I AM HONOURED TO SHARE MY FILMS WITH YOU, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SHARE THEM WITH YOUR FRIENDS 

The films I'd especially draw your attention to are GREEN, LOSING TOMORROW and LIFE IS ONE to help you appreciate the startling reality of what is becoming of the Indonesian rainforest and its wildlife. ALMA shows you the driving forces behind the destruction of the Amazon in Brazil, and THE CATHEDRAL FOREST gives an insight into the threats facing the Congo Basin forest. 

Please share this website with your family and friends. You can also organize screenings of the films at your school, university, workplace or at any non-profit, non-commercial event. The DVDs of GREEN, ALMA and LIFE IS ONE can be purchased for better screening quality. 

There is also a website for the film GREEN, for teachers and students, created by Professor Dan Brockington of Manchester University, UK. 

BE AN EXAMPLE

One way to help protect the rainforest around the world is to consider your own actions that may have an effect in its destruction. To stop taking part in deforestation is, of course, is more easily said then done, but it is something we can all individually strive towards. I don’t like to tell people what they should do or should not do, but I invite you to follow my example if you think it’s right. In order to minimise my impact and not be part of rainforest destruction, here is what I try my best to do to (or not do):

  • I avoid buying tropical hardwood or any wood product sourced from Indonesia, Africa or South America. Sometimes the source of the product is hidden, like the wooden articles “made in China”, but actually made with Indonesian wood. When I do buy wood or wood products, I try to limit myself to those with the FSC label (Forest Stewardship Council), which I believe is the most trust worthy label.
  • I avoid buying books printed in China or SE Asia, the pulp of the paper being most certainly sourced from Indonesia. This is especially true of children books including the ones on the forest and its animals... directly impacting deforestation!
  • I do my best to avoid consuming palm oil and products made with palm oil. This is not an easy thing to do because palm oil is everywhere, but every time I have a choice between something with palm oil or without, I chose the one without.  
  • I avoid bio-diesel made with palm oil or with any other edible product. I feel there’s something fundamentally wrong with putting food in cars.
  • I do my best to avoid eating soy from Brazil, which is not easy because Brazilian soy, like Indonesian palm oil, is exported throughout the world to find itself in many foods and also in animal feed. This means that most meat, farm-fish, eggs, milk and leather goods, all indirectly participate in the destruction of the Amazon and the Indonesian rainforest.
  • I avoid eating meat and fish. I’ve been vegetarian since the age of 17 by respect for life on earth, and I am converting to vegan. Not only is the meat industry particularly cruel, it is one of the main drivers of deforestation and global warming, so that’s another good reason for not eating meat.
  • I try to avoid dairy products. The milk industry is particularly cruel: separating the calf from its mother, sending the baby males to the slaughter house, stuffing the mother with hormones so that she produces more milk, making her have a calf every year, a calf she will never see, until she is so exhausted she can’t produce milk anymore and is finally thanked with a one way ticket to the slaughter house.
  • I avoid leather goods. Goes hand in hand with being vegetarian.
  • I avoid buying electronic stuff which I don’t really need. Things like phones and computers all contain coltan (short for Columbite-tantalite), the extraction of which is having a huge impact on the forest of the Congo Basin.

It is hard to constantly be diligent in ensuring that a good practice is followed, and each person has to make their own decisions and form their own best practice. On a daily basis, I try my best to limit my consumption of all the items in the above list and to minimise my personal general consumption.

Last but not least, I have no chrildren which allows me to have even less of a footprint on the planet, to give all of my fatherly love to sun bear orphans and to dedicate myself fully to environmental and animal protection. 

 

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT DEFORESTATION AND THE LOSSES ENTAILED 

To better understand the impact of industries like logging (sawn timber or plywood), palm oil, pulp and paper, cattle farming, soy, iron, coltan, gold and coal, visit the websites of:

To better understand the wildlife trade and the trade in animal parts, as well as the abuse of wildlife and animal welfare, visit the websites of:

To better understand the plight of indigenous forest dueling people, visit the websites of:

SUPPORT ORGANISATIONS DEDICATED TO CONSERVATION OF RAINFOREST AND ITS WILDLIFE