The Power of the Consumer in the Palm Oil Industry
Ramen noodles, lipstick, chocolate, and laundry detergent. If asked to name one common factor between these four products, many would fail to produce an answer. There is one, however, and it is something of a big deal. The truth is that each of these common, everyday items contain palm oil. Palm oil is a substance extracted from oil palm trees and used in a variety of everyday objects. Palm oil can be found in cosmetics, cleaning products, and, most importantly, food. As a matter of fact, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the role and reach of palm oil is so widespread that more than half of the Earth depends on it for its utility in food production, and with a global population that is ever-increasing, the demand for palm oil is growing right alongside it.
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Unfortunately, while cheap and easy to produce, palm oil production does not go without having any flaws. Quite on the contrary, obtaining palm oil has harsh ecological and social ramifications for the Earth, both on local and global levels. Deforestation, loss of wildlife habitat, and air pollution are just a few of the detrimental impacts that palm oil production has in the world. With a growing worldwide dependence upon palm oil both in terms of global food production and economic stimulation, what can be done to rectify this situation? The answer, to many, is clear: consumers must use their power to only buy sustainably produced palm oil products. If consumers support companies that utilize healthy palm oil production techniques, they can weed out competitors whose methods of production are ill-favored.
As previously mentioned, the detriments of palm oil production are varied and serious. The largest impact that palm oil production has on the Earth is through deforestation and the loss of habitat for many wildlife populations. The process of palm oil production is carried out at palm oil plantations. These plantations are designated portions of land where the oil palm plants are grown and where their kernels are subsequently harvested to produce palm oil. It may seem unclear how this factors into deforestation and loss of biodiversity until one is aware of a necessity regarding the growing of oil palm plant. Oil palms must grow in environments that are warm, tropical, and have easy access to water. This factor pigeonholes the number of locations where oil palms can be grown, relegating the growing sites to tropical areas like Indonesia, Malaysia, and a handful of South American countries. With strict growth requirements and a small number of areas that can accommodate, rainforests are optimal locations. (It is important to keep in mind that rainforests are usually hubs of wildlife and plant biodiversity in the world.) Usually what happens is that areas of rainforest are selected and sectioned off. The trees in these designated areas are then either cut down or burnt in order to make room for the oil palms. After the land is cleared, oil palms are planted in such a way that makes extraction of the fruits and ability to clear the plants simple. The practice of cutting down or burning rainforest leaves many wildlife populations, namely the already severely endangered Orangutans, Sumatran tigers, elephants, and rhinoceroses, without a place to live. (And that is if they have not already gotten injured or killed in the deforestation process.) It is easy to see how even the beginning stages of palm oil production can have deleterious impacts on the wildlife populations that inhabit areas used for palm oil plantations.
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One may be curious as to the extent to which deforestation of the rainforest for palm oil plantations is a problem in numerical terms. A report by the World Wildlife Fund stated that an area of rainforest approximately the size of 300 football fields is cut every hour to make room for palm oil plantations. After an entire year, the estimated total amount of rainforest land destroyed is around 151 billion square feet, or 5400 square miles worth of wildlife, biodiversity, and habitat.
\[ \frac{300 \text{ football fields}}{1 \text{ hour}} \times \frac{24 \text{ hours}}{1 \text{ day}} \times \frac{365 \text{ days}}{1 \text { year}} \times \frac{57,600 \text{ square feet}}{1 \text { football field}}\times \frac{1 \text{ square mile}}{27,878,400 \text { square feet}} \approx \frac{5,400 \text{ square miles}}{1 \text { year}}\]
New York City’s land area is about 302 square miles. The amount of forested land lost to deforestation for palm oil production is approximately 18 times that.
