Electric Solution from Jonah Kessel on Vimeo.

NOTE FOM JONAH: This is part of a series of photographs and thoughts from Madagascar. To see earlier installments of this series click here.

Tweet

In 1972 Regula Ochsner landed on the island of Madagascar. She didn’t know it at the time, but the island would change her life — and she would change life for some on the island. Ms. Ochsner spent three years on the island working for a Swiss development and aid organization. After she went home.

But twenty-three years later she returned to visit Madagascar, a place she held dear in her heart.

But upon return, she was dismayed at what she saw. Forested areas — leveled. Wildlife and fauna — gone. Over the quarter century she had been gone, populations growth rates had spiked and deforestation became a necessary evil of survival for the impoverished population. It was a sad sight for Ochsner. And soon, she returned to Switzerland.

But she couldn’t shake the feeling that something had to be done. And after several sleepless nights she began to think of ways which she could help. As the largest factor in deforestation was the use of firewood for cooking, she began looking for alternative ways of cooking.

And this idea, was origin of ADES — or the Association pour le Développement de l’Energie Solaire Suisse – Madagascar.

And this is how it came to be, that in the fall of the year 2000, a ship set course for Madagascar carrying assembly kits for 500 solar cookers. And months later, under a makeshift roof, Ochsner and a small group of Malagasy people were assembling the first solar cookers in Madagascar.

Twelve years later, I arrived in the same town where Ochsner set up Madagascar’s first solar cookers to chat with them about their project.

There, I met Otto Frei, who lives in Madagascar helping to run workshops where the solar cookers are made. I spent a day with Frei and ADES filming a video for Global’s Post’s Earth Series.

For those that don’t know — solar cookers work by trapping heat in a box, allowing the user to cook food without any other resources but the sun. And while there is a lack of traditional fuels in Madagascar, for most there is no shortage of sunlight.

The solar cooker is not unique to Madagascar, they are becoming increasingly used in places where resources are scarce. However, ADES latest invention its an evolution in solar cooking. While trapping sun in a box for cooking, the new ovens also store and charge batteries. These batteries can then be used like any other battery — and in a place like Madagascar, that’s huge.

Over 90 percent of people in Madagascar don’t have electricity. This means, once the sun is down, there is no light. With ADE’s new solar cooker, after 5-7 hours in the sun the oven can power a lamp for up to 15 hours.

This could be an important solution for a place like Madagascar, where a population is so poor and the forest is so rich.

NOTE FOM JONAH: This is part of a series of photographs and thoughts from Madagascar. To see earlier installments of this series click here. As always, click photos to embiggin.

Tweet

Looking at Madagascar from any angle you’ll notice one thing missing in many pictures: trees.

The once densely forested island is now thought to have lost 90 percent of its original forest. So the question is how does an island the size of Texas lose almost all of its forest and what is the consequence? The answer to these questions isn’t exactly simple; but what is clear, is the forest is in serious danger of completely disappearing, except in those small areas protected by National Parks (who still seem to have issues).

From above, evidence of deforestation in Madagascar can be obvious.

In many ways, the disappearance of these forests is due to the social economical relationship between the population and the environment that has created a nasty cycle. Let’s look at the equation:

1. A growing and impoverished population lives on an island.
2. With no industry or ways to earn income, most turn toward the land for survival.
3. Step one of survival is to eat and cook food. They have no way to get fuels for cooking so they use timber in the form of charcoal for cooking. To make the charcoal they cut down trees.
4. Since the forest provided a way to eat, families and populations grew. To feed their growing families more space was needed to grow rice or to raise cattle. Food yield had to increase with population increase
5. There was not enough space to yield enough food, so the people cut down the forests to make more room for agriculture, in order to survive.
6. Although they don’t realize it, their actions on the environment heavily increase erosion rates to the point where landslides and other environmental disasters become more frequent, including large scale desertification.
7. Population growth rates out paced food production rates, requiring families to cut down more forests to create the ability to make more food.
8. With more people, came the need for more furniture and houses. The wood came from the forest.
9. As forests shrink wildlife populations begin to reflect their shrinking habitat area.

