Butterfly in Sumatra’s Gunung Leuser National Park
Picture: Blue-eyed butterfly
April 5th, 2012Picture: rainforest on Peucang Island, off West Java, Indonesia
April 2nd, 2012
Rainforest tree on Peucang Island. More pictures of Peucang Island.
Picture: tropical beach in Indonesia
March 28th, 2012
The beach on Peucang Island, Java. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.
Astroturf campaign by the Consumer Alliance for Global Prosperity suffers defeat
December 23rd, 2011
A campaign by the Consumer Alliance for Global Prosperity, a group that campaigns on behalf of Asia Pulp and Paper’s interests in the United States, failed to stop Kroger from banning APP’s paper products from its stores.
Kroger, America’s largest grocery store, on Thursday said it would no longer sell Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) products due to concerns over deforestation. The move came after Greenpeace targeted Kroger, which is believed to be the biggest U.S. seller of Paseo, APP’s toilet paper brand. Greenpeace and other environmental groups including WWF, Greenomics-Indonesia, and the Rainforest Action Network have shown that APP continues to clear rainforests and peatlands in Indonesia for fiber plantations.
The Consumer Alliance for Global Prosperity launched the PulpWars web site after Greenpeace stepped up its APP campaign last year. Its first report was modeled after a Greenpeace report, “How Sinar Mas is Pulping the Planet”, using a nearly identical layout and color scheme. Earlier this year it launched DarkWars, an anti-Greenpeace web site. Meanwhile the Facebook page run by the Consumer Alliance for Global Prosperity at times hosts comments calling for violence — including murder — against Greenpeace members.
While the Consumer Alliance for Global Prosperity has refused to reveal its financial backers, at one point APP said it “supported” the group. Later APP backtracked and said it meant it supported the group philosophically.
This fall the Consumer Alliance for Global Prosperity launched a campaign calling for some of America’s largest companies to ignore Greenpeace and continue buying APP products. The Consumer Alliance for Global Prosperity claimed the petition campaign generated 120,000 emails, but that apparently wasn’t enough to influence Kroger.
The Consumer Alliance for Global Prosperity has, on occasion, attempted to portray itself as an anti-poverty organization, yet it ignores research showing the mixed economic benefits of Indonesia’s pulp and paper industry for the rural poor. More about the economics of the pulp and paper industry in Indonesia can be found Does chopping down rainforests for pulp and paper help alleviate poverty in Indonesia?, Palm oil, paper drive large-scale destruction of Indonesia’s forests, but account for diminishing role in economy, says report, and Paper commitments for the Indonesian industry.
Girl Scouts fighting palm oil receive wider media coverage (video)
May 24th, 2011After five years of campaigning, two Girl Scouts fighting palm oil in Girl Scout cookies are receiving wider media coverage this week after meeting with heads of Girl Scouts of the US. The organization has now agreed to research different options, such as sustainably-grown palm oil or using another ingredient, reports the Wall Street Journal. Above, the Girl Scout activists are interviewed on the CBS Early Show.
For more information:
(05/04/2011) Girls Scouts USA has censored its Facebook page after receiving comments criticizing the organization, according to Rainforest Action Network (RAN). RAN along with Change.org and two Girl Scout activists, Rhiannon Tomtishen and Madison Vorva, declared today a social media day of activism against the Girl Scouts for using palm oil in their popular cookies. The oil has been linked to rainforest destruction in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Avon commits to greener palm oil
(04/15/2011) The beauty products giant Avon will purchase enough GreenPalm certificates to meet 100 percent of its palm oil use.
KFC dumps palm oil due to health, environmental concerns
(04/08/2011) KFC Corporation, the fast food giant, will stop using palm oil in its deep friers, reports The Independent.
Pictures: Primary forests included, secondary forests excluded in Indonesia’s moratorium
May 21st, 2011This week Indonesia officially signed a moratorium on the granting of new logging and plantation permits in primary forests and peatlands. Secondary forests are excluded from the measure.
In recognition of the moratorium, below is a selection of photos from Indonesian rainforests. All photos have been taken by Rhett Butler since 2009.