In terms of specific animal populations, I think we should focus on just one population, perhaps the most afflicted by this epidemic – the orangutan. A hundred years ago, there was an estimated 230,000 orangutans that lived in the wild. Today, according to the World Wildlife Fund, about 112,000, and that number is swiftly declining. Current estimates say that between 1,000 to 5,000 orangutans die every year due to palm oil ventures. Let us assume that about 2,500 die every year for the next century. This would mean that in another century, there would be a net negative population of orangutans. In another century, assuming the rate of orangutans deaths per year did not increase at all, there would be a loss of 250,000 orangutans, or –138,000.
\[ \frac{2,500 \text{ orangutan deaths}}{1 \text{ year}} \times \frac{100 \text{ years}}{1 \text{ century}} = \frac{250,000 \text{ orangutan deaths}}{\text{ century}}\]
That is to say, if we keep up our current rate of deforestation, orangutans will not last another century. And that is also without looking at the impact it would have on other populations. In fact, when we reach the age of 70, the population will have completely died out.
Loss of biodiversity is just one of the reasons why we need to shift how we spend our dollars on palm oil products. If we focus on products that are approved by the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil, the overarching authority on safe palm-oil production, there will be a smaller net loss of such populations. One criticism of the RSPO is that it does not completely cut out deforestation. However, it does refuse to allow deforestation of areas with high level of biodiversity and is starting to phase out the allowance of companies to deforest rainforest entirely. It is important to keep in mind that it won’t do to completely quit using palm oil products, as over half of the world relies on that economy for food. However, we can continue using our money to support companies that use more sustainable methods. RSPO approved companies do not eliminate the destruction of rainforest, but they take steps to mitigate the loss of animal and plant populations in some of the richest parts of our world. Orangutans and other animals, as well as the native flora, are being lost at an alarming rate, all because companies are taking shortcuts. Customers must use their dollars in such a way that animal and plant populations are respected alongside those of humans.
In addition to a loss in biodiversity, the cutting down and burning of rainforests can also result in an increase of effects that exacerbate the impacts of climate change. When a tree is chopped down, there is a release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. When a tree is burnt, it also released carbon dioxide at a rate faster than when they are cut down. When this deforestation takes place over large swaths of area and in locations where there is a large number of trees in a small area, i.e. a rainforest, the release of carbon dioxide increases alarmingly fast. According to a report in The Scientific American, the majority of analysts claim that the deforestation of the rainforests contributes more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than do the combined total of cars and trucks on the entire Earth. They claim that the latter contributes roughly 14%, whereas the former contributes about 15%. This is a large number, especially considering that the expansion of palm oil plantations is not a completely necessary task. What’s more is that necessity of the rainforest being preserved is two-fold. Not only do you have the fact that the cutting down and burning of trees releases a considerably substantial amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, there is also the truth that trees are able to take in carbon dioxide. In dense rainforests, where trees exist en masse, there is a lot of opportunity for global carbon dioxide levels to fall as the forests’ trees can absorb it. However, if humans are cutting down rainforest, which both increases carbon dioxide levels and precludes the possibility that those trees can be taking in more carbon dioxide, the total amount of emissions is increased exponentially.
According to an aforementioned example, around 151,000,000,000 square feet of land are cut down on a yearly average for the purpose of expanding the palm oil industry. Pursuant to a claim in a journal in Science Daily, one hectare of rainforest land that is converted into oil palm-supporting land loses around 174 tons of carbon dioxide, most of which rises into the atmosphere. Let us assume that 75% of this 174 tons, or 348000 pounds of CO2, make it into the air. Also important is that around one hectare is equal to 107639 square feet. Given these details of information, it can be assumed that around 367 billion pounds of carbon dioxide are released into the atmosphere on a yearly basis from just the deforestation of the rainforest. This does not include the amount of carbon dioxide that is no longer able to be absorbed by the trees that are no longer living.
\[ \frac{151 \text{ million square feet}}{1 \text{ year}} \times \frac{1 \text{ hectare}}{107,639 \text{ square feet}} \times \frac{174 \text{ tons of CO2}}{1 \text{ hectare}} \times \frac{2000 \text{ lbs of CO2}}{1 \text{ ton CO2}} \times 75\text{%} \approx 367 \text{ bil lbs of CO2} \]
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If we continue to cut down rainforests, the impact will actually also affect ocean populations. Without the stability that the forests provide in absorbing carbon dioxide, the ocean is one of the next places where it can be absorbed. Unfortunately, this will have an impact on the wildlife, as it will acidify the water. The carbon release brought on by deforestation and air pollution for the sake of the palm oil industry has the potential to perpetrate one of the worst crimes against the Earth’s safety in many different domains.
