Our Family; Our Orangutan
You may or may not be aware of this.
Recently our family, your relative, my friend, the Bornean Orangutan has been classified as 'critically endangered'.
This is the final stage for any species before extinction on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List.
Now why might this be?
Everyone knows about the orangutan, unlike many of the other lesser-known species on the Red List such as the Indri or the North Brown Howler. They are a popular species too; if one is walking round zoos or researching wildlife examples for kids to learn, they are bound to stumble upon the Orangutan a numerous amount of times.
So what has gone wrong?
Well it all boils down to their habitat. As many budding biologists will know, Orangutans live within the rain-forest. As well as this, commonly lurking around the rain-forests in Borneo are Mahogany tree fellers, palm oil exploiters dirty businesses all round, and, as you can guess, they do not share the rain-forest equally.
They obliterate the seemingly endless expanse of trees and slowly but surely reduce the space for life to live in. In nature, creatures can't just squash together and 'make do'. Evolution does occur but not at a rate fast enough to defeat their extinction so slowly and surely, one by one, their niche shrinks and their numbers fall down and down until there get to a critical level and it is only here at this moment that people start to question what is going on and whether or not the way they live or the actions we take are right and just. Right before it is too late they are noticed but it is only once they have disappeared does anyone really understand and want to change as it takes a long time for our brains to evolve to the situation.
It happens every day. Right now, beneath our noses.
Alan Knight, head of the International Animal Rescue charity group estimated how long it would be until the entire Orangutan species become extinct; “I would probably say 10 years if we cannot stop the destruction.”
10 years. I am 16. I have only lived 10 years one time around and that went fast. It won't be long until I'm 25 and 76% of all the Bornean forest will be converted into plantations, as estimated by the IUCN. It is predicted that this Orangutan will be lost by 2026.
You may think 'so what' it's just an animal. Well if you want to know, this is a sure fire sign that the rain-forests are going, along with the trees that provide us with our breath, the molecules we use in medicines and jobs for the silenced locals.
So many of you may be wondering what contains palm oil.
I guess that many of you would say food first - as did I - and you would be correct as it's commonly used in foodstuffs like ice cream and crisps as it's stable and lasts a long time. I also discovered that it's so cheap (thus frequently used as an alternative to other oil substances) due to it's high-yield.
However, I realised there are also a number of other substances to look out for that derive from palm oil:
sodium laureth sulfate - used in shampoos and soaps to help them foam
palmitic acid - in food for flavouring and anticaking properties
stearic acid - in soaps and candles as a thickener
Of course, it is difficult to remove all products from our modern lives that contain palm oil, many people do understand this, so instead, we can buy products with a Sustainable Palm Oil label or notice.
Here is also a link where all members of GreenPalm are noted
It will be OK. We can survive without the odd cheap cake every now and then!
So. It may not be perfect, but we can prolong the life of these impressive creatures. In fact we already are. Currently, Greenpeace is fighting strong and hard against the destruction by a particular company IOI. Click the link here to sign the petition to get ourselves heard and stop their recklessness!
H _ M
:)
Bibliography:
http://qz.com/763732/borneo-orangutan-extinction-palm-oil/
Recently our family, your relative, my friend, the Bornean Orangutan has been classified as 'critically endangered'.
 |
| The critically endangered Indri |
This is the final stage for any species before extinction on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List.
Now why might this be?
Everyone knows about the orangutan, unlike many of the other lesser-known species on the Red List such as the Indri or the North Brown Howler. They are a popular species too; if one is walking round zoos or researching wildlife examples for kids to learn, they are bound to stumble upon the Orangutan a numerous amount of times.
So what has gone wrong?
Well it all boils down to their habitat. As many budding biologists will know, Orangutans live within the rain-forest. As well as this, commonly lurking around the rain-forests in Borneo are Mahogany tree fellers, palm oil exploiters dirty businesses all round, and, as you can guess, they do not share the rain-forest equally.
They obliterate the seemingly endless expanse of trees and slowly but surely reduce the space for life to live in. In nature, creatures can't just squash together and 'make do'. Evolution does occur but not at a rate fast enough to defeat their extinction so slowly and surely, one by one, their niche shrinks and their numbers fall down and down until there get to a critical level and it is only here at this moment that people start to question what is going on and whether or not the way they live or the actions we take are right and just. Right before it is too late they are noticed but it is only once they have disappeared does anyone really understand and want to change as it takes a long time for our brains to evolve to the situation.
It happens every day. Right now, beneath our noses.
Alan Knight, head of the International Animal Rescue charity group estimated how long it would be until the entire Orangutan species become extinct; “I would probably say 10 years if we cannot stop the destruction.”
10 years. I am 16. I have only lived 10 years one time around and that went fast. It won't be long until I'm 25 and 76% of all the Bornean forest will be converted into plantations, as estimated by the IUCN. It is predicted that this Orangutan will be lost by 2026.
 |
| One of the sustainable palm oil labels to look out for |
So many of you may be wondering what contains palm oil.
I guess that many of you would say food first - as did I - and you would be correct as it's commonly used in foodstuffs like ice cream and crisps as it's stable and lasts a long time. I also discovered that it's so cheap (thus frequently used as an alternative to other oil substances) due to it's high-yield.
However, I realised there are also a number of other substances to look out for that derive from palm oil:
sodium laureth sulfate - used in shampoos and soaps to help them foam
palmitic acid - in food for flavouring and anticaking properties
stearic acid - in soaps and candles as a thickener
Of course, it is difficult to remove all products from our modern lives that contain palm oil, many people do understand this, so instead, we can buy products with a Sustainable Palm Oil label or notice.
Here is also a link where all members of GreenPalm are noted
It will be OK. We can survive without the odd cheap cake every now and then!
 |
| One of the sustainable palm oil labels to look out for |
So. It may not be perfect, but we can prolong the life of these impressive creatures. In fact we already are. Currently, Greenpeace is fighting strong and hard against the destruction by a particular company IOI. Click the link here to sign the petition to get ourselves heard and stop their recklessness!
H _ M
:)
Bibliography:
http://qz.com/763732/borneo-orangutan-extinction-palm-oil/
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