Maintaining the Ecosystem in Welirang

The dodo was a fascinating creature which once lived in harmony with other animals on this planet. But now their existence is considered a myth. They have become extinct. These days, we can only recognize a dodo from pictures in books.

The extinction of dodo is only one of hundreds of other mistakes man does to nature. It is due to our indifference and exploitation that one by one species of animals and plants begin to grow rare, then endangered, and finally: extinct.

Environmentalists say that we interfere too much with the course of nature. Perhaps they are right. It is therefore important to build national parks where hunting is strictly prohibited by government laws.

Mount Welirang, on which slope my family resides, is the home of the protected Javanese deer. Now, the deer have a natural enemy: the jackals. Unlike the jackals of Asia, Europe and Eurasia, the Javanese jackals more resemble dogs. They’ve got slender body and slim, long shanks that enable them to run swiftly. They’ve got pointed ears and coarse black coat. As most jackals do, the Javanese jackals hunt deer, especially newly-born fawns. Since the deer are protected, rangers would patrol the forest with guns to shoot any jackal that is sighted.

This leads to jackal slaughter! Protection against one species of animals results in the endangerment of another!

Some jackals, realizing their existence is threatened, often sneak into villages and mix-mate with mongrels. These days we often find jackal pups that are born with velvety brown or dotted coat, without pointed ears as most jackals are. And their disposition is much more homely, too.

The uncle of one of my friends (she resides by the forest) had a good idea when he saw these pups. He brought some of them home to Lampung and trained them to become hounds. Warthogs had often gone into people’s farms in Lampung and they needed a great number of hounds to hunt or simply keep the farms safe from warthogs.

The idea worked. Some of the hunted-down Javanese jackals now become hounds and farm keepers in Sumatra. It was a good thing that old man did. Without realizing what he was doing, he had helped maintaining the ecosystem and prevented the extinction of Javanese jackals.

And, which is more, the jackal-mongrel pups turn out to have very sweet disposition that they can adapt quickly to living with humans. They are truly suitable for guarding the house and rid our homes from pests. And they are loyal and very friendly as well!

I know so. I have adopted three jackal-mongrel pups from Welirang Forest. They are the best friends and most obedient pets I have ever had!

Frank Herbert's DUNE: The Future of Our Earth?

One of the science fictions that really give me the shudder is Frank Herbert’s Dune. I shiver not because of what the book exposes, but the possibility that the fiction of this story might one day become real in our own world.

Paul Atreides was the heir of the Atreides dynasty, a highly honored clan in the universe. At 17, he and his parents moved to the planet Arrakis, the home of spice and the driest place in the galaxy. In this universe, spice is the means of transaction, a sort of “money” or “foreign exchange” as we may put it in our word. Whoever controls Arrakis controls the universe. But, the natives of Arrakis themselves are wretched people, scorched by the sun and lived in dunes – forever treasuring a drop of water like precious diamond.

There was an instance where Paul’s would-be mistress, Chani, asked him what his home planet was like. Paul explained of springs, streams, rivers and oceans – things she had never heard, never seen, and never imagined – and her heart melt with longing for such beautiful a place.

It is a wonderful and very complicated work, but the thing that stabs me most is the probability that one day, our beloved Earth will turn out exactly like Arrakis! Alvin Toffler, the futuristic scientist, once predicted that in the age to come, people won’t be fighting and struggling for solid gold or black gold (petroleum), but for “blue gold” – WATER! There will come a day when water becomes so rare, mankind will prize it like prizing pure gold!

The signs of this occurrence have begun taking place in our day. People start having difficulty getting clean water for their daily needs. Some springs have dried up. The oceans are polluted and contaminated. Environmentalists shout warnings against water contamination.

Has anyone taken heed?

If we continue taking these environmental problems for granted, it is not impossible that in the near future we shall be craving for clean water and won’t be able to find it! Will we rather let our next generations living in a planet like Arrakis, the center of the universe yet the most wretched planet in the galaxy – a place where its inhabitants would give away anything in exchange for water supply?

Save our planet! Love our forest! Be kind to nature!

Clean Water: An Endangered Element?

My pastor went on an evangelical mission to the core of Borneo (Kalimantan) earlier this month. After returning home, he shared with us his rather adventure-like experience in the recent ministry: going up and down the mountain, following a fade path through the woods with no light except that coming from fireflies, and drinking straight from the bubbling brook. “The water!” he exclaimed. “It was as fresh as sterilized water packed in bottles we buy in stores!”

Well… that’s the taste fresh water from the mountain springs naturally is. It is similar here, if you’d want to climb on top of Welirang or Arjuna Mountain and drink right from the spring. The water is so cool, fresh and unpolluted; you can gulp it down without worrying about boiling it first.

In the towns and cities, however, we need to cook the water first and filter it before it is sterile enough to drink. There’s so much difference between the quality of water at the spring and in the rivers.

We need to keep in mind that water is one of the ultimate elements man needs in order to stay living. The trouble is: with the pattern of today’s civilization and the rate of pollution that keeps growing from time to time, some elements of nature begin to get threatened.

Water is on top of the list!

People keep on cutting down trees and eliminating woods to build more space for housings. Without woods, there will be no root of trees to hold water, and without trees, there will be no springs. Without springs, we do not have water supplies! Not to mention the water pollution we find in streams and rivers down the mountains! We are running out of this utmost important and vital element of nature that is sure to endanger our own existence – without realizing it!

What are we to do? Let’s oppose deforestation. Urge the government to establish the law regarding deforestation and repot to the authority when we find acts of illegal logging! By treasuring our forest, we treasure also our lives – and the existence of the next generations.