The victim of this cycle: everyone. The forest is disappearing; the animals are disappearing; the locals are still poor, but now susceptible to more environmental problems. Much of the land was farmed to the point of becoming arid and essentially — dead.

An entire landscape has been deforested to make room for rice terraces.

For most tourists in Madagascar, this isn’t so obvious. In fact, if you only went to Madagascar’s National Parks you might not even notice. The parks are often forested with lots of fun jumping creatures.

But its the places in between the parks where trees become sparse. And with an island this big, most places are “in between” the parks. I found many vantage points where I was looking down on land where almost every inch of land had been used.

A man carries charcoal, made from timber, down a street.

This is a complex situation and its hard to blame the Malagasy — they are simply surviving the only way they know how. From outside its easy to say biological diversity needs to be balanced, but if you are the person with a hungry family, this is simply what you do.

Three women buy chairs in a market outside of Fianar.

This cycle is described in a research paper from American University:

Exploitation of forests for wood and timber is another major cause of deforestation. The main problem of all the deforestation that is going on in Madagascar is that it damages and effects those areas in Madagascar. Obviously with less trees there is more pollution or CO2 let into the air but there is one major problem with deforestation in Madagascar which is that it effects the biodiversity which is the wealth of life on earth, such as the millions of plants, animals and micro-organisms, and the genes they contain and the intricate ecosystems they help build into the living environment. A reduction in biodiversity is bad because biodiversity is important for our future advances in industry, medicine, agriculture and other fields.

A man cycles down a road carrying fire wood.

Beyond the loss of biodiversity, deforestation threatens life itself on the island. If there is no farmable land, there will be no way the population can live there. It’s that simple.

Deforestation leads to soil erosion, which can lead to desertification. As I’ve seen in Inner Mongolia, Tibet or other desertified areas — once it starts, its hard to stop it from growing.

Malagasy men walk down a street holding freshly cut timber.

The American research paper goes on to conclude:

Deforestation can lead to soil erosion and eventually desertification or, The transformation of arable or habitable land to desert by destructive land use. Deforestation can also have serious effects on the watershed and make Madagascar more susceptible to floods. Malagasy or the people of Madagascar rely on the natural resources found within its forests, as well as the forests themselves. And taking into account the population growth, scarcity of forest resources could result in incredible suffering. Madagascar’s biodiversity is threatened by deforestation.

A farmer burns trees outside of his home near Morandava.

The ironically sad part of this equation is that the very action which is required by the Malagasy for survival, is the same action that is killing their forests now and could kill them later.

But when you are this poor, “later” is hard to think about.

And this, is the problem.

Kids and adults alike fill a truck on its way to a mine outside Andranovory.

NOTE FOM JONAH: This is part of a series of photographs and thoughts from Madagascar. To see earlier installments of this series click here.

Tweet

When I landed on Madagascar I wondered what I would learn from the country.

It would be the 17th country I would enter in 2012, and according to statistics — the poorest.

But unlike the other countries I’ve past through this year (2012 was spent in China, Mongolia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Macau, UAE, Qatar, Yemen, Socotra, USA, Canada, Holland, Italy, France, Singapore, Mauritius, Madagascar), the leftover stench of colonialism was present here in a different way.

Wrapped in a tight cloth, a baby is carried by a small girl on her back.

Abject poverty, filthy kids playing in small straw huts that looked they could be blown over by a gust of wind, tremendously over crowded buses driving at dangerous speeds — these things don’t really surprise me much anymore. But seeing the influence of France did. Madagascar gained independence from their former French overlords in 1960, but if you didn’t know that, casual observation might leed you to believe they never left.

