Indonesian Orangutan Habitat Wiped Out for Airport & Brothel

As if orangutans didn’t already have it hard enough in Indonesia, where their very existence is being threatened by palm oil production, now they’re losing land in a national park to commercial developments – including a brothel.

That’s right, this endangered species is being pushed out of one of the few remaining homes it has so that Indonesian men can contract STDs from strange women. Hurray for the onward march of human progress!

From Yahoo News (AFP):

Almost 600 of the long-haired apes have disappeared from Kutai National Park, East Kalimantan province, over the past seven years of unchecked construction, the Centre for Orangutan Protection (COP) said in a statement.

“The number of orangutans in the area, which was 600 individuals in 2004, has fallen to only 30 to 60 individuals at present,” Hardi Baktiantoro from the Centre for Orangutan Protection (COP) told AFP.

“The Kutai National Park has been changing into a city, complete with an airport, gas stations, marketplace… a bus terminal and prostitution complex,” COP habitat campaign manager Yon Thayrun said in a press release.

The root of the problem, according to Thayrun, is that officials are giving away land spaces to people to win their votes in the local administration elections. What it comes down to, as usual, are two of mankind’s biggest weaknesses: greed and the desire for power.

The more I hear about things like this, the more I believe that the world would be far better off without us.

Link [Yahoo News]
Photo credit: MoonBattery.com

Photos of the Mud Volcano in East Java, Indonesia

Last week, we told you about the mud volcano that has destroyed a huge section of East Java, Indonesia as it bubbles forth an astonishing 100,000 cubic meters per day. The mud volcano, caused by oil drilling, has displaced tens of thousands of people and caused millions of dollars in damage. These amazing photos, taken by Reuters photographer Sigit Pamungkas, depict the wasteland that the affected area has become and attempts by villagers to salvage materials left behind in the wreckage.

From Boston.com:

Link [Boston.com]

The Citarum – Dirtiest River in the World?

What happens when nine million people throw their trash in a river, and corporations use it to dump hazardous waste? It becomes like the Citarum in West Java, Indonesia – choked with plastic, loaded with chemicals and human waste. A generation ago, the Citarum River was a peaceful waterway where wildlife enjoyed the clean, fresh water and villagers caught fish and made a living off the rice paddies.

The villagers can’t make money off of fishing anymore, so they’ve turned to picking through the trash that floats on the surface to find items that can be sold or traded. Rapid industrialization in the ‘80s is what led to this: more than 500 factories line the banks of the 200-mile river, many of them leaking textile treatment chemicals into the water. The trash that floats on top is the result of the lack of a trash pickup service in the area. All of the houses, factories, and other buildings along the river pour human waste into it for lack of anyplace else to put it.

Many people who live in the area still collect the water to drink, cook with and wash their clothes – they don’t have much choice, as it’s the only nearby source of water.

It’s unknown whether the Citarum really is the most polluted river in the world, since no study has ever been done to conclude such a thing. There are many other rivers that are also incredibly polluted, and many of them are located in Asia. Part of the problem is that wealthy countries like America pay poor Asian countries to take huge barges of our trash to dispose of. Electronics make up the bulk of it, and as today’s equipment becomes obsolete and we purchase tomorrow’s to replace it. Many of the world’s rivers may see fates similar to that of the Citarum River if we don’t begin a major overhaul of our sanitation systems, and help other countries with their waste management as much as we can.

Link [Environmental Graffiti] + [The Daily Mail]