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May 2010

In April of 2010 I flew from Jakarta to Palankaraya in Indonesia.  My goals for this trip were to visit the rain forest and friends in Kalimantan, to learn more about the Indonesian people, and to make photos, color notes and alla prima oil paintings near Palankaraya.  I had also hoped to visit BOS (Borneo Orangutan Survival) in Nyaro Mentang, as pastel orangutan portraits and etchings are one of my areas of specialization. 

From the plane looking down I got my first glimpse of Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo).  What a disappointment.  The first few minutes we flew over a national park where small patches of forest were broken up by palm oil patches.  We then flew about 50 minutes over a palm oil desert.  Then I saw the first oasis:  Sebangau National Park.   A last stand managed and protected by WWF, where about 6000 Orangutans live in the wild.   Then followed the second oasis.  The secondary forest around Palankaraya.  Except for the small corridor of primary forest near to the Malaysian border, these few intact stretches of forest, and a few other areas in Kalimantan, there is not much forest left in Indonesian Borneo.

In many areas where the primary forest had been replaced with secondary forest, palm oil plantations and mining operations are closing in.  When the forest is cleared for mining a forest area approximately twice the size of the mine is destroyed.  The forest cleared is dumped on lovely forest lands next to the mine.  After the strip mining operations are completed re-forestation is supposed to occur.  Unfortunately there is intent by many to reforest with palm oil plantations.   They want CO2 certificates for planting palm oil desert instead of forest.  This is very lucrative for the few, and provides no livelihood for the many.  And it is an ecological disaster.  There is such wealth in these forests, and in the smiles and ways of the Indonesian people.   My hope is that this wealth will be protected and even expanded in the future.  

My dream is that the little remaining primary and secondary forest will be protected, and that more secondary forest will be created  for the orangutan, but also and especially for the benefit of the people of Kalimantan, Indonesia, and the world.  

My initial hope had been to go on from Palankaraya and visit primary rain forest a bit further inland to paint the forest in oil, alla prima.  I did not realize that I would have had to travel very far to do this.  This is because there is so much forest that is gone.  If I had wanted to paint oil palm plants alla prima this would have been no problem.  

I found the secondary forest around Palankaraya very lovely.  There is something special about the place and the people living around Palankaraya.  The first day I travelled around with my friend Nordin from Save our Borneo to Nyaro Mentang, and to the surrounding area.    We climbed Tangkiling Hill nature preserve.  From the top of Tangkiling we viewed a beautiful panorama of the rivers and secondary forest in the area.  Nordin voiced the question, if this panorama would still exist in 10 years.  Or will this secondary forest become a palm oil desert?  My first alla prima oil painting made in Indonesia is entitled Kalalawa Hill.  It shows one of the lovely hills visible from Tangkiling Hill.  I will be completing a studio panorama of the area using this alla prima painting, and color notes and photos made at Tangkiling Hill.






















     KALALAWA HILL  

During that first day in Palankaraya we visited a small Dayak village on stilts at the river`s edge.    There were beautiful small children jumping and swimming in the river.  Their laughter was wonderful.  These Dayaks had a school, televisions in their homes, and mopeds.  Yet they were living very naturally.  I don`t normally paint scenes like this, but the beauty of the place and people made me quickly change my mind.  The second day in Palankaraya I completed this alla prima oil painting entitled “In Harmony with Nature”.   10-20 school children looked over my shoulder as I painted for about three hours.   I think that they painted with me in spirit!  It is my hope that their laughter, questions, and energy can be felt apon viewing the painting.   For me this is a very important painting.  Protecting the primary and secondary forest of Kalimantan is important for the survival of the orangutan and for the lives of the people of Kalimantan.   When we preserve the natural world we also preserve the social integrity of mankind.   When we destroy it we destroy a very precious part of ourselves.

















