Palm oil and how its destroying wildlife and their habitats

Bukit+Lawang%2C+orangutans+by+Arian+Zwegers+is+licensed+under+CC+BY+2.0

“Bukit Lawang, orangutans” by Arian Zwegers is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Palm oil is an economic problem in the world today. Most of the time this problem wont be recognized however its a major cause in climate change.

Due to the production of this oil , destruction has occurred such as deforestation of rainforests and homes to thousands of animals including orangutans, rhinos, elephants, tigers and more. Due to these animals not having a place to live their breeds are becoming endangered.

The animals that are being affected the most are orangutans. The overuse of palm oil is the leading cause of their extinction estimated to 1,000-5,000 orangutan deaths every year due to the palm oil industry.

Unfortunately 50% of companies still use palm oil in their products. However more companies are starting to go greener and reducing the usage or even banning the usage of palm oil in their products. These companies include Rude Health,Infinity Foods, Hodmedod, and MOMA.

Products that contain palm oil you should avoid to help:

  • Bread
  • Makeup
  • Most Soaps
  • Ice cream
  • Biscuits
  • Skippy peanut butter
  • Ritz crackers
  • Head and Shoulders shampoo
  • Cadbury’s chocolate

Some alternative products/brands that don’t contain palm oil

  • All lushes gourmet soaps
  • Ben and Jerry’s ice cream
  • Divine chocolate
  • Hippeas, nakd, yoyo snacks
  • Cookies/biscuits of M&S
  • Body shops lipstick

A few oils that we can use in substitute for palm oil are

  • Coconut oil
    Shea butter
    Rapeseed oil
    Sunflower oil

Things we can do to reduce the amount of palm oil being used:

  • Only use products that clearly contain labeled oils ex- coconut oils, canola oils
  • Do research on your day to day products to see if they contain palm oil
  • Look for alternatives to palm oil products
  • Sign petitions to help and get the word out
  • Spread the word about how the usage of this oil affects our planet and wildlife

Petitions we can sign to help stop deforestation due to palm oil production

  • https://www.change.org/p/environment-america-help-ban-palm-oil-to-prevent-deforestation/psf/share?source_location=combo_psf&psf_variant=combo&share_intent=1&share_abi=1
  • https://www.change.org/p/kellogg-s-stop-destroying-rainforests-for-cheap-palm-oil
  • https://therainforestsite.greatergood.com/clicktogive/trs/petition/Indonesian-Fires