Mining billionaire’s $18M art sale fuels big-cat conservation, illustrating tension in green giving

In a profile of Tom Kaplan, a mining billionaire and environmental philanthropist, published in Mother Jones, Benji Jones and Sara Herschander explore the tensions inherent in green giving; the very public leveraging of industrial wealth to fund conservation efforts. The recent sale by Kaplan of Rembrandt drawing for nearly $18 million, with proceeds directed to Panthera, the wildlife conservation nonprofit he co-founded, will support global efforts to advance big-cat conservation. Highlighting the broader disconnect, the funding comes even as Kaplan continues to profit from the extractive mining firms Electrum Group and NovaGold Resources.