Did you know that your use of Palm Oil, is leading to the death of and extinction of Orangutans, Java Rhinos and Sumatra Tigers? The rising demand for this oil is leading to the deforestation of natural habitats in Malaysia and Indonesia. Every HOUR, land the size of 300 football fields is cleared! This is leading to the death of over 50 Orangutans per week. There are less then 500 Sumatran Tigers and less then 3000 Sumatran Elephants left in the wild.
While there are millions of hectares of degraded land that could be used for plantations, many Palm Oil companies choose to use rainforest land to gain additional profits by logging the timber first. Palm oil companies also frequently use uncontrolled burning to clear the land, resulting in thousands of Orangutans being burned to death. Those that survive have nowhere to live and nothing left to eat.
While you may not think that you play a part in the deaths of these creatures, you in fact do because every products which you buy that contains Palm Oil, is contributing to the destruction of the forests in Borneo and Sumatra.
Take for instance, the plight of the South Africa Rhino, we can try as hard as we can to stop poachers but what we really need to stop is the buyers of the finished product in Asian countries, we need to make them aware of what their actions are doing. Once these buyers stop buying, the poachers will stop killing. Therefore, once you stop buying the end product which leads to the death of the Orangutan (and many other animals), the people in Borneo and Sumatra will stop destroying the forest for Palm Oil plantations. Simple as that.
Only, where does one begin?
The first step we can take is by boycotting products which use Palm Oil. If we wish to go further, we may write to companies in South Africa that use Palm Oil and ask them to consider using a substitute oil. Plus it is also important that we share our knowledge about Palm Oil with our family and friends as the more people who boycott this Oil, the faster the companies will make a change.
Watch this...
