Tag Archives: Palm oil

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Palm Oil ~~ Activists and RAN

06/10/2013 Nativegrl77

For the last month, a team of Palm Oil Activists working with RAN has been going to grocery stores to put “Warning: this snack may contain orangutan extinction” stickers on products containing palm oil that may be tied to rainforest destruction. They’ve talked to store managers about the palm oil in the snack foods they sell, they’ve had conversations with their friends and family about the rainforest destruction that palm oil is driving, and they’ve generally been all-stars at putting the snack industry on notice.

Before we launch into our next round of calling out snack food containing destructive palm oil, we wanted to give you a quick update on where our campaign is at, and invite you to get in on the action: Sign up for the Palm Oil Action Team now and you can be a part of awesomeness like this:

In April, we sent letters to 20 of the leading snack food companies—makers of some of the most popular brand name products in America. We told them that we are giving them this one chance to come clean and commit to breaking the link between their snack foods and controversial palm oil production that is tied to rainforest destruction and human rights violations.

Since then, over 40,000 people have pledged to stand with RAN and demanded that the snack food industry take rainforest destruction and human rights violations out of our snacks. Hundreds of people have signed up to take action with us as part of the Palm Oil Action Team.

Our mission is to convince these 20 companies to commit to only purchasing palm oil that has been produced responsibly, without links to rainforest destruction and human rights violations. So far, nine of the 20 snack food companies responded to our letter. Eight of these companies have agreed to meet with us.

Eleven snack food companies have not responded to our letters. We need to let them know that they can not ignore this important issue any longer.

We’re off to a great start. But we need your help to get orangutan extinction out of America’s snack foods.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Get the facts. Then share them

05/23/2013 Nativegrl77

Gemma Tillack, Rainforest Action Network

Help spread the word about palm oil’s destructive impact on Indonesia’s rainforests—and how we can stop it!

We’ve been writing to you about the deforestation in Indonesia caused by palm oil production for years now. But you might still be connected to the problem and not even know it.
Palm oil is in roughly half of all the products on your grocery store shelves, including many of the most popular snack foods. Cookies, crackers, ice cream, peanut butter, chocolate bars… You get the point. Palm oil is difficult to avoid, especially if you don’t even know what to look for.
How can you find out if palm oil is an ingredient in your favorite snack? Why are rainforests being cut down for palm oil in the first place? And what can you do about it? Everything you need to know is in this blog post, which you can easily share with your friends and family!
To stop a problem as large as the destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests for palm oil, though, it’s not enough to arm ourselves with the facts. We need to spread the word as far and wide as possible. Everyone needs to know their connection to rainforest destruction and how they can be part of the solution.
Is your favorite snack food contributing to rainforest destruction? Get the facts. Then share them.
If you look for “palm oil” in the ingredients list of your favorite snack food, you may not find it. But that doesn’t mean it’s not there. Palm oil often gets listed as something seemingly harmless (though generally with more syllables than real food), like Ascorbyl Palmitate or Palm Kernel Stearin .
We put together all the information you need about palm oil’s destructive impact on the rainforests of Indonesia, and outlined ways you can take action to break the link between America‘s favorite snack foods and rainforest destruction. Arm yourself—and your friends and family—with the facts now.

		For the forests,
		Gemma Tillack Senior Agribusiness Campaigner

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Laila Sapphira Williams, Greenpeace

02/21/2013 Nativegrl77

Cameroon Indonesia Herakles Farm and Bruce Wrobel

www.greenpeace.org

A U.S. corporation has its eyes set on plowing down an area of African rainforest ten times the size of Manhattan for a palm oil plantation.
Take Action

Send a message right now to Herakles Farms’ CEO Bruce Wrobel demanding his company drop its plans and commit to a ‘zero deforestation’ policy.

