How Green are your Easter Eggs?

Easter is almost upon us.

There’s a fact that people who are concerned with the environment don’t know.

Many Easter eggs contain palm oil.

Some comes from sustainable suppliers, some eggs don’t have it; but there are disreputable brands available on the market.

Easter eggs rated by palm oil use

Lindt, Thorntons and Guylian come bottom of a league table of chocolate Easter eggs scored on use of unsustainable palm oil

Chocolate Easter eggs on sale in a supermarket. Photograph: Kevin Britland/Alamy

Lindt, Thorntons and Guylian have come bottom of a green ranking of Easter eggs based on their use of palm oil. Divine Chocolate came top, with the Co-operative and Sainsbury’s close behind in the survey of more than 70 brands by Ethical Consumer magazine and charity Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK).

The organisations are launching a campaign in response to the increasing threat that unsustainable palm oil is posing to the world’s rainforests, their indigenous wildlife, and the people whose livelihoods depend on the forests. Having destroyed vast areas of forest in countries such as Indonesia, palm oil companies are now planning to expand in the rainforests of the Congo Basin in Africa.

Consumers are unaware of palm oil content, the campaign says, because of current labelling laws. Palm oil is a key ingredient in many food products – including chocolate and biscuits – but companies are not required by EU law to label products containing it until December 2014.

The aim of the campaign is to encourage consumers to buy the best-rated products, forcing those companies that are not taking their environmental responsibilities seriously to use more sustainably sourced palm oil.

Divine and Booja-Booja were deemed to have the best overall credentials, with neither using any palm oil in their chocolate products. Traidcraft, Co-operative Food and Sainsbury’s also scored very highly.

The bottom three chocolate companies were deemed to be Lindt, Thorntons and Guylian. Lindt reportedly supplied inaccurate figures to Ethical Consumer, while Thorntons and Guylian failed to submit any documentation to the organisations that set international sustainable palm oil standards.

Cadbury – now owned by US company Kraft – had poor scores while stablemate Green & Black’s, well-known for its organic range, did much better.

 

Read more

Are you planning on a green Easter?

Give an orangutan a present this Easter…

Change the World Wednesday – 27th Feb

I got the hint from SF in her CTWW round-up that my beer had less than the required six ingredients…

So assuaging all vestiges of guilt.

Panic attack over, I have no fear of purgatory.

Last night’s dinner was a left over. The previous day I had cooked some chicken pieces in a cream sauce. A simple as recipe:

• ½kg (1lb) diced chicken
• Olive oil for frying
• Chopped Parsley
• Chicken stock cube
• Fry that lot off until golden.
• Add fresh cream (in that it comes in a box)
• Healthy splash of soya sauce

Done, eat and enjoy.

It makes enough for two, so when cool put the rest in the fridge for a quick reheat like last night when I arrived home at 9pm.

Click image for full post

This week’s CTWW, hmmm, soap?

This week review the body soap you are currently using. Please include such information as how the product performs, how it was packaged and the ingredients. Perhaps do a little research on the ingredients to determine if they are all environmentally and personally safe. You may include the name of the soap or not … your choice. You may also post your review on any platform, including a comment here. The idea is for us to take an honest look at the soap we’re using and share information so that we all learn.

I categorically refuse to buy anything packaged like this

My criteria for buying soap is simple: cheap!

I usually buy what is on special and I have given scant regard as to what’s in it. It’s an area that I have never considered.

The brands are usually Lux or Plamolive; I’m not fussy about brands. Currently they run around R$.89 cents a cake (USD.45c+/-). Anything over R$1 is off limits, I have said that I live frugally, and I refuse to spend a fortune on such things as soap.

My soap comes in a wrapper and I won’t consider these hand dispensers and anything like plastic tubes. They are expensive and a total waste of natural resources. My opinion is that they should be banned.

But what is in my soap?

Good question… next! (My answer to everything my students ask that I don’t have an immediate answer for).

What are the ingredients for Palmolive Original?

Sodium Tallowate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Aqua, Sodium Palmate, Parfum, Sodium Chloride, Glycerin, Titanium Dioxide, Elaeis Guineensis, Olea Europaea, Pentasodium Pentetate, Cellulose Gum, Tetradibutyl Pentaerithrityl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate. – Answers.com

.

OMG, just look at that list!

Sodium Tallowate – is the saponified beef tallow. Saponification: To convert (a fat or oil) into soap. Free Dictionary

Sodium Palm Kernelate – This is a natural salt derived from palm kernel oil, which is in turn derived from the kernels (seeds) of the oil palm.

Aqua – I can’t find anything but a band called Aqua. (Music is crap, songs like I’m a Barbie Girl)

Sodium palmitate – Is commonly obtained by saponification of palm oil. To this end, palm oil, rendered from the coconut palm nut.

Parfum – Perfume (non-specific)

Sodium Chloride – Salt

Glycerin – Glycerol

Titanium Dioxide – whitening agent (There are some health concerns)

Elaeis guineensis – is a species of palm commonly called African oil palm or macaw-fat. It is the principal source of palm oil.

