull them back.

The people involved work in incredibly difficult and dangerous conditions, must piece together disparate findings and bring their intellectual prowess to bear on the plight of these whales, all on a desperately short timeline. The story highlights how one researcher over a career of more than 40 years came to find that entanglement in fishing lines was crippling, starving and killing whales at unprecedented rates, wiping out their previous recovery from overhunting during the whaling era.

The story also incorporates the voices of fishers whose livelihoods depend on using ropes, at least right now, of engineers trying to develop “ropeless” technologies, and of the brave members of rescue teams who take to the sea to cut entangled whales out of these lines at great personal risk.

Mongabay: What are three interesting takeaways from this story?

John Cannon: Fishing lines cause immense suffering to whales, inhibiting their ability to find food, reproduce and care for their young.

I’m still blown away by the juxtaposition of the time it takes for a harpooned whale to die compared to one entangled in fishing lines, as one of the world’s foremost right whale biologists expressed it to me: Harpooning, brutal as it is, leads to death in minutes, while an entangled whale can suffer for months, often before dying of starvation.

Provisions to limit ropes in the water in areas where whales hang out, as well as keep boat speeds low to minimize strikes, which also injure and kill a lot of right whales, may be helping right whale numbers creep upward. But significant increases will likely only result from transformational changes to fishing practices that are hundreds of years old. Many right whale advocates have pinned their hopes on “ropeless” fishing practices, but they’re concerned that the development of the technology and its uptake in the fishing industry won’t be fast enough to save the species.

Cannon inspecting the skull of a beaked whale that had washed ashore in the Maldives, during his time as a science intern on the R/V Odyssey in 2003. Image courtesy of Genevieve Johnson.

Mongabay: Do you have a behind-the-scenes moment that stands out from working on this story?

John Cannon: Two things: Shortly after graduating college, I did a short internship at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution that had me often working in a lab next to the office of Michael Moore, the key scientific source for the story on right whales.

I didn’t work directly with him in the lab, but I had a front-row seat back then as he discussed his work with other scientists and journalists in his office and on the phone, and I even joined a crew that helped him necropsy a humpback whale that had washed ashore on Cape Cod.

Second, I read a condensed version of the piece on right whales at an Orion writers’ conference organized in 2023. It got a really positive and emotional response from the audience, including from poet Elizabeth Bradfield, known for her incisive nature poetry and love of whales.

Cannon traveling in Mali in 2011. Image courtesy of Anne-Claire Benoit.

Mongabay: What advice would you give to someone following your footsteps?

John Cannon: Write like a … well, see Cheryl Strayed for the full aphorism. Bottom line: Write. Journalism isn’t dead or dying; it’s changing. Storytelling may not look exactly like it did 30 years ago, and it’s constantly evolving. But there is a hunger for great stories, and many people are doing compelling work. Don’t be afraid to be one of them.

Banner image: John Cannon hiking in a snowfield in the mountains of Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks in 2024. Image courtesy of Anne-Claire Benoit.