It’s in your shampoo, ice cream, and laundry detergent.
And it’s killing our planet.
I’m talking about palm oil, a vegetable oil that comes from the oil palm tree. The oil palm tree grows in tropical rainforests where rich biodiversity has flourished for millennia.
But with the heightening production level of palm oil, these ecosystems are being rapidly destroyed, taking the health of our planet with them.
Palm oil is primarily grown in Indonesia and Malaysia, with rainforests that “rival the diversity of New Guinea and the Amazon,” according to WorldWildLife.org. These regions are home to hundreds of thousands of animals, including the orangutan, Sumatran tiger, and elephant. These species’ numbers are dwindling as their habitats are decimated.
According to the organization Say No to Palm Oil, in the past 20 years more than 90 percent of orangutan habitats have been wiped out, along with more than 50,000 orangutans. If palm oil production continues at its current rate, orangutans are projected to go extinct before 2026.
Extinction of beloved animals like the orangutan is only one of many risks that palm oil poses against the planet. In order to create palm oil plantations, valuable trees must be cut down and the remainder of forestland burned. This process releases tremendous amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, feeding the roaring flames of global climate change. The World Resources Institute states that due in large part to the palm oil industry, Indonesia is now the fourth highest emitter of carbon in the world.
Despite these obviously detrimental effects of palm oil production, the industry is still heavily promoted, in part as a tactic to employ communities in Southeast Asia. However, the reality of the palm oil industry is dark and dangerous for workers.
Reporters have discovered that palm oil contractors are exploiting children through unsafe labor, suffocating employees with minimal wages, and refusing to properly feed or house the on-site workers whose lives revolve around palm oil. According to Bloomberg, these human-rights violations continue because “palm oil companies face little pressure from consumers to change.”
That’s why consumers like you and me are responsible for bringing change to this highly destructive industry. Palm oil may be cheap, but the impact it has on this planet is incredibly costly. People, animals, and the environment are facing exploitation and decimation, just so corporations make a larger profit margin.
Be mindful of the ingredients in the products you purchase. Vote against the atrocities of the palm oil industry by avoiding palm oil in your household cleaners, body products, and food. It’s up to us to pressure palm oil companies to stop killing the planet and its remaining beauty.
