Update: Orangutan experts plead for Australian food manufacturers to reject palm oil – Apes, elephants, rhinos & tigers at dire risk if unsustainable palm oil plantations allowed in Sumatran reserve (theguardian.com)

Birth of a baby Orang-utan.

When we buy these, we lose this.

Palm Oil isn’t “Green” or Vegetarian. And it’s in 50% of our favorite grocery store.

I was sitting around this morning, enjoying December 1st, reading the NY Times and drinking organic fair-trade coffee and eating organic oatmeal with Earth Balance, a locally-based company I love to love. And then I read the side of the container.

“Palm fruit…soy bean…”

I’ve blogged this stuff up. Palm oil kills orangutans, and forests. Soy beans kills the rapidly vanishing Amazon, the “earth’s lungs.” Now, Earth Balance is a great company. Palm oil is in 50% of all products.

But it’s time to make a change. And change starts with us. So let’s make some (respectful) noise—and ask those companies we love and support with our hard-earned dollars to get responsible. For now, there’s alternatives (listed here—or just remember that if it’s pure, real food with less than five ingredients, we’re probably good)—peanut butters etc that are simple, real food and don’t use palm oil.

They’re scheduled for extinction in 10-20 years. They’re renowned for their intelligence.

When we buy these products—food, toothpaste, deodorant—products that contain palm oil or “vegetable oil”—this is what happens.

If we’re vegan or vegetarian, and you eat palm oil or palm fruit or soy bean oil or vegetable oil, we aren’t vegan or vegetarian.

Palm oil is an extremely popular vegetable oil amongst manufacturers. It is used in over 50% of products, including: baked goods, confectionery, cosmetics, body products and cleaning agents. But in many countries, there is no law on the mandatory labelling of palm oil. Consequently, companies will usually hide palm oil under the name of ‘vegetable oil’, or over 170 other names! (See the list of the most common 30 names below).

(Click here for a slideshow of just a few organic products that use palm oil, via BlissTree)

Infographic:

After this campaign, Dove changed. Let’s make noise. Organic and vegan brands should be the first to change: