Orangutans squeezed by biofuel boom

[The2ndWheel]

I like the last part in the article. Alright, like isn't a good word for it. I'm not sure what word would be good, but I do know that it's the industrial globe trekking energy inhaling machine, or life. They cannot co-exist.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20478277/

TUMBANG KULING, Indonesia - Naingolan shunts the excavator into high gear and tears into a patch of smoldering forest on Borneo island, clearing the way for yet another palm oil plantation that Indonesia hopes will tap into a surge in global demand for biofuels.

Despite government claims pristine jungles are escaping the effects of the “green solution” to the energy crunch, the boom is threatening the survival of animals like the endangered orangutan and turning the country into a major global warming contributor, environmentalists say.

The fruits of Naingolan’s labor in one corner of Borneo are plain to see: a wasteland of churned up peat and trees stretching to the horizon with freshly dug-in palm plants dotting every meter. Behind him, smoke from illegal scrub-clearing fires clouds the sky.

[GliderGuider]

1. I heard Birute Galdikas speak about the orang-utans this summer. They are not just being squeezed.

They are being burned alive as the forest is cleared for palm oil plantations.

Some of the adult females have been captured, shaved, dressed up and painted up, and used as prostitutes for humans.

This is some species we belong to, innit?.

[phantom power]

3. There should be a documentary.

I guess that's true of many things.

[HereSince1628]

2. Thanks for posting this.

It goes directly into tomorrows class discussion.