The October 2011 Photo of the Month by Ulet Ifansasti shows Greenpeace Indonesian activists in tiger costumes in Sumatra, Indonesia, where logging concessions are destroying the remaining habitat of the endangered Sumatran tiger.
The complex, diverse ecosystem that supports the last of these amazing animals is being rapidly transformed into the barren, scorched, eroding earth clearly shown in the image. The trees are turned into pulp and paper for products like Paseo and Livi toilet tissue being sold in the United States.
This photo is one of an amazing series that follow the activists around Sumatra investigating the true state of their country’s vital rainforests, and engaging people in cities and villages throughout the region. I like this photo more than the others because of the low angle of view, the gesture of the activist half against the sky and half against the earth with the scrolled burned vine, the texture, the other activists in support. It all works together.
The “tiger” activists write movingly of the widespread destruction they witness, the constant rumble of giant trucks hauling away the trees and what it is like in remainng astoundingly beautiful natural forest. Cakra Prathama of Greenpeace Indoniesia wrote: “The future of our forest is the future of Indonesia.” and called upon President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to save Indonesia’s culture by saving the rainforest and its iconic species from extinction.
Help by asking U.S. Retailers to stop supporting this rapid onslaught.
