Being a cat myself, I have a deep respect for tigers. Not only are they gracious and beautiful to look at but they are also serious killers on top of the food chain.
This is why I got deeply saddened to learn that there’s only 400 sumatran tigers left on this planet. They are critically endangered as a species. The thing is, the current status of the sumatran tiger speaks of a bigger picture than just it’s cause. Let me explain:
Being on top of the ecosystem, tigers can only thrive if the rest of the forest do so. If there’s not enough herbivores for them to eat, they starve. What do the herbivores eat? Plants of course. So, no plants = no herbivores = no carnivores. The thing is, many of the animals that call the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra home are endemic to that region, meaning when their homes disappear, they’ve got nowhere else to go. They will go extinct as in gone forever.
This loss of tigers illustrates a complete collapse of the native ecosystem. You see, Sumatra was onces filled with 25 million hectares of forests. This was until 1985 when deforestation started to occur at an alarming rate. As a result, the tigers saw a 50% loss of their habitat between 1985 and 2011.
Today, every hour, around the clock, around 300 football fields of rainforests are being chopped down.
Why? To make room for palm oil plantations. This loss of forest not only translates into enormous greenhouse gas emissions speeding up global warming, but also the devastating loss of local biodiversity.
If we don’t do something, we stand to lose the sumatran tiger, elephant, orangutan and rhino during our lifetimes.
So what can we do?
First, check this scorecard out to see if your favorite brands and companies are having a sustainable palm oil policy or not.
Second: what about always reading the label on foods that are most common to contain palm oil to make sure you opt out and pick something cleaner? In your diet this includes processed snacks like chocolate, cookies, ice cream, margarine, granola bars, candy, chips, crackers, pastries and frozen pizza. It only takes a second to check the label and you are literally saving this planet by doing so!
As for personal care and cosmetics items, palm oil can be in just about anything, so it may be easier to look up companies using the scorecard instead of reading the long and complicated labels.
PS: it goes under many different names: Elaeis guineensis, Etyl palmitate, Glyceryl, Hydrogenated palm glycerides, Octyl palmitate, Palm fruit oil, Palm kernel, Palm kernel oil, Palm stearine, Palmate, Palmitate, Palmitic acid, Palmitoyl oxostearamide, Palmitoyl tetrapeptide-3, Palmityl alcohol, Palmolein, Sodium kernelate, Sodium laureth sulfate, Sodium lauryl lactylate/sulphate, Sodium lauryl sulfate, Sodium palm kernelate, Stearate, Stearic acid, Vegetable fat, Vegetable oil.
If you see either of these two labels you are in the clear 🙂
Third: why not DYI? Almost everything you can buy in the store you can make healthier, kinder and tastier at home. Google any recipe and I assure you that a recipe will pop up! (check out our mjautella to say f*ck you to nestle and nutella or this recipe on healthier oreos without the destruction)
Forth: get loud about it! This info is not something that companies want us to find out about! So now that you know, tell a friend, your family, share it on your facebook.. Hell, tell strangers on the bus! Together we can stop the demand for this unsustainable oil and make companies change! While you are add it, sign petitions and call companies out on their bullshit.
And lastly, considering giving back by supporting organizations that are fighting to make change.