 IN HARMONY WITH NATURE




Tell me again about the ecological importance of Bio-Diesel?  The political argument is that even though the ecological CO2 balance for Bio-Diesel from Palm oil is terrible, we need to start doing something.  This is ridiculous.   And if the balance was positive, which it is not, none of the palm oil plantations operate sustainably.   Why does the EU still subsidize and support Bio-Diesel?   




June 2008

In March of 2008 I was called to help translate a presentation from Human Rights and environmental activists from Indonesia.  First hand I learned of the extent of the suffering of the native people and the Orang-Utan in Borneo.  The last lowland rainforests there are being destroyed.  The average native of Borneo does not profit from this destruction.  They do not choose this destruction. They are forced to help destroy their country to survive in the short term.  The driving force for this destruction is the increase in the price of palm oil, due to the EU`s bio-diesel energy policy.  This makes rainforest destruction very profitable for large companies.  This results in no economic benefit for the average Indonesian.  The cost of food here in Europe, and in Indonesia is dramatically increasing. Trace-able non-destructive certification of palm oil plantations in Indonesian is not possible.  And the European politicians have made no binding effort to stop this even though we know that it makes no ecological sense.  Neuer AbsatzNeuer Absatz

Nordin and Feri Irawan came to Landau to present their story.  They ask us to stop using palm oil to make fuel.  They appeal to us to use our technology to solve our energy problems.  Otherwise their existance, and the existance of the Orangutan (the man of the forest) is  threatened.   And everyone knows that global warming is made worse by burning and destroying these rainforests.

Over 800 Orangutans have been rescued in Borneo and should be released in rain forest areas.  But these rainforests, present in National Parks, are being destroyed.  If this is allowed there will be no place for them to go.



Landau Zoo.  März 2008.  "Indonesien:  Der Kampf um den letzten Regenwälder. "Herr Direktor Dr. Heckel (Landauer Zoo), (Rettet den Regenwald), Jacklyn Gratzfeld, und den Ehrengästen, Feri Irawan (Director of WAHLI, Friends of the Earth Indonesia)Nordin (General Manager Save our Borneo (SOB)

Orangutan facts:

We share 97% of the same genetic make-up as the Orangutan.

Orangutans are the most intelligent apes.  They see and realize what is happening to them.  The director of the Washington Zoo once said " give a gorilla a screwdriver, and he will run away afraid.  Give a chimp a screwdriver, and he will try to eat it.  Give an Orangutan a screwdriver and he will ignore it.  Then at night he will take it, disassemble his cage, and escape.

Orangutans are peaceful vegetarians.  The mother`s breast feed the babies for 5-6 years.  They teach them to climb and live in the jungle in that time.


                                                    "A Mother`s Love"

                                                "Die Liebe Einer Mutter"

After the rain forest has been burned the mother orangutan climbs up one of the few trees left with her baby clutching her to try to escape.  She has nowhere to go.  She is shot 8-10 times by the loggers.  They make sure they do not shoot the babies because they can sell them.  The mother climbs down the tree to make sure she doesn`t fall on her child and hurt it.  Then she dies and the baby is put into a small cage to be sold as a pet.  The mother`s body is often left in the field because the loggers find the orangutan to human-like to eat their meat.  The young orangutans are totally traumatized.  This is barbaric.


                                       " A Mother`s Undieing Love"

                               " Die Unsterbliche Liebe Einer Mutter"

If you want to help:                                                                    

Falls sie mithelfen möchten, den letzten Regenwäldern Indonesien zu retten, bitte ich Sie zwei Minuten zu nehmen, und ein Flugblatt dazu online zu unterschreiben.  Lassen wir die EU Politiker  dieser Unsinn nicht einfach so weitermachen.

www.regenwald.org/protestaktion.php?promo=1&id=248

Weitere allgemeine Information / Additional Information

Germany                      www.regenwald.org  

                                     www.bos-deutschland.de

USA                            www. orangutan.com

                                     www.savetheorangutan.org

The Netherlands       www.savetheorangutan.org                                                                                     



 





             










 
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