Today the French colonists come in the form of fat tourists touting cameras, iPads, inaccurate guidebooks and euros, hoping from place-to-place, treating locals like servants and the land as if it (still) belonged to them. They see the amazing national parks; the endemic wildlife and are presented cuisine they recognize nightly. But for the most part, they miss the places in between and aren’t subject to viewing how most Malagasy actually live.

A quasi-destroyed building is home to multiple families in Fianar.

On one of many 12-hour car rides I took in the country, I wondered what the Malagasy population must think of the outside world. Secluded at seemingly the bottom of the world the vast majority of these people will never leave this island. On top of that about 90% of Malagasy don’t have electricity. The influence of satellite television, western media, Hollywood and Bollywood are not deep routed here.

So for these people their views of the outside world must be tremendously influenced by those tourists who chose to make the long journey down here.

In my three weeks on the island I saw almost zero nonnative French speaking tourists. Almost everyone of these people was carrying some sort of camera taking pictures of what must seem ordinary to the Malagasy.

A women takes a bath on the shores of Belo Sur Tsiribihina. Running water at the household level is rarely available to most Malagasy.

As poor village after poor village past by, I wondered if the Malagasy picture the outside world like the image they see in their country: A bunch of over weight, white people with stiff brimmed hats partially covered with smeared sun block walking around taking pictures of every child, tree, living or dead animal and plate that comes in front of them.

Neocolonists aside these impoverished people go on living a difficult life, but in a much different way than I’m used to seeing in Asia.

Here, their actions seem dictated by the need to survive.

Women and children sit on the sidewalks of Fianarantsoa selling vegetables and clothing.

The factory worker in China works hundreds of hours of overtime because they are trying to get ahead; trying to create a better future. They can both see and imagine a better furutre. But here, without work you might simply starve.

I wondered where I would rather be poor: in Africa or Asia? The African people in this country are living in a condition far more undeveloped than what I normally see in Asia. However, here people seem to be a bit more happy.

A boy walks barefoot up a hill as a run down taxi passes by.

People seem more content with the life they have been born into.

But maybe this is because they have no choice. In many parts in Asia, you have the choice to go work a horribly dull job in a factory or to move to a big city where employment is obtainable. But here, thats not an option. You can farm and try to earn some small bits of money selling something, building something, maybe even mining something. But at a certain level of poverty and development — choice becomes a luxury noun.

A gecko catches a bug in mid air in Andringitra National Park.

NOTE FOM JONAH: This is part of a series of photographs and thoughts from Madagascar. To see earlier installments of this series click here. As always, click photos to embiggin.

Tweet

When looking at Madagascar, its hard not to be fascinated by the variety of jumping things found on this island. These things come in the shapes of lizards, mammals and lemurs.

This is reason enough to make the long journey to Madagascar.

A Sifaka jumps through the air in UNESCO World Heritage area Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park.

But photographing them is an entirely different story. Here’s how a lot of “lemur photography” works:

You go to a national park. You hire a guide and set out on hikes on relatively well maintained trails. As the guide leeds you he is listening and watching the canopy of the forest. Then, in one quick moment he says “wait here” and then darts off the trail into the thick forest. Standing there you wonder what prompted his actions but you can assume he heard or saw something.

From top left clockwise: A centipede, giant slug, multicolored grasshopper and mongoose — some of the things you'll encounter while trying to photograph leaping things above you.

Then from within the forest you hear him “ok, come here.”

Pushing through the wet trees and spider webs you just hope that you dont accidentally grab something poisonous, or worse, that something poisonous grabs you. But eventually you find a small space between the trees where the guide is. He points his finger directly into the air and says “there.”

The tail of a Ring-Tailed Lemur hangs from a tree.

And this is where you start. In a dark, wet, jungle looking directly up at a backlit small monkey-ish type animal who is just about as quick as a bird when it wants to be.

Getting images to come out in this scenario is quite tricky. The equation is simply not productive to making good pictures: fast moving objects, uncomfortable environments, strong backlight contrasting with a dark subjects. I found using any type of automatic setting would essentially ruin most photographs. But even using a complete manual mode the backlit condition made the autofocus far too slow to be effective. Putting the camera to manual focus means you are essentially guessing where the lemur will jump and what the lighting condition will be in that spot.

Example of how Sifaka jumps on two legs staying vertically aligned, even when on the ground level.

And jump they do.

My favorite of these jumping creatures is the Sifaka. An amazing lemur that stays upright as it jumps — even on the ground. This essentially means when its on the ground it hops on two feet without the use of the hands to crawl. This gives the lemur a kind of dancing motion as it moves across the ground.

A chameleon slowly climbs a tree in Andringitra National Park.

However, the real challenge was to photograph these animals in mid air.

The first step to not having backlit photos was to create a level orientation between the subject and the camera. i.e. you can’t be shooting up, you have to be shooting across. And while I’m not the best tree climber, the better practice here would be to have the patience till the animal comes to a lower height. This is the key word: patience.

Two Ring Tailed Lemurs climb a tree.

After spending some weeks in the jungle making bad pictures of these animals my appreciation for real wildlife photographers came back. It must be one of the most unglamorous jobs in the world.

While I think there is a lot of technical challenges in wildlife photography, its really a very difficult mental challenge. Sitting in a buggy place waiting for an animal to do just the right thing at the right moment. And then of there wasn’t enough chance in that equation already, you have to be ready with a camera when that happens. This is the challenge of wildlife photography.

Left, Indri lemur. Right, Sifaka Lemur.

And as the jungle wears on your patience, cameras become heavy. Mosquitos bites become more itchy.

The one thing that can make this even more difficult is — the night. Many lemurs are nocturnal including one of the more interesting ones I saw — the Mouse Lemur.

The golden bamboo lemur (Hapalemur aureus) Ranomafana National Park. Right, Mouse Lemur in Kirindy Natural Reserve.

This little creature is about the size of your hand but has the ability to jump two to three meters almost spontanouslly.

The mouse lemurs are nocturnal lemurs of the genus Microcebus. Like all lemurs, mouse lemurs are native to Madagascar. Mouse lemurs have a combined head, body and tail length of less than 27 centimetres (11 in), making them the smallest primates

Think of this lemur, like a bouncy-ball that you threw inside of a small confined space. They jump from tree-to-tree frantically catching insects in the air as they jump. The speed at which they jump is truly amazing, as the fact they seem to be able to propel themselves great distances with zero light. Taking pictures of something this small, this fast and in the dark — is not so easy.

Like all lemurs, Sifakas are found only on the island of Madagascar. All species of sifakas are threatened, ranging from vulnerable to critically endangered.

Of course, it wouldn’t be fair to have any discussion of the lemurs, without discussing the state of their habitat.

Like many lemurs on the island, the Sifaka (directly above) is threatened due to deforestation. As Madagascar’s forests have rapidly disappeared, so has the wildlife population. Many reports now claim over 90% of Madagascar’s original forest has been cut.

This has had a direct impact on the lemurs and for the most part, you won’t really see them unless you are in a national park or protected area.

A lemur jumps over a photographer.

The impoverished population has had no choice but to turn to the forest for survival.

More on this in next post …

Although the Baobab has become a symbol of Madagascar it is also found in the mainland Africa, Arabian Peninsula and Australia. Six of the eight species of baobab are found in Madagascar.

NOTE FOM JONAH: This is the start of a series of photographs and thoughts from Madagascar.

Tweet

Nothing about Madagascar is convenient.

Even getting to the world’s fourth biggest island can take days. It took me three to reach it from Beijing. The island, which is almost twice the size of California is almost void of roads. 100 kilometers on a map, might be an entire day in a car. If you happen to be using public transportation that day: visualize yourself as a human sardine, riding in a likely-to-break-down van, only driving over large pot holes, while holding a heavy backpack on your lap.

