Many people, including me, did not know that Monday, March 21st was the International Day of Forests. How precious forests are and yet, we don’t often realize their importance. “When we drink a glass of water, write in a notebook, take medicine for a fever or build a house, we do not always make the connection with forests. And yet, these and many other aspects of our lives are linked to forests in one way or another”. Sadly, we lose a football field size of forest every second, and yet planting trees and preserving biodiversity are one of the best ways to solve climate change. Many non-profit organizations and companies such as Terraformation are working to reforest the planet, please join me and them, before time runs out. Thank you.
Please watch this video and see what you can save. Simply by looking at a product label and choosing not to buy snack foods (cookies, chips, peanut butter, etc.) or beauty products made with palm oil, you can help save orangutans and many other precious forest creatures. Thank you!
Photograph by Mattias Klum, National Geographic Creative
I just read something I did not wish to see. “The Guardian” headline said Bornean orangutans are now critically endangered because of shrinking forests. Trust me, as an animal lover and environmentalist, I did not want to see that headline. I would have preferred to read something like forests are growing and orangutan populations are increasing.
Because of habitat loss, illegal hunting and forest degradation we are going to see an 86% decline in the orangutan population between 1973 and 2025. You are all intelligent readers, but let me put it starkly, that means if you have 100 orangutans only 14 would be left! The other reality worth noting is that orangutans only reproduce every six to eight years. So that means it is inherently much harder for orangutan populations to rebound.
So what can I say to make any of this sound more uplifting and less depressing? Point one, Bornean orangutans are very adaptable and can survive in a degraded forest. Point two, we can take actions to ensure that the current number of Bornean orangutans, which stands at 41,000, increases. Please check the label and read ingredients for the foods you eat. If palm oil is listed Don’t Buy It. I repeat, don’t buy it. Palm oil is one of the top reasons forests are being destroyed and depleted. Point three, your actions make a difference. Thank you.
I just read about the fierce fires burning all across Indonesia and how they are affecting orangutans, leopards, tigers, sun bears, gibbons, and human children. These precious species are in peril, as are one-third of the world’s orangutans at risk from fires and sprawling, heavy smoke in Sumatra and Borneo. As many of you know, orangutans are in danger of becoming extinct, and their numbers are fewer than 70,000. Fires have been raging for months, burning precious forest where these animals live. Many people are struggling to put out the fires and save the land. Sadly, the fires are not easy to extinguish because they linger underground in the peat. As soon as the fires are put out they appear, almost as if by magic, in another location. Hopes were pinned on the start of the rainy season at the end of October which was expected to completely eradicate the fires. Unfortunately, NASA and other climate watchers announced the rains will not come until some point between January and March of 2016.
Orangutan organizations and rescue groups need your help. They require hoses, buckets, protective gear, and heavy machinery so they can increase their fire-fighting efforts. If the forests go up in flames there will be nowhere for the animals to go. Already, so many have died from smoke inhalation. Orangutans, leopards and tigers need forests to survive. People need forests to survive. Please be as generous as you can, and support a non-profit organization such as Orangutan Foundation International or International Animal Rescue. The animals, and humans need us now. Please join me. Thank you.
