Your Favorite Products Are Probably Destroying The Planet

It's in food, hair, and beauty products, and it's something you never thought would have as big as an impact as it does because this product goes unnoticed for the most part:

The product I am talking about is palm oil. 

                                                                  Photo Credit

It may not look like anything too bad, but the effects of it on our environment are shocking and dangerous. It's an ingredient that is overlooked and needs our attention immediately because if we continue to consume it, our planet and its inhabitants are in trouble. So, what is palm oil you may be asking? Palm oil is an additive in many different products that we all use daily, and I'm about to tell you just how problematic it is.

It's not the product in itself that is unhealthy or harmful, but what the process entails to get it. Palm oil grows in Indonesia and can take up to 30 years to grow very long branches and when that happens, many animals, specifically orangutans end up living in the trees. Eventually, when its time to cut them down, many of the animals lose their homes and are killed in the process. Because palm oil is such a popular additive, according to research, in the past 16 years, over 100,000 orangutans have been killed. Orangutans are already endangered, so at this rate, we are close to them going extinct. But this isn't something that only dangers orangutans, but also other animals who live in the area as well. 

                                                                  Rainforest Rescue

I didn't learn about palm oil until a few years when I read that it was in Oreos, and was deeply upset because that was something I loved. I loved Oreos not only because they're delicious, but because they're vegan, and I was happy I could continue to eat them. When I found out they contained palm oil, I knew I couldn't eat them any more because of the destruction it is doing to our wildlife and rainforests. A major problem in the food industry is that many of these things aren't regulated, and this is one of them. Rainforests are being cleared over and over again in order to grow palm oil, so more species are dying. In particular, where palm oil is mostly grown, it is filled with diverse wildlife. So when we are growing the oil, it is directly impacting the wildlife who lives there, "The rainforests of Indonesia are among the most biodiverse on the planet, containing 10% of the world's plants, 12% of mammals, and 17% of all known bird species. The threat from deforestation is huge,  as only half of the country's original forests remain, with an estimated 2 million acres lost every year" says EcoWatch. In the 1990s, there were over 300k orangutans, now there is an only an estimated 50,000.  Obviously, that is a huge drop, and this is all because our consumers and producers keep pushing the product out.

                                                        
Palm oil is the most consumed oil because it is very cheap among other oils, it is also a healthier alternative with no trans fat. Not only is this an environmental problem as I described above, but also a human rights issue. Most of the workers are children who are operating heavy machinery. There has also been evidence that one of the largest producers of palm oil also has the largest history of abuse of its workers, "Singapore based agribusiness Wilmar controls more than 43% of the global palm oil trade. However, workers on the Wilmar's and its suppliers' plantations struggle to earn enough for their families to live on, in extreme cases earning as little as the US $2.50 a day" says The Amnesty International Investigation. 
                                             

Photo Credit

There is some hope, though. Because of the awareness that is being spread over this issue, many companies are ditching palm oil or using sustainable palm oil. One video I found very helpful in understanding the issue in an easy way was an advertisement video that was made by Greenpeace. This advertisement was actually banned because it apparently it did not follow BBC guidelines; that did not stop the video from going viral though. The video shows an orangutan in a little girl's room, destroying everything in sight; the little girl is yelling at him to stop but he will not listen. She eventually asks him why he's there and he answers by saying, "There's a human in my forest and I don't know what to do. You destroyed all of our trees for your food and your shampoo", the video goes to show what's happening in the Orangutans home and what humans are doing to it. 

If there's one thing you can do to help the 25 Orangutans who die every day, it would be to stop consuming/using palm oil altogether.  Although it's in so many products, it can also be easily avoided. If you aren't ready to give it up entirely, go for the options that are more sustainable. 

                                                                   "Rang Tan"

Palm oil is a topic I am very passionate about and I hope I was able to inform some of you who weren't aware or sure about it. Remember, everything we do has an impact on something, we should try our best to do the least harm possible.