Summary
The world's growing appetite for cheap palm oil is destroying rain forests and amplifying climate change. Sumatran orangutans were dying in the Tripa forest in Indonesia, when the flames devoured the trees, smoke filled the air and the red apes had nowhere to go. Intentionally set fires; cleared the land for planting oil palms. With its low price tag and long shelf life, palm oil is the cooking oil of choice in many parts of the world. Palm oil in Indonesia cover an estimated 8.2 million hectares of land an area the size of Maine and that number is poised to skyrocket as the country prepares to double its output by 2030. Exports of palm oil bring Indonesia and neighboring Malaysia $40 billion a year; yet this profit comes at a terrible toll. Converting forests into oil palm plantations destroys the home of not only orangutans but also such critically endangered creatures as the Sumatran tiger and the Sumatran rhino. Logging and burning releases large quantities of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Much of the forest sits on peatland, the draining and burning of which releases even more carbon dioxide than the clearing of the overlying trees does. The most promising plan to stop it comes courtesy of the U.N.'s Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) program, which would get developed countries to pay developing countries to not cut down trees. Americans should demand transparency about where the palm oil in all consumer products comes from and take our money elsewhere when products endanger ecosystems.
The world's growing appetite for cheap palm oil is destroying rain forests and amplifying climate change. Sumatran orangutans were dying in the Tripa forest in Indonesia, when the flames devoured the trees, smoke filled the air and the red apes had nowhere to go. Intentionally set fires; cleared the land for planting oil palms. With its low price tag and long shelf life, palm oil is the cooking oil of choice in many parts of the world. Palm oil in Indonesia cover an estimated 8.2 million hectares of land an area the size of Maine and that number is poised to skyrocket as the country prepares to double its output by 2030. Exports of palm oil bring Indonesia and neighboring Malaysia $40 billion a year; yet this profit comes at a terrible toll. Converting forests into oil palm plantations destroys the home of not only orangutans but also such critically endangered creatures as the Sumatran tiger and the Sumatran rhino. Logging and burning releases large quantities of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Much of the forest sits on peatland, the draining and burning of which releases even more carbon dioxide than the clearing of the overlying trees does. The most promising plan to stop it comes courtesy of the U.N.'s Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) program, which would get developed countries to pay developing countries to not cut down trees. Americans should demand transparency about where the palm oil in all consumer products comes from and take our money elsewhere when products endanger ecosystems.
Reflection
Palm oil is in almost every food product we buy, especially in those Oreo's cookies which the majority of us love. From food to cosmetics, palm oil is causing orangutans and other species like the Sumatran tiger and rhino to lose their homes. It's shocking that a study that was published online in Nature Climate Change projected that the expansion of oil palm plantations, Indonesian Borneo will release 558 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2020. As consumers we have the power to force companies to change, by replacing palm oil with other vegetable oils in products made for the markets. Ruining natures creation for our wants isn't worth it considering the fact that there will always be a certain consequence for it.
Palm oil is in almost every food product we buy, especially in those Oreo's cookies which the majority of us love. From food to cosmetics, palm oil is causing orangutans and other species like the Sumatran tiger and rhino to lose their homes. It's shocking that a study that was published online in Nature Climate Change projected that the expansion of oil palm plantations, Indonesian Borneo will release 558 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2020. As consumers we have the power to force companies to change, by replacing palm oil with other vegetable oils in products made for the markets. Ruining natures creation for our wants isn't worth it considering the fact that there will always be a certain consequence for it.