Palm Oil 101 (IOI)
As Summer draws to a close, so does my Palm Oil study. And wow, am I grateful for what I have learned.
Yet, before I rush into my next adventure, I find it important to remind myself that this is not the end of the story. The tragic biography of the world's rainforests has not yet concluded and continues to be rewritten by one species alone. The wise (wo)man has just begun to realise the immense scale of her or his own footprint on this world. The need to act to save the orangutan's native land, shared with our sisters and brothers of indigenous tribes, becomes ever-increasing. So much so that if we fail to commit to the duties of this planet, the consequences, scarily unknown to us, will bring the entire life-system closer to breaking point. Mother Earth is being pushed to breaking point.
25 orangutans are lost each day.
25.
It's their home. It's their life. And unlike us humans, they cannot protest or claim insurance. They cannot vote or claim benefits. Against the dollars, bulldozers and fires, they can't even fend for themselves.
But they can smile and they do cry.
Unsustainable Palm Oil production poses the biggest threat to orangutans and to the lungs of our planet. As well as this, when corporations remove acres upon acres of primary rainforest and convert it into Palm Oil plantations, vital carbon-sinks are removed. What was once a major long-term store of CO2 has become an active of source of this greenhouse gas. It is inevitable that unsustainable Palm Oil production is exacerbating climate change.
To top it all off, go into a supermarket and you'll find that 50% of all packaged supermarket goods contain Palm Oil. How can we escape this trap?!
Amongst all the doom and gloom, ideas of hope are manifesting into a promising reality. All the way from the acts of grassroots activists to those of major businesses and icons like Iceland Foods Ltd and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Many corporations have repeatedly claimed that they are 'environmentally conscious,' 'adhere to government regulations' and 'strive to improve their environmental credentials,' yet the British citizen today cannot escape from Palm Oil and brands which do use 100% sustainable Palm Oil are hard to find. I admit that I, too, have contributed to this complex catastrophe. It shames me to say that my soaps and hair products contain palm oil which does not hold the RSPO Sustainable Palm Oil logo, nor do these products claim at any point to contain sustainably sourced Palm Oil. The same was true for some organic products I stocked, even bread. However, since this discovery at the beginning of Summer, I have found alternatives.
Sustainable Palm Oil currently accounts for 20% of all Palm Oil produced globally. A small proportion, yes, but at least a market exists. At least all these words are bringing actions. Sustainable lifestyles remain in the minority for now but, they are growing in popularity and that can only be a good thing. Good for the planet, good for the economy and good for you.
One big change in how I think about Palm Oil has come fairly late this Summer.
Earlier this month, Greenpeace stated, clearly, that 'Palm oil can be produced without destroying the rainforest.' However you may remember from previous blog posts that I have questioned whether the use of sustainable Palm Oil is actually a good thing. The problem for me lied with the possibility that initial deforestation took place in order to allow for a crop of Palm Oil to be produced. So, is it best to go Palm Oil free or buy sustainable Palm Oil? An environmentalist's conundrum!
In response to Iceland Foods Ltd, who stated early on this year that they will remove Palm Oil from all of their own-branded products, Greenpeace highlighted the very characteristic of Palm Oil which makes it's plantations so lucrative:
'If all consumer goods companies stopped using palm oil, demand would switch to another vegetable oil – perhaps soy, rapeseed or sunflower. When grown in vast quantities all of these alternative oils have serious environmental problems, including rainforest destruction. The reason palm oil’s popularity rocketed in the first place was due to it being a very land-efficient crop. You get a lot of oil per hectare, it requires relatively few pesticides and it’s highly versatile.' Alison Kirkman, Greenpeace UK, 12th April 2018.
Therefore, holistically, the use of sustainable Palm Oil is likely to be far better than using other sustainably sourced vegetable oils - which must be used if we are to continue living as we do (let's be honest, the hunter-gatherer lifestyle is not for everyone, and we all like our creature comforts.) - and better still than using unsustainably produced oils which may be snuck into goods by profit-minded companies.
We can buy products without compromising quality. We can buy products containing sustainable Palm Oil, without having to change their recipes or switch from our trusted brands. So long as we show these corporations that we know what they are doing and won't stand to have the blood of our indigenous and orangutan relatives on our hands, we can persuade these brands to switch to sustainable alternatives. Now.
In 2010, campaigners for Greenpeace, folk just like you and me around the globe, managed to persuade some of the largest brands - including Unilever, Nestle and Mondelez - sign up to an international agreement which would see an end to deforestation from palm oil by 2020. With less than 500 days to go until the deadline, Greenpeace is questioning whether enough action is really being taken by these companies. Are they holding out for as long as they can?
Invesigations undertaken by the company have repeatedly exposed companies for lying; having producing unsustainable palm oil under the sustainable logo. Regulation is tough where money lies at the heart of people's actions so we need to step up and show these companies that money is not everything. They will not get their profits if they continue to abuse our planet, our home, with such devastating and lasting consequences.
Click here to see what you can do to support Greenpeace's campaign today.
Another way you can help the people most immediately affected by deforestation is by showing support of Amazon Frontlines, a nonprofit funded by Leonardo DiCaprio’s foundation. It aims to bring cooperation between tribes and raise awareness of their their fights to stop timber and oil drilling in their indigenous homes of the South American rainforest. Before you do that, though, I would encourage you to watch this video created by the Huffington post so that you are aware of just how political this environmental disaster has become.
It could be as simple as clicking 'follow' on DiCaprio's twitter. Perhaps you could even retweet one or two of his posts which impact you?
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| The RSPO Label - ensuring a product contains sustainably produced palm oil Source: https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/ which-everyday-products-contain-palm-oil |
It is 2018 and sustainable goods are just starting to make their place on supermarket shelves. Will you take just 10 seconds to look for the word sustainable in front of the words Palm Oil on the ingredients list of biscuits, bread, shampoo, soap, chocolate and detergent next time you are in the shops? Seek out the RSPO Sustainable Palm Oil logo? Will you join the movement?
You could be a consumer or you could be a citizen. Consciously choose how to see the world and a multitude of different doors will open.
How will you choose to spend your time upon this Earth.
The choice is yours.
H _ M
:)
Bibliography:
Greenpeace UK newsletter, September 2018
https://redapes.org/about-orangutans/
https://orangutan.org/rainforest/the-effects-of-palm-oil/
http://www.iceland.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/leodicaprio
https://greenpeace.org.uk/iceland-ditches-palm-oil-mean/
https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/what-you-can-do/
http://www.amazonfrontlines.org/stand-indigenous-peoples/
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/leonardo-dicaprio-amazon-oil_us_5a0c8267e4b00a6eece5e817
https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/which-everyday-products-contain-palm-oil
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