But locals here don’t seem to be bothered by it. Author Clifton Paul Fadiman once said “When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.” This is certainly true here.

But for those that are willing to leave the comforts of their home behind, this is one of the more interesting places on earth.

A Sifaka Lemur (with enormous fingers) waits in a tree. Sifakas remain vertical while moving, in trees or on the ground.

Jumping lemurs, camouflaged chameleons, granite mountains, limestone karst, sprawling savannas, empty white beaches: there are enough possibilities of adventure to last a life time in Madagascar. And in 2012, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to visit this incredibly rich and diverse country in the Indian Ocean.

It would be my second time traveling in the Indian Ocean this year; and for the second time, I would be surrounded by strange fauna and a culture none like I had seen before. At this point its becoming a bit of a habit: finding what I consider to be a strange place and simply going.

Storm clouds form over Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park. The limestone formations, known as tsingys are karstic plateaus, formed from groundwater and erosion. The park is an UNESCO World Heritage Area.

Every time I do this the world seems to get a little smaller. As humans, our differences become less important but the way we live our lives seem more unique. Little things can seem big and big things can seem small. How a person counts money, the way they describe a color or what taste they consider to be “plain” seems infinitely interesting while the fact we speak a different language, have different religions or what we consider to be comfortable seem less important.

In my three weeks on the island I was confronted with abject poverty and stunningly beauty landscapes (often at the same time) — although they were ordinary to the locals around me.

Four women, with four straw hats sit at a market in Vangaindrano.

I saw endemic wildlife just feet in front of my face, that before only existed for me in a Disney cartoon and national geographic pages.

Standing at the Allés des Baobabs a postcard became real. I always find this very interesting with the world’s most iconic spots. You might be standing at the Taj Mahal, the Forbidden City, the Chocolates Hills or any other heavily photographed place but to see reality on the ground verses the represented photographic reality produced over and over, shows a truth to a place.

A fisherman captures shell fish in a bag on the Tsiribihina river.

Understanding a place like Madagascar as a tourist is a bit difficult. Environmental, social and economic issues are complex as are the environmental origins of this island and its inhabitants. I felt very fortunate to have some friends on the island as well as some work resources to help me understand the issues Malagasy peoples face.

While in Madagascar I visited Vermonter and Peace Corp volunteer Emily Sillman as well as a a Swiss based NGO Association pour le Développement de l’Energie Solaire (ADES). They gave me great excuses to get off the tourist track and visit some real families and also talk about some real issues those people face.

Fellow Vermonter and current Peace Corp Volunteer Emily Silman outside of her house in Madagascar.

As much as 90 percent of Madagascar’s original forest is gone. At the same time, 90 percent of the population has no electricity. Due to Madagascar’s isolation from the rest of the world, evolution occurred a bit differently here. In fact, 80 percent of the animals on Madagascar are found no where else on earth.

While its closer to Africa than India, the place reminded me of South Asia a bit more than Africa. At the same time, the architecture of the island is more similar to Southeast Asia (most reflecting Borneo) than its closer African neighboring countries.

Enormous granite cliffs rise out from behind a village near Andringitra National Park.

With so many issues and so many inconveniences, its no surprise most travelers don’t make it down here. And this is part of the reason, the place is so great to travel in. Avoiding the crowds is easy.

While the blog has been focused on work, video and technical thoughts, this is the beginning of a travel series from Madagascar. Photos and entries will talk about Madagascar’s natural features as well as social, environmental and economic issues.

HOPEFUL from Jonah Kessel on Vimeo.

Tweet

China’s history and reputation with environmental protection is far from positive.

However, in my experience in China over the past four years I’ve seen a number of examples of the next generation of Chinese starting to take action to start fixing some of the problems their parents’ generation have caused.

