ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the organizations and primatologists have crafted rhetoric of the perpetual potential through their discourse on the endangered status of orangutans and their emphasis on the perpetual ability to engage in environmental activism to save orangutans. It examines how primatologists and environmental, nongovernmental organizations (ENGOs) create rhetorical appeals to prevent orangutan extinction. The chapter examines the rhetoric of primary international orangutan protection organizations, such as the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF), the Balikpapan Orangutan Society-USA (BOS-USA), the Orangutan Foundation International (OFI), the Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program, and The Nature Conservancy. These rhetorical appeals also occur in German, Dutch, French, and Japanese through the branch organizations of Indonesian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). This chapter analyzes popular press items by internationally renowned orangutan primatologists such as Birut Galdikas, Carel van Schaik, and Anne Russon. It refers to non-Indonesian audiences as Western audiences, meaning European, North American, and Australian audiences.
