{"id":7763,"date":"2026-04-29T23:06:54","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T15:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/berdayahub.com\/?p=7763"},"modified":"2026-04-29T23:08:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T15:08:18","slug":"a-reforestation-founders-reflection-on-climate-helplessness-and-scale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/berdayahub.com\/id\/a-reforestation-founders-reflection-on-climate-helplessness-and-scale\/","title":{"rendered":"A Reforestation Founder\u2019s Reflection on Climate Helplessness and Scale"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhen floods swept across parts of Indonesia earlier this year, it didn\u2019t just leave behind damaged homes and displaced families, it also forced a deeper reckoning for those working closest to the land.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWe sat down with Tara, co-founder of Bumiterra, who described the moment as personal – given how deeply the issue ties back to the work she does in Bumiterra.\nIn this first part of our conversation, Tara reflects on climate grief, the limits of reforestation, and the uncomfortable reality<\/b> that even the solutions we build may feel small against the scale of the crisis.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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You\u2019ve been working in reforestation for a few years now. But with the recent floods and climate events across Indonesia, how have you been processing everything?\n<\/b><\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIt was a very difficult time for me – both personally and professionally.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMy work is deeply tied to my personal values, so I couldn\u2019t separate the two more often than not. When the floods happened, I felt a kind of grief that really seeped into everything I was doing. It wasn\u2019t something I could just switch off at the end of the day. My grief leaked into my work.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThere were moments where I questioned whether I should even continue Bumiterra in the way we\u2019ve been building it.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWe\u2019re still a relatively small company. We\u2019ve restored around 50 hectares to date.<\/b>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t And when you\u2019re faced with disasters of that magnitude, you start to question the impact of what you\u2019re doing, whether it really moved the needle.<\/b>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIt became quite existential.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Did that moment change how you see the bigger system you\u2019re operating in?<\/b><\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAbsolutely. What the floods revealed very clearly is the scale of extraction that has shaped Indonesia for decades. Logging, mining, palm oil. These aren\u2019t new stories, but I think the disaster accelerated public awareness in a way we haven\u2019t seen before.<\/b>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThere was almost a kind of hyper-learning<\/i>. Suddenly, more people understood how deeply our economy is tied to natural resources and how we\u2019re still building an economy that depends on extraction.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAnd the reality is, that model hasn\u2019t really changed.<\/b>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEven industries that we associate with the future like AI, data centers, digital infrastructure, they\u2019re still resource-intensive. They require land, energy, and materials. \t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAt the moment, economic growth is still largely dependent on extraction.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\tTara\u2019s insight demonstrates that the pressure on ecosystems doesn\u2019t disappear - it simply takes a different form.<\/i>\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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How do you deal with that tension - between the scale of the problem and the scale of your work?\n<\/b><\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIt\u2019s something we constantly have to sit with.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThere\u2019s no easy way around it. The scale of environmental degradation is massive, and when you compare that to what a startup can realistically achieve, it can feel discouraging.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBut I think part of the work is learning how to frame that tension. The question is whether we let that paralyse us, or whether we focus on what we can do within our power.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBecause if you only look at the problem from a global scale, it\u2019s very easy to feel like nothing you do matters.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Was there anything that gave you a sense of hope during that period?<\/b><\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYes – ironically, the awareness that came out of it.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAs terrible as the disaster was, it pushed people to start asking questions. You could see a shift in how individuals were talking about climate, about extraction, about where our resources come from<\/b>. And I think that level of understanding is important.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNow, when you speak to the average Indonesian, there\u2019s a much clearer awareness that our economy is deeply tied to natural resources and how we\u2019ve been extracting them. That wasn\u2019t always the case.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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So where does that leave you now, both personally and as a founder?<\/b><\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tI still feel that climate helplessness sometimes.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIf anything, those feelings were actually what drives me to continue giving my best to Bumiterra \u2013 to make sure that its mission lives on, despite the many disasters we\u2019ve seen or challenges we\u2019ve faced. It is my way of trying to prove, at least to myself, that it\u2019s possible to build a business that doesn\u2019t just take from the environment, but actually restores it.<\/b> Something that can still grow, and still be sustainable as a business, without causing harm.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBut the feeling itself doesn\u2019t just go away.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA lot of what we face, be it climate change or something more personal is systemic. It\u2019s not something you can simply remove or fix on your own.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAnd when you try to think about eliminating the problem entirely, it can feel overwhelming.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat I\u2019ve learned instead is that it helps to engage with it differently.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\tTo do something, however small, that reminds you you\u2019re not completely powerless. That you\u2019re responding to it in some way.<\/b>\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAnd that shift, even internally, makes the helplessness feel a little more manageable.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAs awareness grows, so does a different kind of question – one that moves beyond understanding the problem, and toward action.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat role do individuals actually play in climate action?<\/i>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIn the second part of this conversation, Tara shares how that question led to an experiment – one takes reforestation in a collective, ground-up approach.<\/i>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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When floods swept across parts of Indonesia earlier this year, it didn\u2019t just leave behind damaged homes and displaced families, it also forced a deeper reckoning for those working closest…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,11,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","category-gedsi","category-impact-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/berdayahub.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/berdayahub.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/berdayahub.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berdayahub.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berdayahub.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7763"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/berdayahub.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7766,"href":"https:\/\/berdayahub.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7763\/revisions\/7766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berdayahub.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/berdayahub.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berdayahub.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berdayahub.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}