www.greenpeace.org

Industrial scale palm oil production is coming to Africa and it’s bad news for the rainforest of Cameroon.
Palm oil is the world’s cheapest edible oil and global demand is booming. That’s why a U.S. corporation called Herakles Farms is pushing ahead with plans to plow down an area of primate rainforest ten times larger than Manhattan to create a palm oil plantation in Cameroon.
Together we have won major victories to save rainforest from expanding palm oil plantations in Indonesia. Now we’re launching a campaign to do the same in Africa.
Rainforest from the proposed site has already been cleared. We have to act before the large scale destruction starts.
Send a message right now to Bruce Wrobel, the CEO of Herakles Farms, demanding his company drop plans to destroy rainforests for palm oil in Cameroon and commit to a ‘zero-deforestation’ policy.
Cameroon holds part of the world’s second largest rainforest. And the proposed plantation site is home to wildlife species like the African elephant and endangered chimpanzee. It also provides for the livelihoods of more than 14,000 Cameroonians who rely on the forest for small subsistence farming.
Yet Herakles Farms’ CEO Bruce Wrobel refuses to acknowledge these facts, instead claiming that the company is aiming to help the community through economic development. But the facts on the ground tell a different story. The Herakles Farms project is simply the wrong project in the wrong place.
Help us shine a public spotlight on Herakles Farms’ African palm oil plantation proposal by sending a message to the company’s CEO today.
We’ve voiced our concerns and, so far, been ignored. But Herakles Farms won’t be able to ignore thousands of your messages.
Coming off of one of the biggest breakthroughs in forest conservation history only a couple of weeks ago in Indonesia, we know what citizen activism can do when it comes to protecting the world’s rainforests. If we flood Herakles Farms’ inboxes with letters over the next few days, the company will no longer be able to ignore us and will be forced to address the truth about its plans in Africa.
This is only the beginning of our work. Over the next few months, Greenpeace will continue working with local partners in Africa to stop this project and to showcase solutions with farmers already active in the region.
It all starts with getting Herakles Farms’ attention. That starts with you taking action today. Together, we can put a stop to this project before it really gets started.
For the forests,
Laila Sapphira Williams Greenpeace Forest Campaigner

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Less stuff, more orangutans

11/28/2012 Nativegrl77 1 Comment

Give the gift of RAN.

It’s so easy to give something meaningful.

Forget Black Friday. It’s Non-Profit Tuesday! (No, we didn’t make that up.)

The holidays are coming up soon, and you’re probably starting to look for gifts for your loved ones. But—going out on a limb here—I’m willing to bet you don’t want to give a bunch of useless stuff to your friends and family. That’s why we’re excited to offer a variety of gifts that will make a world of difference without crowding our world with more disposable junk.

A Certificate of Action from RAN isn’t stuff—it’s a unique way to support our work to protect rainforests around the world and the people and wildlife that depend on them. You’ll be giving a meaningful gift to a loved one while at the same time doing something good for the planet.

Action Packed Gifts for 2012
	Found only in Malaysia and Indonesia, man’s closest relative is being threatened by rapid loss of rainforest habitat. Your gift will support efforts to stop the devastating expansion of paper and palm oil plantations into Indonesia’s tropical forests, saving the lush wild places that orangutans call home.
	Your gift directly supports the grassroots efforts of historically underfunded organizations and communities struggling to protect their rainforest homelands—known to be the best guardians of the forest. Help ensure that small local organizations and Indigenous federations across the globe are supported in their efforts to protect the world’s remaining rainforests for many generations to come.
	There are less than 400 Sumatran tigers remaining in the wild and habitat destruction by the pulp and paper industry is a primary cause of their decline. Your gift will support RAN’s campaign to stop the conversion of Indonesia’s stunning and diverse rainforests into a wasteland of single species pulp plantations to make cheap copy paper, books, tissue and toilet paper.
	The biggest banks are threatening to take us to the edge of an ecological catastrophe if they don’t stop funding coal, the primary driver of climate change. Coal is responsible for 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and poisons the world’s streams, rivers and oceans with mercury, arsenic and other dangerous chemicals. It’s long past time that U.S. banks start funding a renewable energy economy.