Orangutans and Yada, Yada, Yada

Today's blog is going to be a little different in that I'm going to write about orangutans instead of myself.

My puppy raiser read an article in the newspaper to me the other day about orangutans in Indonesia. I've never seen an orangutan, but my puppy raiser showed me photos of them... and they look like they would be fun to play with! According to this article, the search for eco-friendly products and alternative fuels, is leading to massive deforestation in Indonesia. The deforestation is unlocking carbon gases into our environment, and taking a toll on the people and wildlife living in Indonesia. I didn't really understand any of what my puppy raiser read in the article... or what I just wrote(my puppy raiser helped me with it). But, then my puppy raiser took a break from reading and told me all about orangutans...

She told me that when she was in college she majored in Anthropology and had dreams of some day doing research in Borneo to study orangutans. But, she ended up not following her dreams... and yada, yada, yada now she's a state worker. I asked her what the yada, yada, yada meant. She told me it was a long story, and knowing me I would probably fall asleep before she was through telling it (uh, she has a good point!). Anyways, she said that even though she never followed her dreams, she has always had a soft spot in her heart for orangutans.... and reading the newspaper article really made her think.

She told me that as a result of people's quest for palm oil, many orangutan babies are being orphaned. I asked her what that meant and she told me that in the case of orangutans it means that they are no longer with their mommies. She said orphaned orangutans are ending up in Care Centers where people can take care of them... and it's difficult for the people at the Care Centers to take care of so many orphaned orangutans. She didn't go into the details of why the orphaned orangutans are without their mommies... she said that it may be a little too heavy for me... but, she said that if any of my blog readers want to learn about it they should check out Tom Knudson's article, Dark side of a hot biofuel.

She told me that the problem with people is that are always in such a rush to do things... and, as a result they don't always make the best decisions. She said if people would just slow down and think things through, they wouldn't fix one problem and then replace it with another problem. She went on to vent about how people rush things for political reasons... and because high level management wants to impress others with the fact that they can meet deadline dates... even if the deadline dates jeopardize quality... and have harmful long-term consequences.

By this time, I've gotta admit I was getting pretty sleepy. My puppy raiser just kept going on and on about this stuff. So, I went in my toy basket and brought her a toy. She smiled and gave me a big hug. Then she told me she is glad that the yada, yada, yada stuff happened... because if she had ended up in Borneo, she wouldn't have become a puppy raiser... and she wouldn't be MY puppy raiser. But, she still wishes she could help the orangutans in some way...