Change in Your Palm: The Borneo Rainforest

Biologist Birute Mary Galdikas discusses the connection between Indonesian rainforests and climate change.

In conversation with Greg Dalton, Commonwealth Club Vice President, founder of Climate One

Deforestation in Indonesia, driven largely by large palm oil plantations, has caused that country to become the

third largest emitter of greenhouses gases in the world. Galdikas, who studied under anthropologist Louis Leakey, has

been studying orangutans in Borneo for nearly 40 years. She urges people to be aware of the impact palm oil, and biofuels,

are having on one of the world’s largest carbon sinks.

This program was recorded at The Commonwealth Club on April 27, 2009