From the Editors

Evolution

THERE ARE TWO CHANGES of note in this issue. Foremost, we are now called Conservation Magazine. First we were Conservation Biology In Practice, then Conservation In Practice. Both names grew out of a desire to talk about conservation in action as policy makers, researchers, and practitioners plied their craft around the world. That hasn’t changed. In this issue, we profile five forward-thinkers to keep your eye on in the coming year; examine cutting-edge technology for tracking species and monitoring remote coral reefs; and explore the debate over biodiesel, land use, and habitat loss. But “practice” is too narrow a term for the myriad other ways we can look at conservation—a world of ideas and a palette of aesthetic, moral, and scientific values.

Which brings us to the other change in this issue, our new tagline: “Best Minds. Best Writing.” We’re sticking our neck out on this, daring not once, but twice, to use the superlative. But it reflects the magazine’s powerful, overriding goal: to engage the top thinkers and writers of our time in conservation’s evolving narrative. Consider, for example, the wealth of writing expertise in this issue’s feature “Forward Thinkers”—Charles Alexander, a former international editor at Time; Frances Cairncross, former management editor for The Economist; National Public Radio science reporter John Nielsen; and Eric Sorensen, a former science writer for The Seattle Times and one of our senior editors.

There have been tremendous advances in conservation and ecological research, but we still need stories and context to make sense of it all, to bring life to the ideas at the boundaries of the field, to connect science to human experience. It’s why we’re out to describe more than conservation in practice, but conservation itself. It’s why we’re shooting to give you the best minds and the best writing.

Kathryn Kohm, Editor