Strangler fig in North Sulawesi
Giant Dipterocarp in North Sumatra
Rainforest in West Papua (formerly Irian Jaya), in Indonesian New Guinea
Borneo rainforest
North Sumatra
Strangler fig in North Sulawesi
Rainforest in West Kalimantan on the island of Borneo
Rainforest canopy seen from the base of a compass tree, Sumatra
Rain forest along the Bohorok River, Sumatra
Gunung Leuser rain forest, Sumatra
Rainforest in West Kalimantan, Borneo
Rainforest in West Kalimantan, Borneo
Rainforest in Indonesian Borneo
Arfak cloud forest
Rainforest in Indonesian Borneo
Indonesian Borneo
North Sulawesi
West Kalimantan, Borneo
West Kalimantan, Borneo
West Kalimantan, Borneo
Indonesian Borneo
Indonesian Borneo
Sumatra rain forest
River valley in the Arfak mountains, West Papua
West Kalimantan, Borneo
Indonesian Borneo
Wild Geranium in Indonesian Borneo
Cloud forest in New Guinea
Rainforest creek in Taman Hutan Raya, South Kalimantan, Borneo
Tangkoko, North Sulawesi
Rainforest in West Kalimantan
Rainforest in Indonesian Borneo
Triangular buttress roots in Indonesian Borneo
Giant rain forest tree with a warning on the trunk, West Kalimantan
Note: Nearly all the forests pictured above can be classified as “secondary forests” and therefore subject to logging under the moratorium
Pictures of baby animals with their mothers for Mother’s Day
May 8th, 2011
Mother tarsier and baby on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.
Mother and baby orangutan in tree in Sumatra. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.
Mother Panamanian golden frog with green baby. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.
Southern Tree Hyrax with baby in Kenya. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.
Baby crowned lemur clinging to its mother in Madagascar. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.
Mother Agouti (Dasyprocta punctata) with babies in Belize. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.
Mother lion sleeping with cubs in Kenya. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.
Mother and baby Matschie’s Tree-kangaroos (Dendrolagus matschiei). Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.
Mother ringtail lemur with baby on stomach. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.
Mother capybara with baby in Brazil. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.
African elephant (Loxodonta africana) mom and juvenile drinking in the Chobe River . Photo by: Tiffany Roufs.
And people too! Smiling mothers with babies on their backs in the Sacred Valley near Ollantaytambo outside of Cuzco, Peru. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.
Photos: up close and personal with Sumatran elephants
May 1st, 2011
Baby Sumatran elephant on the run.
Photos of Sumatran elephants at Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park on the island of Sumatra. These Sumatran elephants are patrol elephants; they’ve been recently domesticated and are used to reduce human-wildlife conflict. All photos by Rhett A. Butler.
Meeting of the minds.
Sumatran elephant with mahout.
Trunk tricks.
Traveling.
Big male.
Fountain.
Modern world.
To see more photos of Sumatran elephants: Sumatran Elephants
To see why elephants are vital to the forests they inhabit:
Elephants: the gardeners of Asia’s and Africa’s forests
(04/25/2011) It seems difficult to imagine elephants delicately tending a garden, but these pachyderms may well be the world’s weightiest horticulturalist. Elephants both in Asia and Africa eat abundant amounts of fruit when available; seeds pass through their guts, and after expelled—sometimes tens of miles down the trail—sprouts a new plant if conditions are right. This process is known by ecologists as ‘seed dispersal’, and scientists have long studied the ‘gardening’ capacities of monkeys, birds, bats, and rodents. Recently, however, researchers have begun to document the seed dispersal capacity of the world’s largest land animal, the elephant, proving that this species may be among the world’s most important tropical gardeners.
Photos: illegal logging in Borneo
March 30th, 2011
No pictures please: Illegal logger harvesting timber. On a recent trip to Borneo, Rhett Butler caught photographic evidence of illegal logging in Gunung Palung National Park. Shots taken from a recent visit to Gunung Palung National Park in Kalimantan. Photos by Rhett A. Butler, 2011.
Illegally logged wood.
Rainforest tree chopped down.
Illegally logged timber in a pickup truck.
Illegally logged wood.
Photos: Bornean gliding leopard tree frog
March 29th, 2011
The Bornean gliding leopard tree frog (Rhacophorus pardalis). Shots taken from a recent visit to Gunung Palung National Park in Kalimantan. Photos by Rhett A. Butler, 2011.