Olea Europaea – Olive oil

Pentasodium Pentetate – a chelating agent used in cosmetics and beauty products “prevent various mineral components from binding together and negatively affecting the formulation” (Source).

Cellulose Gum – a stabilising agent (Safe)

Tetradibutyl Pentaerithrityl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate – an anti-oxidant, considered low risk, used in many cosmetics.

So there doesn’t seem to be anything sinister in the soap base that I use; despite some evil sounding names, get a load of that last one, the name is almost a complete sentence.

The most evil aspect is the proliferation of ‘palm oils’ used. The extraction of palm oils is one of the major causes of deforestation in places like Africa and Indonesia.

What is the problem with palm oil?

Palm oil only grows in the tropics, where, if cultivated in an unsustainable way, it can have negative impacts on people and the environment. These include indiscriminate forest clearing, habitat loss for threatened and endangered species, poor air quality from burning forests and peatlands, and threats to the rights and interests of local communities. – WWF

I imagine that it would be difficult to find a soap, unless homemade, that doesn’t have palm oil or palm kernel oil.

But the exercise has been enlightening, I am now more aware of what I am washing with.

Grunge Rock… Green???

Navicula to campaign for orangutan, tropical rainforest in Canada

Navicula – Grunge Rock band from Indonesia

The orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), one of Indonesia’s most endangered species, deserves and requires attention from all parties in the country as they are facing a variety of threats that could lead to their extinction.

Navicula is one of the most concerned groups of young musicians in the country. The grunge rock band is actively launching campaigns to protect and preserve the rare animal through their musical endeavors.

“The orangutan’s habitat in Sumatra and Kalimantan has been gradually destroyed by the expansion of palm oil plantations,” the band’s guitarist, Gede Robi Supriyanto, said.

The massive development of palm oil plantations has also degraded tropical rainforests on both islands.

“Forest destruction is the most crucial environmental issue we are now facing,” he said.

To launch their campaign internationally, the band will perform a song entitled “Orangutan” at the international music festival Envol et Macadam, one of the most prominent annual alternative rock, punk, grunge and metal music festivals in the world, in Quebec, Canada, on Sept. 7 and 8.

Read more

Warning: Some of the images in this video clip are a little disturbing.

Now grunge rock is not entirely my ‘thing.’ In fact, it is about as far removed from being my ‘thing’ as is possible.

But the band is to be applauded for its conscious awareness on this issue.

Good luck at the music festival!

Good luck di musik festival yang!

Nature Ramble

This week we have a look at the beauty of the world’s largest butterfly and learn about its impending doom as a result of the palm oil industry.

To lose such beauty would be nothing short of criminal

World’s largest butterfly disappearing from Papua New Guinea rainforests

Rare Queen Alexandra’s birdwing is losing habitat to logging and oil palm plantation

Queen Alexandra’s birdwing butterflies are already on the endangered species list, and rapidly losing their rainforest habitat. Photograph: Mark Stratton

How large does a butterfly have to be before anybody notices it is disappearing? In the case of Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) Queen Alexandra’s birdwing, the answer is enormous.

The world’s largest butterfly boasts a 1ft (30cm) wingspan – imagine the width of a school ruler – yet few outsiders in its rainforest home in Oro province in northern PNG have ever seen it. It’s a scenario unlikely to improve as oil palm plantation and logging remorselessly devours this endangered butterfly’s habitat.

Edwardian naturalist Albert Meek first recorded it in 1906 on a collecting expedition to PNG. The fast-flying butterfly frequents high rainforest canopy so Meek resorted to blasting them down by shotgun. The Natural History Museum taxonomically allocated his buckshot-peppered specimens into the birdwing genus (a tropical grouping possessing super-elongated forewings) and named it after Edward VII’s wife.

Because of substantial sexual dimorphism it took some time to correlate males and females as the same species. The females are velvety-black with cream patches and bright yellow abdomens. They are almost one-third larger than the males, which are iridescently patterned gold, turquoise, green, and black.

It is not clearly understood why the butterfly grows so large but its lack of predators due to its unpalatable nature is certainly a factor.

Queen Alexandra’s eggs are laid on the poisonous leaves of a tropical pine-vine called aristolochia, found in Oro province’s rainforests. Emerging caterpillars feeding on aristolochia ingest its toxins throughout all stages of growth until they pupate into chrysalises. Red hairs on the emerged adult butterfly’s thorax warn predators that it remains highly toxic.

Their biggest threat, however, remains progressive habitat clearance. Queen Alexandra’s have lost much of their range across Oro province’s coastal plain and are now condensed into a small stronghold on a remote plateau called Managalas.

“Its habitat is being destroyed by oilpalm expansion and coffee and cocoa growing,” explained Eddie Malaisa, wildlife officer for Oro provincial government. “I’m very worried about this butterfly’s future because on the lower plains I know of only seven isolated blocks where it’s found but these are small patches of rainforest between 100-200 hectares surrounded by oil palm”.

Ironically, weakening regulation set up to protect them may be the butterfly’s best hope for survival.

