Mia MacDonald

It may sound like an unusual pairing—protecting endangered species by putting them in the circus—but Ringling has become an actor in this new arena. In 1995, Feld Entertainment, Ringling’s corporate parent (which also owns the Disney on Ice and Siegfried and Roy shows), established the Center for Elephant Conservation (CEC), a $5 million, 200-acre Asian elephant breeding and research facility in Polk City, Florida. Since 1992, when Ringling began a breeding program, 15 elephants have been born, more than anywhere else in North America, including zoos.

In and around the Kiunga National Marine Reserve on Kenya’s northern coast, basic services such as running water, electricity and health care are hard to come by. Post-primary education, especially for girls, is scarce. Pushed by poverty and the decline of marine ecosystems further down the coast, local residents and migrants are intensifying their use of resources. Fish, crustaceans, ocean-dwelling coral and turtles are showing signs of stress.