The palm oil problem

The New York Times recently reported a story about young orangutans being orphaned in Indonesia due to their forests and families burning in a 10,000-square-mile fire. Fires are annual and intentional, set by farmers to clear land for palm oil production. The ubiquitous and versatile oil is found in a multitude of products, including soap (Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day), snacks (Oreos) and vegan processed food (Earth Balance). Consumers can look to see if products are labeled by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil as certified sustainable palm oil, but if they aren’t, contact the company—many have Twitter accounts, it’ll take less time to send an inquiry than to keep up with the Vaindashians. Besides the orangutans, the World Wildlife Fund says unsustainable palm oil farming destroyed habitat for other endangered species—rhinos, elephants, tigers—and “robbed indigenous people of their land and livelihoods.”