My father once really came face to face with a tiger. As a child, he regularly stayed with his aunt and uncle, who lived in a house on high stilts in the Sumatran rainforest. He described the jungle sounds to us as impressive and mysterious, with each resident singing their own melody. From the twittering monkeys to the love songs of tropical birds, the jungle never sleeps. Yet, he told us, there are moments when it could get as quiet as a mouse. Overwhelmingly quiet. My father was introduced to that silence once. It even kept him from sleeping. Even the crickets on the ground seemed to hold their breath at that moment. And then…. all of a sudden my father heard growling in the distance. A sound that grew louder and louder. At that moment in the night, a real tiger decided to pass through the forest and walked past their little wooden cabin. The whole jungle gave way to this mysterious predator and let him pass in silence. This memory is etched in my father's memory and has lived on in mine thanks to his stories.
At the age of eight, I first got to visit that wonderful island, with all its magnificent wildlife. The greenery, colours and opulence of nature welcomed me. Although I did not see a tiger, I was allowed to witness the beauty of wildlife and lush forests all by myself. Every few years I would return there but with each arrival, that first core memory was pushed more and more into history. I witnessed trees being replaced by concrete buildings, and rainforests that rapidly disappeared due to illegal logging and palm oil plantations. My family's lush, green garden, dotted with fruit trees in which I played as a child, is now completely gone. Man-made climate change, and supported by a government that puts economic growth above conservation, is slowly degrading this paradise on earth. Deforestation prevents water from being efficiently absorbed after heavy rains, resulting in floods, and persistent heatwaves are causing problems everywhere.
As I write this story, I look out the window of my home in the Netherlands and see houses, concrete, roads, bridges, a stray tree and heavy traffic on the roads. In the distance are barren stretches of land where little seems to be happening. Also here our government prioritises economic progress over a healthy living environment. Although we have long said goodbye to our primaeval forests and cultivated almost every piece of nature, we continue to dream about authentic nature and the animals and plants that live there. We privileged people of the West search for it diligently and still find it in the faraway places we visit. But there too, we see nature gradually disappearing due to climate change that we, especially the rich countries, are driving.
The earth is becoming increasingly damaged. Slowly we are tearing it down, driven by money and self-interest. But on a dying planet, money is of no use to us. We need nature for our survival, but also for that of future generations and for all other life on earth: animals and plants. They deserve to be protected. What if we wouldn’t chase away the tiger, but embraced its characteristics instead? Can governments harness the tiger's courage and determination to stop climate change? That way, this majestic animal can symbolise a successful human fight against climate change, and not just be a fictional creature of the past. Let’s prevent the jungle from actually becoming quite soon.
