Hello from Nyaru Menteng
Oct. 20th 2007
My name is Patrick, I’m a filmmaker dedicated to conservation. I’ve been in Nyaru Menteng for the last two weeks. The other day an orangutan broke into my room and ram sacked the place. It looked like in the movies when the bad guys trash an apartment because they didn’t find what they were looking for. At first I was upset and felt the unpleasant sensation that my privacy had been broken into, but as I was cleaning the place up I realized that everyday we, as humans, are destroying the orangutans’ homes in a much more devastating way. Most of the forest around here has been wiped out. Indonesia has the highest rate of deforestation in the world, the highest number of species threatened with extinction. Here I am feeling upset that my room was broken into but what can the orangutans possibly “feel” about seeing bulldozers trash there homes?
Nobody knows the answer to that question, but surely the orangutans are suffering. In the last two weeks, I have spent a lot time with Sandra, an adult female orangutan who was rescued from a palm oil plantation last year. She’s not doing well right now. She’s in the clinic. All the time I spend by her bedside, looking at her silently, I have the impression she’s going through a lot of pain, not physical pain, but something closer to “emotional” pain. As if she had nightmares, as if she had horrible things going on in her mind. I don’t know what goes in the mind of an orangutan, but the more I spend time with Sandra, the more I feel that another form of consciousness is looking at me.
If nothing is done, our generation will be responsible for the extinction of the last wild orangutans: a small error for man but a great shame for humanity. We are all responsible for this, so if we want to save the forest (and the orangutans) we must all act now. We must stop supporting the industries that thrive on deforestation: We must stop buying tropical hardwood, as well as plywood and paper made from tropical wood. We must stop consuming all products that contain palm oil from Indonesia or Malaysia. We must refuse the development of bio-diesel from palm oil. We must all do something.
For the last five years, I’ve been trying my best to help the forest through filmmaking. This is my way of doing something active. The last film I did in Indonesia is called “Losing Tomorrow” which was then screened in schools and villages in Sumatra. From these screenings I did another small film called “Dear Mr. President”, asking the president of Indonesia to do something about illegal logging and deforestation. Today, I have received confirmation that the President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yunodo, has indeed seen the film “Dear Mr. President”. I do not know how he reacted to the screening, or if his viewing the film will make the slightest difference for the forest of Indonesia, but at least the message was recorded, delivered and received.
If there are any of you who would like to screen “Losing Tomorrow” and “Dear Mr. President” in schools or any free assembly, please let me know and I will make sure to send you a copy. The more people become aware of the situation here, the better.
My mail: patrickrouxel@hotmail.com
Website: www.patrickrouxel.fr
