Save the world:Save endangered animals - the orangutans

http://reducefootprints.blogspot.com/
http://annkschin.blogspot.com/2009/09/oil-palm.html

Starting this week, I have been teaching sustainability, palm oil and the orangutan. I grew up in Borneo, and the orangutans are endangered species in Borneo and Indonesian island of Sumatra. Palm oil is labelled as the bad fellow.

When I travel to West Malaysia along the North South Highway, I see acres and acres of palm oil trees. These trees were planted on old rubber estates that were planted with rubber trees a hundred years ago. These palm oil trees do not cause the orangutans to be endangered.

However, when I go to Borneo, and on the plane, I see virgin rainforest replaced by palm oil. This is what Green Peace is objecting about. Clearing virgin primary forest to make way for palm oil plantation. This is where the orangutan's habitat is threatened. I visited an orangutan rehab.

How do we label that the oil is not from the orangutan threatened area? Someone needs to make a distinction. Otherwise everything will be lumped together in the boycott.

Here is an email from Green peace. It is not necessarily my view that all palm oil should be boycotted.

Dear Ann,

We took on Nestlé over its use of palm oil and, with the help of hundreds of thousands of people like you, we won - in eight weeks flat!

Together we demanded Nestlé give the orangutans a break and stop buying palm oil harvested at the expense of Indonesian rainforest for products like Kit-Kat.

And after some initial resistance Nestlé has now released a policy that commits the global chocolate giant to ensuring its products have no deforestation footprint.

It wouldn't have happened without you and the hundreds of thousands of people who supported our campaign. You e-mailed Nestlé, faxed them, called them, and spread the word via Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels.

Starting with the now infamous viral kit kat spoof video on youtube, then on to Nestle's own Facebook page and out through the wider social media sphere - this was most definitely an online campaign powered by the people.

Meanwhile, here in NZ recently we've recorded a record number of submissions opposing the Schedule 4 mining and organised the biggest protest march in a generation - largely through our online networks.

With our combined numbers online we're really starting to get results!

Help us get ready for the next fight by joining us on Facebook and sharing the page with your circle of contacts.

If you're not a Facebook user forward this message to anyone you know who might be interested in helping us fight the good online fight.

Thanks for your support,

- Nick and the team at Greenpeace

Friday Shootout: The Dark side of my town

http://mytownshootout.blogspot.com/

http://mytownmrlinky.blogspot.com/

May 14 - New Moon - The dark side of your town (Black and White option) by NanU

The Dark Side of My Town

When I came up with this theme I was having one of my moods. There's so much sweetness and light in the blogosphere that sometimes I just have enough and want to shout - come on people! NanU example Where's the other side? So tell me: where's the dark side of your town? What would you change about it if you could? Alternatively, what things in your town are simply dark? A shadowed walk under thick trees, a building made of basalt, a black cat... Show us in black & white if you like. For me, any photograph any time can be b&w, but it's not often that it occurs to me to go that route! NanU

This is not my town, but the home region of my birth, Borneo. My take for this week is real darkness, not the spooky darkness. What is darker than caves?

Last year, I went to two well known caves, the Mulu Caves in Borneo and the Waitomo caves in New Zealand. Inside they were very dark, and you need powerful security guard torches to see inside.

Here it is, inside the dark dark Mulu caves. There were a zillion black bats, when they fly out, the whole sky gets darken.

Much to the amusement of foreign tourists, my guide Antoli pointed to the cave opening that Abraham Lincoln resides at the roof top. In deed the profile of Abraham Lincoln looks quite like him, and Antoli says, all the Americans who visit always "click, click away"

What do you think? It was worthwhile spending a few thousand dollars and walking 4 kilometers to see this world heritage despite it's darkness.

Friday Shootout: Country Roads

It was towards the end of Winter when we went, there were some holiday campers at Top Ten camping ground. Camping vans are very popular in New Zealand especially with foereign tourists.