Queen Alexandra’s are currently classified as an appendix 1 species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), which prohibits their trade as specimens for overseas collectors. With no legal trade, an illegal black market keep the specimens in demand. In Winged Obsession: Chasing the Illegal Trade (2011), journalist Jessica Speart tells of a jailed butterfly trader who was offering pairs of Queen Alexandra’s illegally smuggled out of PNG for more than $8,500 (£5,400).

She estimated the global butterfly smuggling trade to be worth around $200m(£127m) each year.

Malaisa believes downgrading Queen Alexandra’s Cites status (to appendix 2) to allow a controlled limited trade would incentivise poor subsistence farmers to protect the butterfly’s habitat by allowing them to sell an agreed quota of specimens.

“What is worse? Legally trading a few butterflies or removing Queen Alexandra’s habitat forever,” asks Malaisa.

.

Kids with a male (left) and female

Image credit: BocaAberta

Monday Moaning

‘Palmed Off’: Is Your Dinner Killing Orangutans?

Palm Oil: The Other Kind of Oil Spill

Although it is difficult to draw a direct relationship between the growth of palm oil and the conversion of forests, roughly 66 percent of Indonesia’s palm oil plantations and 87 percent of Malaysia’s plantations have involved documented forest conversion.

Palm oil plantations are used to harvest and process palm oil, an edible plant oil derived from the fleshy middle layer of the fruit of the oil palm. Not unlike other vegetable oils, palm oil acts as a cooking ingredient in both tropical cooking and the larger commercial food industry, and may be prevalent in products purchased by up to 75 percent of everyday Western consumers.

As of 2010, it was the most widely used and consumed edible oil in the world, holding approximately 32 percent of the oil market.

Often listed discreetly as “vegetable oil”, palm oil is found in some 200 international brands, including McDonald’s, Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, Girl Scout cookies, Kentucky Fried Chicken and KFC packaging, Avon personal care products, Clinique cosmetics and skincare, Tim Tams, Mars Incorporated chocolate and confectionary, and in Mary Kay, Covergirl, Lancôme, Sephora and Urban Decay cosmetics and face washes—just to name a few.

Because of trapping, hunting, and deforestation, wild orangutan populations have fallen 70 percent over the last 60 years.

Is your Big Mac really worth the lives of this parent and child? (Photo: Anup Shah)

When I found Max, he couldn’t walk. He was disorientated and terrified, and the burns to his feet and body were severe. He was one of several hundred orangutans displaced by forest clearing outside Indonesia’s Tanjung Puting National Park in 2006. He had become separated from his family after plantation workers cruelly herded escaping orangutans back to the burning jungle—and away from precious plantation land.

No more than one year old, Max had fought successfully against the trapping, hunting and forest clearing industries that endangered his short life. But with one last breath, he finally lost his battle, becoming one of several thousand orangutans killed annually by a barbaric agricultural farming process, and becoming a victim of a different kind of oil spill: the trade in palm oil.

Palm oil monoculture is “palming” off orangutans in giant numbers, pushing the once abundant species closer than ever to extinction. Today, less than 60,000 orangutans exist in the wild and scientists and biologists conclude that the species’ numbers have disappeared by more than 70 percent over the last 60 years as a combined result of trapping, hunting, and deforestation.

These same scientists predict the species could be extinct by 2023.

Deforestation forest fires—used as a method of land clearing for the construction or expansion of palm oil plantations—run a high risk of unmanageability and typically burn out of control in the often dry and dense conditions of Indonesia and Malaysia, irreversibly degrading the important habitats of tigers, elephants and endangered orangutans like Max.

Do the Green Thing for Orangutans: “Palm Off” Your Palm Oil

Turning the cheap and popular commodity into a commercial liability is the surest way to safeguard the future for orangutans and other species affected by commercial palm oil production—and it’s easy!

1) Look out for palm oil by keeping an eye on the label: Ice cream, pet food, cosmetics, chocolate, chips, and personal and household items with the highest percentage of saturated and transfats or containing stearic, isopropyl or elais guineensis acids are products that may contain significant amounts of palm oil. Researching and eliminating items guilty of endangering orangutans—and choosing sustainable alternatives—will contribute greatly to the lessening in the supply and demand of palm oil products and safeguarding orangutan habitats and populations.

2) Raise your political voice: Lobbying and petitioning Indonesian, Malaysian, and Papuan New Guinean governments to enforce environmental and wildlife protection law is a quick and simple way of applying political pressure on the worldwide need for palm oil regulation. Your signature on active petitions will call for the fruition of strict regulations on existing palm oil plantations in both Western and developing countries, forcing owners and workers to comply with standards of sustainability and animal welfare.

3) Get active for orangutans: Existing in abundance, orangutan conservation organisations—including the World Wildlife Fund, the Australian Orangutan Project, the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme, Orangutan Foundation International, DeFORESTaction, the Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Project, and the Orangutan Conservancy—need volunteers, symbolic adoptive parents and generous donors to support important initiatives seeking to care for orphaned, displaced and wild orangutans. Learn more about becoming an activist for orangutans and volunteering.

Will you stop using products that contain palm oil?

Source: Take Part

Opinion:

Another case of First World consumer needs taking advantage of Third World nations.

The First World is insatiable, it is raping the planet without regard or remorse.

Consumerism is the worst form of pollution.