Kites in Sanur, Bali

Kite-flying season in Bali is the perfect time to get clarity on important issues. Your mind can drift freely and yet be attached to the ground.

Here in Bali I had a chance to get briefing on the situation with the destruction of the rainforest of orangutans in Borneo and Sumatra by a man from an environmental agency who knows what he is talking about.

We sat at dusk with the waves crashing softly home on the beach in Sanur and for two hours I listened.

It seems that the conversion of rainforest to feed the pulp and paper industry is a threat that may be starting to overtake the threat from the conversion of forests for palm oil plantations. The pulp is being used for tissues and computer printer paper.

As consumers in the West, some of us might wonder where to put the pressure.

I learned that the RSPO certification of the forest industries would save the forests and orangutans -- if it were implemented with the support it needs from the Indonesian government and the companies. That sounds promising, but it's a big if, and that's the real issue.

The government is corrupt here and the environmental ethos is missing -- although I've also been told that the young gerenation may be different. They are better educated and you can't control a population that has cell phones and the Internet.

The pressure point for we consumers in the West is through the companies that turn the "hutan" -- or forest -- into products we use.

The problem is that the biggest consumers of the products produced from the forests like cooking oil and biofuel are India, China and Indonesia, not us.

The other problem is that most of those converting forests are small farmers and they are difficult to control.

And yet, as relatively small as our consumption of rainforest products might be, my friend from the environment agency still believes that the envioronmental practices of the big brand-name Western companies can still have an influence here and that is something we can affect. "You can't give up," I was told.

It's a bit like flying a kite in Bali. Ihe kite is held up in the air by the wind for everyone to see. And maybe seeing it has an effect. It's the visibility that matters.

I was thinking about this as it grew dark while I listened.I walked back along the sand into the crowded streets of Sanur with a lot to think about.