Thank you for this wonderful article. You've managed to capture so many disparate elements of the palm oil equation.
Palm oil has quietly become ubiquitous in our daily lives in North America— yet most people know nothing of its horrific origins. Instead, they read the word 'palm' and think lovely thoughts of Miami, Maui and Los Angeles. They think 'healthy'. They think 'green'.
The reality of what is going on in Borneo and Sumatra is profound. The forest decimation and species extinction is difficult to comprehend without seeing it firsthand. Flying over Borneo today, one sees nothing but oil palm plantations where only five years ago dense tropical forest covered the land.
And what of the poor creatures that once inhabited the missing forest? You've done a fine job describing how the pygmy elephants are coping with the new reality. Allow me to briefly describe the situation facing the orangutans.
Orangutans are literally being wiped out— slaughtered at such an alarming rate that they may not survive in the wild for even a decade. As the palm plantations move deeper into old growth forest, these gentle red apes simply have nowhere left to go. So what happens to them? Adults are killed on sight— beaten, burned, shot, tortured and often eaten by local poachers and palm oil plantation workers. Their babies suffer an altogether different fate. They are captured alive— often torn off their mother's backs— and sold for a few pieces of silver on the black market, where, if they survive, they end up as illegal pets, or at tourist attractions... casualties of a very cruel world.
A few of the lucky ones make it to rehabilitation centers such as Nyaru Menteng, operated by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation and managed by Lone Droscher Nielsen. This Center is now home to around 650 orphaned orangutans — and the number is only increasing. ALL BECAUSE OF PALM OIL...
I invite you and your readers to learn more about the plight of wild orangutans at the Orangutan Outreach website: http://redapes.org
Thanks again for a great article...
Richard Zimmerman
Director, Orangutan Outreach
http://redapes.org
Reach out and save the orangutans
Orangutan Outreach is a 501(c)(3) charity.
Thank you for shining a halogen lamp on a critically endangered and ecologically priceless area. The rapidity of the devastation is mind-numbing. Any suggestions on what a reader can do? Somehow, me refusing a packet of creamer isn't enough. What else shouldn't I be eating? How on earth can we stop this monumental wreckage in the maw of such titanic demand?
