Help save Orangutans and other animals from extinction as a result of the irresponsible cultivation of palm oil.
I am sure you are aware of the environmental damage as a result of the cultivation of palm oil, in particular the loss of habitat for many animals including Orangutans who in countries such as Sumatra are under threat of extinction as their forest home is being felled and turned into oil palm plantations on a massive scale.
Below you will find more information and a number of suggested actions you can take. Please take as many as possible.
Firstly please sign and share the following petitions. All are simple requiring few details and just a click to sign.
Petition: Tell IOI to start protecting rainforests.
The first is an urgent petition from Green Peace who say the following about one palm oil company :
Indonesia: right now. Picture huge fires in swathes of beautiful rainforest. Imagine people and animals struggling to see, struggling to breathe, as a thick haze spreads.
During last year’s fires we forced big brands like Colgate to take rainforest destruction seriously – so we know that change is truly possible.
Together we’re going to win again – we’re going to show this palm oil predator, IOI, that the world has had enough. Are you in?
All the while, one palm oil company – called IOI – shrugs its shoulders and refuses to act, despite years of bulldozing rainforest and letting it burn.
IOI is a faceless palm oil company that keeps a low-profile (they have 86 followers on Twitter!) because they count on people being totally uninterested in their bad behaviour to get away with it. IOI thrives on secrecy and it’s up to us to expose it. If thousands of us add our names to this petition, IOI will know that thousands of pairs of eyes are watching them and they won’t be able to hide their forest crimes any more.
This petition is only the beginning; it’s part of a whole range of things we’re doing together across the world to challenge this company. Our investigators are already digging into IOI’s suppliers – finding yet more evidence of the company’s wrongdoing.
The industry is already turning against IOI. Last year half a million of us from a whole host of countries exposed big brands with an embarrassing palm oil league table and a whopping worldwide petition. As a direct result dozens of brands stopped buying from IOI. But now we need to stop this company’s shocking practices for good.
Fires are burning again in Indonesia and we cannot wait for IOI to change on their own. Please sign the petition now.
Petition to Tell IOI to start protecting rainforests.
https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/page/s/ioi?source=em&subsource=20160919foem01&utm_source=gpeace&utm_medium=em&utm_campaign=20160919foem01
More action to take and help support activists :
Click here to watch the action and send a message to IOI online
Petition From the Rain Forest Site
Save Our Planet By Putting An End To Unsustainable Palm Oil
“The habitats of iconic endangered species like tigers, orangutans, and rhinoceros are going up in flames, and being replaced with palm tree plantations.
Palm tree oil is one of the hottest commodities on the planet — it’s inexpensive, trans fat-free, and can be found in roughly fifty percent of all market products, according to Rainforest Action Network. But our excessive use of palm oil has come with a significant cost: the homes and lives of the most beautiful creatures on the planet.”
Please read more and sign and share the petition to tell the Indonesian government it’s time to end this madness. Ask President Joko Widodo and his environment & forestry minister Siti Nurbaya Baker to end these crimes against nature.
http://therainforestsite.greatergood.com/clickToGive/trs/petition/Indonesian-Fires? –You will find more suggestions further down for actions you can take concerning palm oil and its disastrous effects on wildlife.
Petition: Orangutans – victims of “sustainable” palm oil
The wholesale destruction of rainforests on Borneo for the palm oil plantations of Bumitama Gunajaya Agro (BGA) is threatening the survival of orangutans. BGA is a member of the RSPO – the organization issuing the label for supposedly “sustainable” palm oil. Please call for a stop to deforestation and an end to palm oil imports NOW!
Please read more and sign and share this petition
Please call for a stop to the destruction of Borneo’s rainforests and the unbridled expansion of oil palm plantations.
https://www.rainforest-rescue.org/petitions/914/orangutans-victims-of-sustainable-palm-oil
More information and other actions you can take
How This Baby Orangutan Feels About the Fact Their Population Might Be Extinct in 15 Years
“Listen up, people. See this super adorable baby orangutan? See his cute lil’ pout? And that hair? That hair! Blowing in wind. All innocent and cute. Well, if we humans don’t do something about deforestation and palm oil in the next fifteen years, this cutie and her family will no longer exist.”
Continue Reading:
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/how-orangutan-feels-about-extinction/ – includes actions you can take to help save orangutans
Sumatran Orangutans – on the edge of extinction
“The orangutans’ forest home is being felled and turned into oil palm plantations on a massive scale, logging continues even within national parks, and road networks divide the remaining forests into isolated fragments. Human-orangutan conflict is now frequent in farmlands, as orangutans raid crops in search of enough food for survival.”
