I just helped the Sumatran tiger go extinct.
Last year I bought three cheap notebooks from a dollar store.
The only thing I was thinking about at the time was how much I needed those notebooks. I purchased three matching folders as well. Since I was a child, notebooks, note pads, loose-leaf paper, pens, pencils, and markers have excited me. So in that instance it didn’t matter to me that they were cheap notebooks because I was only aligned with my immediate desire at the time: I wanted those notebooks. In my defense, I usually buy only recycled, acid-free, and ideally post-consumer waste paper, but sometimes when I really want something, my (so-called) principles get pushed aside.
Pfft.
Meanwhile, I’ve been keeping up with Greenpeace’s campaign to save the Sumatran tiger in Indonesia. There are only 400 left. One of the prime perpetrators of tiger habitat destruction is a company called Asia Pulp & Paper. My heart has been heavy thinking about the last of the Sumatran tigers, so yesterday when I took out the notebook I bought from the dollar store last year and saw APP on the cover, I felt sick.
I thought, one person’s purchasing power does make a difference. I am responsible for the Sumatran tiger. And so are you. There is so much in the world competing for our attention, and it saddens me to think this beautiful creature will quietly disappear like a fading blip on a radar.
And then there will be another story that grabs our attention…
So if you’d like to help, you can start by signing this petition about APP’s tissue products (yes, Sumatran tigers may go extinct so we can wipe our asses). Then you might consider eschewing all APP paper products.
I don’t know if our humble actions will help this magnificent creature survive, but the least we can do is try.
https://secure3.convio.net/gpeace/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=921
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S.V. Pillay is a former high school English teacher and current freelance writer in the great city of Chicago. She enjoys writing about religion, spirituality, art, endangered species, the environment, and social justice. She is American by birth (want to see her birth certificate?), South Indian by DNA, a student of yoga, and a proud Generation X’er. She prefers interactions with real human beings as opposed to social networking. And although she owns her share of MP3s, she still listens to records, tapes, and Cds. S.V. Pillay is currently working on her debut novel, a book of poetry, and a bunch of short stories. Click here to follow her on Twitter. Click here to read more stuff.
Sunita, this is so important – thank you for bringing this to our attention!
Posting to Elephant Yoga on Facebook and Twitter.
Tanya Lee Markul, Yoga Editor
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Thanks, Tanya! you rock.
Just posted to "Featured Today" on the Elephant Yoga homepage.
Tanya Lee Markul, Yoga Editor
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My friend Tommy, who owns the Indonesian Stock Exchange in Jakarta among a thousand other investments in Indonesia, lives among the Tigers in Sumatra. It is his life's wish to see the last 400 Tigers survive and multiply.
Here is a link to Tommy's Conservation Site: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/04/22/tig…
Great alert. And thank you for reversing the karma by spreading awareness. I just signed. Some petitions just work in the States but this works in Canada as well. Bravo!
Linda
Thanks, Adam! I like your site, though I don't know if you can get anything funny from these fuc*ers at APP, but by all means try; the more bad press APP gets the better, in my opinion.
-Sunita