Palm Oil and the destruction of our Rainforest
The other day I posted a picture on facebook of an Orangutang that had died in a fire caused by people burning virgin rainforest to make room for the production of palm oil.
This shocked me and I decided to look into this more.
Palm oil is cheap and it's a common ingredient in lots of foods and household products, but just like with everything else that's 'cheap'- it comes at a horrible cost.
Huge areas of unspoiled rain forest are bulldozed to the ground each and every minute to make way for palm oil plantations in countries like Borneo, Sumatra, Indonesia and Malaysia.
This deforesting operation is being done on a scale and speed that is unbelievably staggering.
It's appallingly apparent that the people managing the palm oil business and the workers who are carrying out the actual clearing of the forest have zero regard for the fact that they're destroying the abundant and endangered wildlife that calls the forests home.
As a matter of fact the deforestation workers are instructed to get rid of any wildlife that happens to get in the way- and it doesn't matter how inhumanely they complete this task- including running over orangutans with their logging trucks.
Because of forests being cleared to make way for palm oil plantations, in just the last 20 years 90% of orangutan habitat has been obliterated. That's a difficult reality to let sink in.
If this kind of deforestation continues at the pace it's happening at now, orangutans could face extinction in the wild in 2016, and the jungle habitat that they call home could be entirely gone within 20 years.
Nearly 50% of products sold in supermarkets contain palm oil. Palm oil is grown, at the moment mainly in Malaysia and Indonesia. But now the Congo is under threat. To see HOW YOUR DAILY ROUTINE CAN HELP THE RAINFOREST go to:
http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/media.ashx/38436-rainforest-foundation-uk-palm-oil-guide-2016-update.pdf
Animals threatened by Palm Oil development in the Congo
BUFFALO
CHIMPANZEE
ELEPHANT
GORILLA
However, there is something that we can do to make sure that a disaster such as this never happens!
All we have to do is stop buying products that contain palm oil that is not a certified sustainable palm oil product as an ingredient, this will help reduce the insane demand for this incredibly unsustainable product.
Palm oil is found in many of the products that we use every day - from breadsticks to anti-dandruff shampoos - so for goodness sake, please check the label each and every time you buy.
A good site to visit for supermarkets and companies that use sustainable palm oil is http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/shoppingethically/palmoilfreelist.aspx
The warm, humid climate of the tropics offers perfect growth conditions for oil palms. Day after day, huge tracts of rainforest in Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa are being bulldozed or torched to make room for more plantations, releasing vast amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. As a consequence, Indonesia – the world’s largest producer of palm oil – temporarily surpassed the United States in terms of greenhouse gas emissions in 2015. With their CO2 and methane emissions, palm oil-based biofuels actually have three times the climate impact of traditional fossil fuels. https://www.rainforest-rescue.org/topics/palm-oil#start
Palm oil is high in fat which can lead to weight gain, heart problems, and other chronic disease, one tablespoon of palm oil has 120 calories and 13.6 grams of fat.
Lipstick
Palm Oil
The warm, humid climate of the tropics offers perfect growth conditions for oil palms. Day after day, huge tracts of rainforest in Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa are being bulldozed or torched to make room for more plantations, releasing vast amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. As a consequence, Indonesia – the world’s largest producer of palm oil – temporarily surpassed the United States in terms of greenhouse gas emissions in 2015. With their CO2 and methane emissions, palm oil-based biofuels actually have three times the climate impact of traditional fossil fuels. https://www.rainforest-rescue.org/topics/palm-oil#start
Palm oil is high in fat which can lead to weight gain, heart problems, and other chronic disease, one tablespoon of palm oil has 120 calories and 13.6 grams of fat.
Lipstick
Palm oil is used in some lipstick as it holds colour well, doesn't melt at high temperatures, and has a smooth application and virtually no taste
Pizza dough
Palm oil is added to many frozen and fresh pizza to stop it from sticking together and to enhance texture.
Instant Noodles
Palm Oil is up to 20% of the weight of a pack of some instant noodles. It's used to pre-cook the noodles so that all you have to do is add hot water
Shampoo
Palm Oil is used as a conditioning agent that helps restore the natural oils of the hair that are stripped away by most shampoos
Margarine
Palm oil is used in margarine because it is solid at room temperatures and is free of trans fats.
Ice Cream
Palm oil makes ice cream smooth and creamy
Many products that use palm oil aren't clearly labeled. Palm oil and its derivatives can appear under many names, including:
INGREDIENTS: Vegetable Oil, Vegetable Fat, Palm Kernel, Palm Kernel Oil, Palm Fruit Oil, Palmate, Palmitate, Palmolein, Glyceryl, Stearate, Stearic Acid, Elaeis Guineensis, Palmitic Acid, Palm Stearine, Palmitoyl Oxostearamide, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-3, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Kernelate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Sodium Lauryl Lactylate/Sulphate, Hyrated Palm Glycerides, Etyl Palmitate, Octyl Palmitate, Palmityl Alcohol
No comments:
Post a Comment