Save Tropical Frogs: Boycott Palm Oil
Action Alert from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Save the Frogs!
January 2014

ACTION

This is a clearing in Riau, Indonesia...

BOYCOTT PALM OIL!

Tropical rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands around the world are rapidly being destroyed to grow oil palm (Elaeis guineensis), which produces a vegetable oil high in saturated fats, commonly known as palm oil. In recent decades, palm oil has become a common ingredient in candy, peanut butter, soap, shampoo, conditioner, hair sprays, cosmetics, cooking oil, ramen noodles and other supermarket products, as well as biofuel. Approximately 85% of the world's palm oil comes from non-certified sources that have few environmental or social safeguards.

SAVE THE FROGS! recommends that you DO NOT BUY PRODUCTS WITH PALM! Please look at the ingredient list of products you are considering buying, and if it says palm, buy another brand! Through awareness we can reduce the demand for palm oil. SAVE THE FROGS! has teamed up with Generation Awakening and we have begun writing CEO's of large companies to ask them to remove palm oil from their products. We will keep you updated as to our results and may be asking your support in sending in letters to the corporations should they be unwilling to move in a more environmentally friendly direction. Learn more about palm oil on our brand new webpage:

The problems with palm oil

The palm oil industry is directly responsible for:

1.  the destruction of critical wildlife habitat in some of the world's most biodiverse areas;
2.  heavy pesticide use and release of toxic chemicals as effluent from palm mills;
3.  the release of huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere through the burning and clearing of carbon-rich peatlands and rainforests, contributing to global warming;
4.  erosion, which clogs streams and facilitates landslides;
5.  an increase in saturated fats in the human diet;
6.  the displacement of indigenous people;
7.  the use of child and forced labor;
8.  direct killing of wildlife by plantation owners who view animals that eat palm fruit as pests;
9.  an increase in fossil fuel us

This is a clearing in Riau, Indonesia; photo courtesy of Aldenenvironment

Print and post this flyer!

Please click to download the flyer (PDF)...

Then print it and post it around town, at your school or at your local supermarket or coffeeshop. You can also download the image and post it on your website or social media page linked to: http://savethefrogs.com/palm

Thanks!

Palm Oil in your Food

This image from Rainforest Action Network shows some of the many companies that use palm oil in their products.

Quick Facts about palm oil

- Oil palm production in Indonesia grew 12.5% annually from 1996-2006 and in Malaysia it grew 6.6% over the same time period. (Sodhi 2010). Indonesia and Malaysia account for approximately 85% of the world's palm oil production, and are home to 494 known amphibian species.

- In oil palm plantations, species that can utilize the palm nuts can be abundant and are often considered pest species by plantation managers (McShea et al. 2009). For instance squirrels (Callosciurusspp.), common porcupine (Hystrix brachyura), palm civets (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) and bearded pigs (Sus barbatus).

- Between 1990 and 2013, global consumption of palm oil has increased by five times (Skinner 2013).

- Southeast Asia has the highest relative rate of deforestation of any major tropical region, and could lose three quarters of its original forests by 2100 and up to 42% of its biodiversity (Sodhi et al. 2004).

These photos from Borneo are coutesy of David Dennis who says of his trip to Borneo: "The destruction is horrendous." 

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Thank you for everything you do for animals!

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