As you can clearly see, the damage done to not only the immediate populations that surround the rainforests but also the Earth is widespread and largely unfavorable to the interests of its inhabitants. If we can focus on buying from companies that have received their mark of RSPO approval, we will without a doubt see a decrease in the impact of climate change, at least from the angle of the palm oil industry. Rainforests are critically important in reducing CO2. As explained in an article by a news outlet Mongabay, the efforts of the RSPO to reduce deforestation by non-RSPO-approved companies was little but still successful, They were able to save 8 square miles of Indonesian forest over a fourteen year span. This is not a lot of area saved, but it is a start, and by supporting the RSPO in its quest to have sustainable methods for all palm oil producers, their impact can grow. The role of palm oil is deeply rooted in our everyday life, in so many of our products, whether we realize it or not, and it is here to stay. As a matter of fact, it may be more detrimental to stop using the product. That said, we have to use our function as consumers to do the right thing.
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The palm oil industry presents the world with a major challenge: balancing the needs of Earth’s human current population without neglecting its ecological needs and the posterity and future generations. Palm oil is necessary in supplying most of the the world’s population with one of its most basic needs. However, the practices of those that produce the product often take shortcuts and neglect the impact of their actions. As consumers, we must utilize our power and put pressure on entities that subvert the care required to maintain and foster a prosperous world. Only by buying from companies that practice environmentally friendly techniques can we do ensure that our use of palm oil is healthy for our world. Hopefully, this will also cause other companies to change their dangerous methods and adopt newer, safer, and more lucrative ones. Orangutan and elephant populations, the integrity of rainforests, the safety of our globe against the effects of climate change hang in the balance. It is up to us to use our power to create the change we wish to see. And that starts with buying from eco-friendly palm oil producers.
Works Cited
Cannon, John C. “Study: RSPO Certification Prunes Deforestation in Indonesia – but Not by Much.” Mongabay Environmental News, Copyright Conservation, 13 Dec. 2017, news.mongabay.com/2017/12/study-rspo-certification-prunes-deforestation-in-indonesia-but-not-by-much/.
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. “Palm oil: The carbon cost of deforestation.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 19 June 2018. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180619123018.htm.
International Union for Conservation of Nature. “Palm Oil and Biodiversity.” International Union for Conservation of Nature , International Union for Conservation of Nature, 7 May 2019, www.iucn.org/resources/issues-briefs/palm-oil-and-biodiversity.
Orangutan Foundation International. “What’s Wrong with Palm Oil?” Official Orangutan Foundation International Site, Orangutan Foundation International, 2018, orangutan.org/palmoil/.
Rainforest Rescue. “Palm Oil – Deforestation for Everyday Products.” Rainforest Rescue, Rainforest Rescue, 2019, www.rainforest-rescue.org/topics/palm-oil.
Rainforest Rescue. “Questions and Answers About Palm Oil.” Rainforest Rescue, Rainforest Rescue, 2019, www.rainforest-rescue.org/topics/palm-oil/questions-and-answers#start.
Scheer, Roddy, and Doug Moss. “Deforestation and Its Extreme Effect on Global Warming.” Scientific American, Scientific American, 13 Nov. 2012, www.scientificamerican.com/article/deforestation-and-global-warming/.
World Wildlife Fund. “8 Things to Know About Palm Oil.” World Wildlife Fund, WWF-UK, 12 Nov. 2018, www.wwf.org.uk/updates/8-things-know-about-palm-oil.
World Wildlife Fund. “Orangutan: Facts.” WWF, World Wildlife Fund, 2019, www.worldwildlife.org/species/orangutan.
World Wildlife Fund. “Palm Oil Fact Sheet.” WWF, World Wildlife Fund, 2018, deforestationandpalmoil.weebly.com/uploads/1/8/8/5/18854416/wwf.pdf.