Palm oil is the most productive of all vegetable oils.  Found in most processed foods and various personal products like soap, lotion and cosmetics; it is the most widespread oil on the planet.  It is a better option than alternatives like corn oil or soy, and is less expensive to produce because it produces more [...]

Picture for a moment tropical paradise: white sand beaches, sparkling blue ocean, and palm trees arching out over the breaking waves. That’s where I just spent ten days. The island of Maratua is located just off the coast of the Berau region in East Kalimantan.
Not only a terrestrial paradise, it is located in the Coral [...]

The Most Awkward Part
As far as introductions go, I have been fussing about this blog intro entry for about a week (Don’t judge. This is my first blog.) and have finally acknowledged some very important things.
1. I am really excited to be blogging.
2. I need to introduce myself for the sake of any readers I [...]

Whenever I anticipate travel to a new part of the world, I inevitably create for myself a picture of what that place looks like. Before arriving in Borneo, my mental map of the island was filled with wide, slow-moving rivers winding sinuously through tangled jungle forests for mile after mile. Yesterday, a part of that [...]

Initial reaction: heartbreak.  The intensity of the connection you feel staring into the eyes of an orangutan is vastly underestimated.  Visiting Km 38, a facility with 18 caged orangutans was an experience not quickly, nor easily, forgotten.  The NGO Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) built most of km 38 in response to the 1997/1998 forest [...]