RPI’s EcoEd Research GroupMiddle School Research Program

Spring 2012

PALM OIL

By: GRACE MORTON

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INTRODUCTION

A local woman woke up today and washed her hair with shampoo and conditioner. Then she put on six kinds of makeup. Then she eats breakfast –toast with nutella. For lunch, she ate a peanut butter sandwich along with a pre-packaged rice crispy treat and some oreos. Later on, she has a table talk pie and some chocolate covered pretzels for a snack. A friend invites her over for some coffee, and gives the woman a twinkie. This woman is any orangutan’s nemesis. She has used fifteen products containing palm oil- and the day is only half over.

One reason we should be concerned about palm oil being consumed at such a very high rate is because of the deforestation for palm oil plantations. This loss of habitat results in a loss of biodiversity and the Indonesian environment and people are suffering. At this time many consumers don’t realize there is an issue with palm oil, and/or don’t know they are using it because products are poorly labeled. These same consumers don’t even realize they are eating it, or that there are serious environmental consequences to their consumption. This overconsumption is putting many very important species on the brink of extinction. We can’t boycott, so is there any hope for orangutans, tigers, rhinos, and elephants? Stakeholders include the animals, Indonesian locals, consumers, and the companies destroying Indonesia.

The second concern about Palm oil is that it contains a horribly unhealthy polyunsaturated fat that should not be consumed in the first place.

BODY

An important thing to know about palm oil is what it is. Most people who have heard of palm oil but not deeply researched it think that it is tapped from the tree, similar to maple syrup. This is not true. The oil is extracted from the pulp of the fruit of the oil palm tree. An oil palm tree can continue giving fruit for twenty to thirty years. Scientists are working on making recycled energy out of the leaves, skin of the fruit and the rest of the tree so less is wasted. (9)

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Oil Palm Plantation

Cleared area of Forest for Palm Plantation

Palm oil is a big problem. 1.8 million hectares of the oil palm tree were chopped down for palm oil in 2005. This was more than ever before (4). The oil is used in about half of common household products such as food, shampoo, and cosmetics, and is at an all time high consumption rate. Sadly, the significant loss of habitat is driving many species to extinction. The species include rhinoceros, banteng (wild ox), barking deer, giant flying squirrel, three kinds of monkey, and clouded leopard. Three of the most endangered species are (Sumatran) tigers, (Asian) elephant, and (Sumatran and Bornean) orangutans. (1)

There were 300,000 Bornean orangutans in nineteen hundred. 97% died in the 20th century. Sumatran orangutans only have 10,000 square miles left to live on. This is about the size of Vermont. It would not take a very long time to destroy that. They cannot spare 25,000 square miles which will only last us about five years at the current rate, and none of the other animals affected can either. (1)

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( xx)Orangutang

As for tigers, a solitary tiger, with the exception of those females that are accompanied by several cubs, needs twenty to thirty square miles of land. (8) They feed on large prey, as in one hundred to four hundred fifty pound animals. Some examples are crocodiles and other reptiles, along with the occasional other predator like a leopard, so there also must be enough land in the tiger’s territory to hunt. A male tiger’s range is slightly larger because it will overlap with several females. There needs to be room for four or five tigers in an area at least 100 square miles or the species will die out due to lack of reproduction or lack of space. (1), 97% of all tigers have also disappeared in the past 100 years due to palm oil. Because each tiger needs twenty to thirty square miles of land to themselves, the territory that supports the few that remain won’t last long if deforestation keeps up. Borneo (the area of Indonesia, Malaysia, and several other small affected countries) will be mostly gone by 2020.

(xx)Sumatran Tiger

One thing that impacts the animals greatly is forest fires. A single forest fire set by humans to clear land for a palm oil plantation killed over eight thousand orangutans. (5) In Indonesia, there are lots of forest fires to clear land for palm oil

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plantations. In 1997, a forest fire went out of control. Over eight thousand orangutans died. (1) Elephants trampled houses in their flee from the flames and were legally shot even though they were and are endangered.

( xx)Asian Elephant

The houses that were trampled would have been lost in the fire anyway. The flames were several miles away and humans whose houses were trampled by frightened elephants were about to leave. At the rate we are going, orangutans will be extinct by 2030 (4). Many other species – tigers, rhinoceros, elephants, gorillas, clouded leopards – will follow.

Indonesia is the earth’s leading source for palm oil, and clears 5,000 hectares a day. A hectare is about 2.5 acres, so that is about 12,500 acres a day. Indonesia, a poor country three times the size of Texas, could not ignore the benefit of producing palm oil. It is the cheapest edible oil, selling at only $555 a ton, making it the edible oil of choice for most of the world. To keep up with the demand, plantations need more land for more trees for more deforestation. At this time Indonesia emits more carbon based greenhouse gasses than any other country aside from China and the United States. Palm oil represents 30% of the world’s edible oil (3). A director of WWF Heart of Borneo Initiation, Adam Tomasek, argues about how harvesting is affecting everyone and everything that lives. “It is not only important locally, not only important regionally, but is an extremely important factor to the approach to global climate change.” (8) Deforesting Borneo will destroy a large and important reservoir of carbon. Carbon reservoirs (such as oceans, rain forests, and tundra) are important as a place to ‘lock up’ carbon, keeping it out of the atmosphere and limiting the concentration of this key greenhouse gas. Adam Tomasek also states, “These are not only vast forest landscapes which are home to the species such as orangutans or elephants, rhinos, but they’re also one of the globally most important reservoirs of carbon.” (8) We need to keep the carbon in the forests and carbon reservoirs by NOT burning the forests.

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It is debated whether or not it is safe to clear areas that have previously been used as plantations. Herakles farm is an area where there is a proposition to deforest for palm oil. Put in more from Annotatio 10 It is surrounded by protected areas and has been deforested before, but all evidence of that is gone. (7 and 10)

If economy was the only important factor in anything, Indonesia would be lucking out. It isn’t, however. The environment matters too, and it matters more. An Indonesian field supervisor says that “It’s a good job with a steady income, although it comes with a personal toll.” The toll is loss of environment. Going to work every day knowing what you are doing to the environment and destroying the forests anyway must be very difficult. Indonesia should stop the harvesting, but then it will once again be an exceptionally poor country. The country was so poor that it was willing to give up some of its best natural resources to get money. It is still a very poor country, but palm oil is working on that.

II. Transitioning

BiofuelAnother substance palm oil is used in is biodiesel, and biofuel, but there isn’t much difference between the two. Biodiesel and biofuel are used as substitutes for gasoline. There are other oils that can be used to make biofuel. (2)

These gasoline alternatives can be great for the environment – (1) unless you count Indonesia as the environment. The cars that use it go through it fast.

Human HealthPalm oil is in everything, but within it is a lot of polyunsaturated fat – a nasty trans fat that is anything but good for you. We are consuming trans fat and it’s not healthy for us. (explain why it is bad for us)

(xx) Trans Fat & Palm Oil Labels

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Many organizations in Indonesia along with Australia, the Federal Department of Agriculture in the United States, and the whole rest of the world, are working to do a more efficient job of labeling palm oil. Many products contain so many ingredients, such as palm oil, that are not on the ingredients list. In addition if people want to avoid eating oil, they will not be able to see that it is on some poorly labeled products.

It is very health beneficial to avoid palm oil. Avoiding polyunsaturated fat will not be easy unless you know certain products that are high in it – such as palm oil. Labeling each and every ingredient in a food product is important. Caring companies make sure that no ingredients are forgotten. Poor labeling can also be very dangerous to individuals that are allergic to it. Palm oil is not usually something people are allergic to, which is just an excuse for not being more thorough to include it on labels. The reason it should be labeled is because of the unhealthy nature of the polyunsaturated fat.

III. Human awareness and solutions

As a matter of awareness, we need to avoid purchase of any palm oil containing product that we have not used before. Second, we need to understand labels, and look for products that do not contain palm oil to use as part of our daily routines. Here are some alternatives for the woman that was mentioned earlier that used products containing palm oil (10F).

PRODUCT CURRENTLY USED ALTERNATIVE PRODUCTJOHNSONs Baby Shampoo Proctor & Gamble made sustainablyColgate Palmolive Conditioner Proctor & Gamble made sustainablyBODY SHOP soap IVORY made sustainablyMakeup, Great Lash Mascara, Revlon Lipstick

LOREAL products are made sustainably

Grilled Cheese with VELVETA cheese Locally made Cheese on Local breadNutella There is a Nutella Variety without the

palm oil.All Natural JIF Peanut Butter Skippy does not contain palm oil.Pre Packaged Rice Crispy Treat Use homemade rice crispy treatsOreo Use two slabs of crunchy chocolate and

some frosting!FLIPZ Chocolate Covered Pretzels Dip a organic pretzel in sustainably

produced chocolate

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Table Talk Individual prepared Pie Make a pie with locally grown fruitTwinkie Fill homemade cake with your own

frosting (butter from a local farm)PEDIGREE Pet Foods

Another factor in reducing consumption of palm oil is simple education. Reading information and knowing more is the first step. Then people need to spread the word. Simply encourage others in their families and communities to boycott use of new products containing palm oil and begin to choose alternatives for products they already use.

Sustainable harvesting Annotaton 10 about H Farm. FIND A REFERENCE AND DISCUSS THIS

AFFECT OF ELIMINATION TRANS FAT FROM ONES DIET

Other ongoing solutions

3) A description of what you think should be priority actions to address your topic’s environmental problems

ConclusionA closing story that conveys what your topic would look like after concerted effort to improve its environmental sustainability

Summary- Deforestation for palm oil plantations has a negative effect on Animal life in

areas where palm oil is harvested.- Palm oil can sometimes be green, when it is used to make biofuel.- The benefits from biofuel are outweighed by its effects on human health.- Since palm oil is not always labeled correctly, and it has the potential to be

dangerous, there are organizations working for proper labeling.- There are health benefits to avoiding polyunsaturated fat in palm oil.

Synthesis- Palm oil has no real benefits to humanity.

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- It destroys environments far away such as coral reefs.- Harvesting palm oil is an extreme contributor to global warming.- Loss of bidiveristy = loss of possibility to find medicines and other possibly

beneficial scientific findings

Re-stating thesis statement- It is unhealthy, bad for the people who consume it, hurts the environment

of Borneo and Sumatra, and hurts the people of Indonesia.

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