Continue reading, includes Actions you can take to help Orangutans
http://www.orangutans-sos.org/orangutans/crisis?gclid=CPeIhvWMmssCFXMz0wod3LUIOw
Orangutan Project
“Indonesia is home to some of the most rich and biodiverse rainforest in the world.
It contains over 80 endemic species and some of the world’s most unique and iconic endangered wildlife such as the orangutan, elephant and tiger. “
Continue reading also suggested actions such as Join the Palm Oil Resistance Movement
http://www.orangutan.org.au/palm-oil
Be sure to check out this page with information about buying palm oil free products:
https://www.orangutan.org.au/about-orangutans/palm-oil/buy-palm-oil-free/
While palm oil is an ingredient of so many things you consume or use it can seem like a daunting task to cross it off your shopping list but try to avoid if an alternative exists or the product is not vital or failing that buy from manufacturers that use a sustainable source – more about sustainable palm oil further down. I think it may put people off if it is suggested to avoid palm oil entirely which may be virtually impossible and as such may make it seem like the situation is hopeless.
Help to stop the destruction of habitat for the cultivation of palm oil by writing to manufacturers and food producers
Take Action
Where a product lists palm oil as one of its ingredients why not write to the manufacturer stating your objections and ask them to use another type of oil or use palm oil from a sustainable source
Here is an example of a letter to Sainsbury’s which sell products produced by palm oil from sustainable sources and also palm oil from unstainable sources, – in other words grown on land from cleared rain forests, sources that result in deforestation, habitat degradation, climate change, animal cruelty and extinction.
Sample Letter it is better if you edit and use your own words if possible.
Hi
I have been buying your products for many years, and it has been a while since I checked out the ingredients.
However recently as a result of worldwide concern over the use of palm oil I decided to once again look at the ingredients and was shocked to find that in many cases these ingredients include palm oil.
Is your palm oil from a sustainable source?
If it is it might be an idea to indicate this on the packet, if it isn’t please consider switching to a sustainable source or using another type of oil.
I am sure you are aware of the environmental damage as a result of the cultivation of palm oil in particular the loss of habitat for many animals including Orangutans who in countries such as Indonesia are under threat of extinction as their forest home is being felled and turned into oil palm plantations on a massive scale: http://www.orangutan.org.au/palm-oil
I will only buy products if the palm oil comes from a sustainable forest.
Kind Regards
The more of us who write to retailers the better, let them know that you do not what palm oil in any of your products, public opinion can carry a lot of weight.
The contact details of all retailers are available on their websites. Don’t forget to check with less well known retailers and don’t assume that if a product is vegan or vegetarian that this means that the palm oil that they invariably use is from a sustainable source.
You can read more about sustainable palm oil here:
http://www.saynotopalmoil.com/Whats_the_issue.php – as you will read there are still problems with sustainable forest. The best solution would be not to grow palm oil at all.
However this is unlikely to happen in the forseeable future. Please therefore consider the following:
Should we boycott palm oil?
Palm oil is here to stay for the indefinite future. The vast majority is consumed in countries in Asia and the Middle East where rainforest conservation is a low priority and consumer demand for sustainable products is negligible. If the American, European and Australian NGOs fighting to save the rainforests call for a boycott, then the companies that use palm will have no incentive to purchase it from sustainable sources. After all, why would companies spend more money on sustainable palm if the people who care about sustainability aren’t buying it? That is why many NGOs argue that demanding and buying responsible palm oil will, over time, protect the remaining forests more than boycotting it will.
Continue reading:
http://theirturn.net/2015/04/02/sustainable-palm-oil/
Try to avoid palm oil or buy from sustainable resources only
Simply check the ingredients list
Here are a couple of lists of palm oil alternatives which many or may not be available in your country. When it doubt check with the manufacturer.
Borneo Orangutan Survival Austraila
http://www.orangutans.com.au/Orangutans-Survival-Information/Helping-you-buy-responsibly-Palm-oil-free-alternatives. – scroll down for a list of palm oil free or CSPO (Certified Sustainable Palm Oil) products
Rain Forest Foundation UK
http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/what-you-can-do/others-ways-to-support-us/be-an-ethical-shopper/ – has a pdf downloadable product guide you can keep with you
Rantings From a Virtual Soapbox 