China’s youth will inevitably face these problems in a much more serious way than their parents. Compared to two decades ago, there is tremendous pressure from the outside world for China’s economic development to not come at the expense of the environment. But now, the pressure also seems to be coming from within China.

In many ways, China’s environmental problems become the world’s environmental problems. For example, China’s growing deserts affect communities across oceans and continents. At the same time, the world’s environmental problems affect China. Changing global atmospheres are causing glaciers to melt faster than they ever have.

Friend and colleague Sean Gallagher’s recent work from the Tibetan Plateau can help show the seriousness of this issue.

In the end, we live in one world with one connected environment.

However, the world seems to point fingers at China telling them to clean up their act, without the same act being reciprocated from China. But on the ground in China, I see signs of reform. Even signs of hope. Recently, one came across my desk.

Friends of Nature, China’s oldest registered NGO approached me a few months back about making a short film about their battle with an environmental criminal in South China.

In the past, these battles were not so easy for NGOs to take part in. But now, a new amendment to a law is helping to even the tables.

The new amendment states:

“In instances where the public interest is threatened, such as environmental pollution or violations of consumers’ rights, relevant organs or social organizations may file suit at the People’s Courts.”

The effect of this amendment means NGOs in China can now sue private or state owned companies in a court of law. And Friends of Nature is one of the first to try.

Instead of writing open letters, protesting or creating public awareness campaigns, the NGO is taking a factory to court after they dumped 5,000 tons of chromium six into a reservoir outside a town. They are suing for human and environmental costs.

This chemical, made famous from Julia Roberts and Erin Brokovich has caused cancer rates in this small southern Chinese village to skyrocket. Cancer rates are up, fatality from cancer rates are up and cancer rates amongst youth are up — although a lot of the numbers seem to be elusive and debated.

When this happens in China, villages often become labeled “cancer villages.”

But a grassroots NGO is still extremely out weighed in a court of law compared to a factory with a budget. In fact, the NGO’s budget is next to nothing. Their lawyers, are probono. The research, is done by themselves. Collected evidence, also on their own initiative.

Much to the demise of the factory, the NGO has been making regular trips to the village to collect water samples, dirt samples, taking photographs and talking to villagers. The NGO expressed very serious fears about repercussions of their actions from the factory. They have been threatened physically and have been told to stay away.

While trying to keep out of harms way, they need to be on the scene. At the same time, they don’t want to jeopardize their case and are attempting to get the necessary information they need to make their case in court, without being harmed by factory thugs.

The equation became more interesting to me when I met the whistle blower who first started calling media and the NGO about what they knew.

When I met him, we were on the side of the road in a city about four hours East of Kunming. A black audi with tinted windows, whom ordinarily I might assume to be a politician rolled up. Both the NGO and my driver didn’t want to be seen with a foreigner in this place so I stayed in the car and watched as the man stepped out of his vehicle.

A short, bald man with a gold chain and sunglasses talked to my friend from the NGO about how to get into the cancer village and avoid the factories thugs. Funny enough, this man looked a bit like a hired thug. I wondered about his motivation behind his actions and asked my Chinese assistant to keep his ear out for details.

While I didn’t find out any concrete information, it did seem he had some personal reason for putting the factory in a bad light. It wasn’t out of a love for the environment, or from a hope to help the village — but something personal. Perhaps revenge? Perhaps economic gain? I’m not sure. But his purpose was certainly different than the NGOs, whose goal is to actual help this place and these people.

And this is how environmental reform in China is working today.

It takes a lot of ingredients in the pot, to make the right soup. A new law; a smart NGO; a lawyer willing to work for no money; an citizen with a shady motivation … maybe even a filmmaker looking to help spread the word … its a little different than reform in the West.

And right now, the law suit isn’t finished. But regardless of who wins or what the outcome is I do believe it is a win for China’s environment. It shows the government is comfortable giving more power to the people to help protect their own environment. The case shows ordinary Chinese citizens care about their environment. And it shows that change can happen.

And this is “hopeful.”