In yesterday’s (Nov.23rd) Svenska Dagbladet (“The Swedish Daily Paper” in English) there was an extremely interesting and discomforting article discussing the ravaging of the rainforest on the island of Borneo.The island of Borneo is governmentally divided between the countries of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei and is the third largest island in the world. As of today over three quarters of the lowland rainforest, a major source of biodiversity as well as endemic species, have been destroyed through logging, fire and the replacement planting of oil palms.
Mattias Klum, the source behind the aforementioned article and one of the world’s leading nature photographers, has traveled to Borneo a total of 35 times documenting and researching into the destruction of the rainforest. He paints a bleak picture and does not hold any punches titling his article “The Nightmare on Borneo.”
The problem is the ongoing replacement of rainforest by oil palms, trees that provide masses of valuable palm oil, a commodity that can be found in almost anything from shampoo and soap to chocolate, margarine and chips. These trees provide a needed fiscal shot in the arm for the economically challenged economies of Indonesia and Malaysia but also, as Mattias Klum reports, hold massive environmental and ecological consequences.
Klum describes the brutal and devastating way the rainforest is set ablaze, releasing over 1652 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the air for each hectare burnt. Multiply that by an area Klum says is equivalent to the size of Switzerland and you have what he calls “One of the world’s biggest environmental problems.”
In the case of the Borneo rainforest it is, as usual, difficult to simply intervene and say “No…Bad!” The problem is that the people have come to rely on palm oil and forestry and would be jobless and living under extreme poverty if it weren’t for the jobs provided by these industries.
Does the reliance on consumption and the consequential environmental destruction necessitated sound in any way familiar? This is in no way isolated to developing countries. Our dependence on the destruction of the environment has become conventionalized and is engrained in the daily lives of people around the world.
The situation on the island of Borneo eerily mirrors the worries presented to the industrialized nations of the world in the recent so called finance crisis. Jobs will no doubt be lost and people will struggle to keeps their homes and maintain the now cliché status quo we call “quality of life.”
In this crisis has anyone stopped to re-think this seemingly universally accepted truism? Scientists have for years beat around the term “sustainable development” and warned that current levels of consumption are not possible to maintain. In a lot of ways the current financial crisis looks like it might act to force us into more sustainable practices. One almost has to wonder if there is a genius environmental activist pulling the strings.
When it comes to the rainforest in Borneo it is not just factory owners and dubious governments that are to blame. Unsustainable consumption and lack of regulation in developed nations is directly fueling the palm oil industry. Despite laws against destructive de-forestation there is, as of now, no way for consumers or manufacturers to know if the oil they are receiving comes from legal, government approved producers or illegal ones.
It is easy to pinpoint problems such as consumption and lack of regulatory bodies, but in what way can this message be relayed to the public and the people who actually have the power to make change?
Weeks after vast brown clouds of pollution settled themselves over parts of Asia providing visual confirmation of the atmospheric suicide we are committing one has to wonder what it will take to bring about change. Is there anyone capable of prompting the type of change needed to make a difference?
It is easy to reject responsibility while issues remain invisible and theoretical, but when these same things become visible they become for many actualized. We are all doubting Thomases and yes, seeing is still believing. In the same way that these perceptible brown clouds brought international attention back to the urgency for change, the pictures taken by Mattias Klum speak an indescribable story.
If we truly want the public and governments to take climate change and environmental problems seriously we need to make them visible for people and Klum does us all a service in this respect.
Once again here is the link to his report and pictures (in Swedish):
http://www.svd.se/nyheter/utrikes/artikel_2083765.svd
5 comments:
There’s no arguing that the true issue lies in the developed (western) world. We continue to live in what can be considered an outdated style. Unfortunately this is because our important infrastructure was developed in a time where environmental issues were not at the forefront of political policy. I believe that change needs to occur but not in the way that some extreme environmentalists believe. No matter what anyone says we cannot expect a downtown Manhattan lawyer to bike to work every day in order to save the environment. While some may wish to apply their ideals onto the entire western population this type of thinking is misguided and elitist. A far better solution lies in what David Suzuki discussed in his latest documentary aired on CBC. He travelled with his daughter to Europe and took a look at some of the ways they are aiming to conserve energy and produce so called green energy. These measures are truly what needs to be applied to all countries. Changes have to occur through political policy in order to create any real change however they can start small. For example increasing the creation of bike lanes in the downtown core, promoting the use of low-flow toilets, however most important is a need to create a successful public transportation system. By proving a transportation system that can reach out to our ever expanding population (which in fact should be moving more up than out) we can limit our dependence on foreign sources of energy. Through this we not only limit the damage we do to our planet but we can also force developing governments to rethinking their own economy.
Is it really a problem of awareness, of people not having seen enough pictures? Deforestation is such a well publicized problem that "saving the rainforest" is an environmental cliche.
Thank you for writing this and trying to bring attention to the work of Mattias Klum.
Please send a copy with your name attached to Dr. David Suzuki in Canada.
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In response to Simon I would say that you are right in the sense that this is not an issue of public awareness because, as you have pointed out, the destruction of the rainforest is something most of us are aware of, at least at some level.
What I am hinting at is the power of visualization. Of course a few pictures are not going to change everyone's lifestyle, but eventually as the effects of environmental change become more obvious to our eyes, people will be forced to take notice. People need to both be aware and empowered; meaning that they feel they have the power to make a change. What needs to be reversed is the mindset that we cannot cause change as individuals. Of course pictures are always more poingant then words, but you are right, visualizations are not enough on their own. However I believe they play an important role in converting the awareness, which you pointed us out as already having, into a realization that something needs to be done.
In response to VK, I think you hit the nail on the head when you identify public transportation as the key to sustainability. Anyone from Toronto, especially the sprawling suburbs, knows that an ineffective transit system makes the choice to take the car an easy one. Since I came back to Sweden, a place where public transportation is cheaper and easier than maintaining a car, in a period of three months I have been in a car 3 times for a total of about 15 minutes. Compare this to before in Canada where I averaged about 1-2 hours per day in a car and you can see very clearly how far a good transportation system (not just busses but the even more effecient electric trains) can take us.
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