Tees for Animal Lover
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Despite the fact that palm oil can be found in over 50 percent of consumer goods, many people do not even know this oil exists. Thanks to its incredible versatility, low cost, and shelf-stability, palm oil is used in everything from snacks to cosmetics and laundry detergent in the U.S. Unfortunately, although palm oil makes many of the things we use every day possible, it is also responsible for mass deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia.
The palm plant thrives in warm, rainforest climates, and due to high demands for palm oil, the native forest ecosystem is often destroyed to make way for enormous palm plantations. Not only does this mean the loss of native trees and plant species, but also animal species. Habitat loss and destruction associated with palm oil has caused the orangutan population to decline by 50,000 individuals in the past two decades.
The drone footage in this video shows a huge swath of palm oil plantations in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Seeing the scope of this destruction against the backdrop of intact forest, we can’t help but wonder if our consumer goods are worth this?
The good new is, avoiding palm oil can be relatively simple if you know what you’re looking for. You can check out these tips to ensure that the products you buy aren’t funding destruction like this.
People have become unwitting consumers of this and a demand that did not exist has been created by the producers of it. It is so ubiquitous it is literally in everything. Now I have found out about about it I try to check everything I buy for it. Even the labels which say sustainable palm oil don’t convince me. When you make some of the foods fresh from scratch at home you do not need to add palm oil. We do not need it, stop forcing it literally down people’s throats.
I saw this first hand in Malaysia in the past few weeks. (It’s also in Indonesia, Philippines, and many countries in Southeast Asia)
I was similarly saddened and dismayed as I passed miles of palm trees planted in rows in palm plantations.(bus ride from Singapore to Melaka)
The ones with money and power are doing this, and they don’t need more of either, they are just collecting more because they can.
It looks beautiful when it’s planted in palms, but they lose soooo much to get it . Forests that will NEVER return.
It’s all based on demand. Palm oil, for artificial food.
As long as people keep buying it, they will keep doing this.
When there is no demand, it will stop. But the forests will never be replanted, and will probably become new deserts.
…What a shame,…truly a shame..