Gallery: Indonesia's 'tree of life'

Mon, 03/05/2012 - 05:00 — Anonymous by Andrew MarshallWhen you hear "tree
of life" you may think of that strange Brad Pitt film that thankfully did not
win an Oscar recently.  But for Alexander Haninuna from Indonesia's Roti
island, the juice from what he knows as the tree of life was his first meal.
When he dies, he will be buried in a coffin made from the wood of the same
tree.  All through his life he will be indebted to the lontar palm that
grows in his backyard for everyday products such as mats, containers for
watering the garden, trays for winnowing rice, fans, umbrellas, belts,
knife-sheaths, thatch, cigarette papers and even bags for transporting
chickens to market. Haninuna, 50, lives on Roti, the southernmost island of
the Indonesian archipelago and home to thousands of lontar palms, one of the
planet's most efficient sugar-producing trees.  Roti has suffered from
surface erosion for many years, and in a great example of ecological
efficiency the Rotinese have learned to utilize the tens of thousands of
hardy lontar palms that are one of the few plants to flourish here. read
more