Great Ape Diaries

Posted by admin on Jun 24, 2014

Diary #115 – Is The Clock Ticking Down On Saving Kinabatangan?

Portland, OR - A posting this morning on the website Mongabay.com hit a bit closer to home. The story highlighted the ongoing decline of the Kinabatangan River ecosystem, one of the most biodiverse in Borneo, in one of the most biodiverse places on Earth. Like much of the biodiversity loss on Borneo—three countries share the world’s third largest island: Indonesia (Kalimantan), Malaysia (Sabah and...

Posted by admin on Jun 9, 2014

Diary #111 – Reflection In A Very Old Mirror

Portland, OR - The mirror has been broken for longer than we realize. Credit: quote from primatologist Frans de Waal’s Atheist and the Bonobo, pg 107 .

Posted by admin on May 20, 2014

Diary #110 – Dear DR Congo: You Get A Billion When You Quit Stealing A Billion

Portland, OR - I spewed my Earl Grey tea this morning when I read the below headline in the Financial Times. The FT article this morning quoted the Democratic Republic of Congo environment minister, Bavon N’sa Mputu Elima saying, “We have more forests than Indonesia and they got $1bn,” referring to the one billion U.S. dollars the Norwegians pledged to the Indonesian government as part of a hoped...

Posted by admin on May 7, 2014

Diary #107 – Climate Chaos in the Present Tense

Portland, OR - Yesterday the Obama Administration released its “National Climate Assessment” with a well planned grand boucle by the President of the morning talk shows. Generally, every year or two, one of these assessments is released and after a few minutes of dire predictions and Republican denials everyone heads back to their day jobs and leaves the issue of climate chaos to a few...

Posted by admin on May 5, 2014

Diary #108 – ‘Our world is at a turning point’

Portland, OR - So “Our world is at a turning point” where are the world leaders, what aren’t they in attendance? Those are the opening words from Dr. Peter Holmgren, Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) at the opening of the Forests Asia Summit today in Jakarta. Dr. Holmgren went on to say, “The next 18 months represent a...

Posted by admin on Apr 17, 2014

Diary #104 – Palm Oil, Orangutans and You – What’s The Problem?

Portland, OR. - Reflecting on a couple recent conversations it reminded me just how confusing, mysterious, off -the-radar, is this whole palm oil issue for many folks. Hopefully the following will help – if I find any additional materials I’ll update this post. In short palm oil is a vegetable oil derived from the fruit of the oil palm. The oil palm tree originates in West Africa and has...

Posted by admin on Apr 3, 2014

Diary #103 – The Journey IS the Journey

Richmond, VA – A few hours ago I spoke at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia, not exactly where one imagines the birth of a great ape conservation effort taking root. And had it not been on the urging of friend Joe Baust who runs the Environmental Education Center it’s unlikely my path would have ever wandered through this antique furniture village in the rolling countryside west of Richmond....