How to Stop Buying Palm Oil and Help Save the Orangutans

It came to my attention not that long ago (sometimes I’m very behind in these things) that Palm Oil is one of the world’s largest ongoing environmental disasters and the primary destructive force behind the rapid extinction of the orangutan. The good news is, each and every one of us can help put a stop to it.

In order to plant palm trees that produce oil-rich seeds, virgin rain forest in Indonesia, Sumatra and Borneo is clear cut. What remains is burned. This sounds bad at the outset, when you just think about the trees, but much worse when you think about the animals that live there, including orangutans. They are the world’s largest tree-living primate, spending 90 percent of their time in the branches and not on the ground. Their homes are cut down, and they are subsequently killed by hand or by fire. Hundreds of orangutans are slaughtered this way and dozens of babies orphaned each month, leaving us with a bleak 62,000 left in the world. It is estimated that they will be extinct in under 20 years at our current rate of palm oil consumption and planting. The orangutans are the biggest loser in this proposition, but many other animals are also dying from loss of habitat, fire and outright killing, including Sumatran Tigers, Sumatran Rhinos, Pygmy Elephants and Bornean Red Carnivores.

The palm oil industry presents other environmental problems including air pollution, and according to PalmOilAction.org, “This year Indonesia will be included in the Guinness Book of Records as the country which pursues the highest annual rate of deforestation. Currently an area of forest equal to 300 soccer fields is being destroyed every hour in the country.” Three hundred soccer fields every hour is a hard thing for me to get my head around, but it’s enough to make me read my ingredients before I buy.

That’s the sneaky thing about palm oil – we are often unaware it’s in our products, from cosmetics, to food to biofuel. We all heard about the two girl scouts, Madison Vorva and Rhiannon Tomtishen, who made news by asking Kellogg Company, the makers of Girl Scout Cookies, to stop using palm oil in its famous brand; and I found several great resources full of information on other products using palm oil:

Other Ingredient Names Used to Describe Palm Oil:

Sodium Laureth Sulphate (Can also be from coconut)
Sodium Lauryl Sulphates (can also be from ricinus oil)
Sodium dodecyl Sulphate (SDS or NaDS)
Palmate
Palm Oil Kernal
Palmitate
Palm Oil in Cosmetics
Elaeis Guineensis
Glyceryl Stearate
Stearic Acid
Chemicals containing palm oil
Steareth -2
Steareth -20
Sodium Lauryl Sulphate
Sodium lauryl sulfoacetate (coconut and/or palm)
Hydrated palm glycerides
Sodium isostearoyl lactylaye (derived from vegetable stearic acid)
Cetyl palmitate and octyl palmitate (and anything with palmitate at the end) [1]

Next: List of Products with Palm Oil

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Gabriel R.

3:30PM PDT on May 22, 2012

Please note that Dr. Bronner's uses sustainable palm oil. Visit http://www.drbronner.com/palm_oil_from_ghana.html to learn more. I am not affiliated with them at all except that I use their bar soaps, which I think are more sustainable than most other brands.

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Valentina R.

8:48AM PDT on May 15, 2012

I always buy palm oil-free chips. Thanks.

Colette N.

5:55AM PDT on Apr 11, 2012

I shall be checking all my cupboards... and trying very hard not to buy palm oil products if there are others available. It is difficult to ban all palm oil... so much is hidden and how do you find a shampoo that doesn't have sodium laurel sulphate in it??? What other foaming agents are there?

My husband is not so committed to this cause, so I shall have to be vigilant. I've already told him that I refuse to eat anything with palm oil in it (he does the cooking), so I hope he doesn't sneak anything in while my back is turned.

The forest devastation is truly disturbing... and today of all days... the Tripa Peat Forest (in recent controversy for legal actions against the Indonesian Government and Palm Oil Companies) is right on the North-Western coast of Sumatra that has just experienced the 8.6 Earthquake and potential tsunami in Aceh Province! These poor people (not to mention the Orang Utans) just seem to cope with disaster after disaster. They have only just recovered after the 2004 Tsunami in the same region.

Jason G.

2:04PM PDT on Apr 4, 2012

great information thank you

Elizabeth M.

12:51PM PST on Feb 25, 2012

Saved the lists and shared. Thanks for this as there were many I was not aware contained Palm Oil. Destroying forests/rainforests to plant Palm Oil is such a travesty, as it has had a Major Effect on the Forests Animals.

Joe R.

4:23PM PST on Jan 27, 2012

The many names for palm oil make it hard.

julie t.

4:14PM PST on Jan 27, 2012

we must curb/stop our use of palm oil and all its names. Just read this: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2092722/Pregnant-orang-utan-hugs-daughter-bounty-hunters-Borneo-in.html

so sad...and all the others that rescue groups dont get to in time????

Allan Y.

3:04PM PST on Jan 12, 2012

Shame on Ben & Jerry's - considered the front runners in environmental causes. I'm also surprised at Bumble Bee.

New G.

2:22PM PST on Dec 25, 2011

I didn't know much about palm oil, thanks.

Michela M.

10:38AM PST on Dec 4, 2011

Please Join “ORANGUTANS: Men of the Forest”
http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/Michela
Together with Sumatran Tigers (Java and Bali Tigers already EXTINCT), Elephants, Rhinos, Wildlife, Biodiversity face EXTINCTION!! Only 300 Sumatran Tigers left on Earth!!!
300 Football Fields of Rainforests are CLEARED every hour in SE Asia to produce Palm Oil: a hidden, not labelled, unhealthy ingredient in the products we buy.
We MUST do WHATEVER is possible to SAVE them all!!
Against: Deforestation, Illegal Logging, Pet Trade, Corporate Control, Pollution, CO2Emissions, Indigenous Peoples Displacement, Global Warming!! Petitions/Info/Videos/Pics are there.
Please!! Join, Sign, Invite friends to Join Group!! Individually: we are one DROP, all together: we are an OCEAN!! ALL together we can make the difference!! Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world -Margaret Mead Thanks!! Michela