This is a ramp where sheep are herd to a waiting truck. Talk of like sheep to the slaughter house. New Zealand used to have 14 sheep per person, now it is 12. This has dropped, but farmers are still rearing sheep as they are hardy animals. The first Sheep were landed in New Zealand by Captain Cook in 1773. The Sheep population grew to 70.3 million in 1982 but has now declined to 43.1 million due to declining profits compared to other types of farming. There are 36,000 flocks of Sheep with an average flock size of 1400.
http://www.sheepworld.co.nz/SheepFarming.htm

This is a model of a Maori boat, or waka. The original Maoris were thought to come from The Great Fleet which forms part of the Māori canoe tradition. It is handed down orally from generation to generation. According to this tradition, the canoes of the Great Fleet arrived from the mythical homeland of Hawaiiki, known as the ancestral homeland, and generally considered as being somewhere in Eastern Polynesia.
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An old sturdy Gents that has last for a long time, unlike the one in Rangitoto. It is still in operation but I decided my bladder could still hold until I found a modern one. Thirty years ago, a lot of the toilet seats are made of timber. The Kiwis claim that it is the best seats in the house, as they are warm in winter. Some house proud householders even have sheep skin covering the seats. What is better than a sheep skin cover!!!!!

New Zealand is a farming country. We pride ourselves to be clean and green. Our sheep carbon foot print is low.

This is in Huntly, it used to be a coal mining town. In the town centre, they have a replica of how their town was founded. Now it has a hydro station.

Hamilton is a city, but they are not ashamed of their background and the surrounding farms. They have a statue of a farmer's family and Daisy the cow. There are a lot of farm machineries. This is where the last Prime Minister Helen Clarke came from.

The following two, is New Zealand for you, for those who are interested in tracking and getting in touch with nature.
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Finally, we saw two donkeys and a very friendly kid.
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http://mytownshootout.blogspot.com/
http://mytownmrlinky.blogspot.com/
Topic April 9 - Country Roads - by Gordon

Country Roads by John Denver

Whether this is spring or summer in your part of the country it should be a good time for us to drive those country roads in or around our towns. Can’t wait to see your photos.

of course your personal interpretation is important so do whatever makes you happy - if your actual country road is muddy pot holes - photos could be very interesting....
did you listen to the John dever song - there can be emotional interpretations also....
GingerV


This song has a special meaning for me. During my class's 28th reunion in 1999, (first one ever,) in Methodist School, Sibu Sarawak, Borneo, we invited our teachers. One of them, Miss. F who lives in Maryland. She was my guest in Singapore before we went to Borneo.

One of the boys sang,"Take me home." Little did we know, West Virgina was Miss F's home when she was little. We were all in tears when she told us about it.

We were all emotional, because these teachers gave up the comfort of 1st world living in USA, Australia, and UK, to come to the third world to teach us. We knew it was unlikely we would see them again as they were in their late 60s and ex missionary teachers do not have a lot of money, needless to say, to visit Borneo again.

Last year, they had another reunion, only one teacher came from Australia. I didn't attend, as flying from New Zealand cost a lot of dosh, which I don't have.

My photos are not of the reunion, but of a trip to the Waitomo Caves in New Zealand last winter.

Thanks, GingerV.

Deep in the jungles of Borneo:millipedes

I found this millipede in the jungle when we went to Mulu caves. It was basking in the sun.

I am posting this for http://edprescott.blogspot.com/2009/09/macro-monday_20.html. What a difference from his American millipede, which looks like a ferocious monster. My is just a harmless earth worm with legs. I am not sure about this one though, the jungle species.

Indeed, I was told that ours town one is quite harmless. They come out after the rain. The centipede is a different story, they can kill.

Ruth and her hair stylist

This is my niece Ruth. Recently, it was reported on National TV, that a monkey worked as a waiter in Japan.

Here is Ruth having her hair groomed. No wonder she has such beautiful long hair. With such a hair stylist, who will have a bad hair day.

Christmas Party and trains

My Sister Helen and her sons Thomas, Lincoln and Daughter Olivia made these lovely
cup cakes for Thomas' kindy party. Thomas likes the Thomas Train. Thomas trains are a great hit in my family, no matter if they are in Borneo, Singapore, New Zealand or Australia.

In 1986, Karen gave D a set of Thomas books at christmas. There is a steam engine in Glenbrook at Waiuku. I took D for a ride when she was little. Now she ride a fast electric train as a daily commuter. It is called the MRT, Mass Rapid Transit in Singapore.

It is Christmas season and year end for schools. Everyone is celebrating.