Palm Oil Free Artisan Soap

Palm oil seems to be in everything - but it does not have to be this way, in fact, it cannot be this way. The rainforest is a finite resource which is being threatened every day by corporations which insist on using palm oil due to its cheap price over what is better for the environment. 

Monkey

And it is not just the orangutans that are in danger. The rainforest is the earth's largest defense for climate change absorbing huge amounts of greenhouse gases from our atmosphere. By doing this, the rain forest regulates the global temperatures of the planet. As more rainforest is destroyed, the worlds temperatures change. 

Simply put, the rainforest is essential to all life on earth. It provides more than 20% of the worlds fresh air that we breath.

The rainforest is the home to the largest variety of species found in one place on the planet. In fact, it is home to more than half of the earth's terrestrial animal species. It is estimated that 10 million species of plants, animals and insects call the rainforest home.

Humans get a lot of medicines from the rainforest. Over 60% of our anticancer drugs comes from the rainforest. Even medicines for heart disease, bronchitis, rheumatism, diabetes, glaucoma, arthritis and more all come from the rainforest.

It is estimated that 15% of the worlds freshwater is from the rainforest and this water is added into the atmosphere through a process called transpiration. In transpiration, the plants in the rainforest release water from their leaves during photosynthesis. From the space station, this looked like gigantic clouds forming over the amazon which is then dispersed across our beautiful planet.

You Might Ask, Well, What About Sustainable Palm Oil?

Unfortunately, there is no such thing and the scams around sustainable palm oil keep growing at an alarming rate. Even certified sustainable palm oil from the Roundtable On Sustainable Palm Oil is all a farce. And this is not new news, instead, many corporations with their PR crews have worked to sweep this under the table and sadly, it was cleaned up without much notice.

Palm trees grow best in the amazon and this is where they clear cut the size of 40 football fields every minute. It is estimated that the rainforest will be gone in just a few decades unless the governments step in and put an end to the corruption. 

Scientists including Roberto Gatti, who is an expert in studying the effects of sustainable and non-sustainable palm oil released a study, now close to two years old, which was commented on by Britain's Independent online newspaper.

In this study, Gatti commented, "Our research shows quite unequivocally that, unfortunately, there is no way to produce sustainable palm oil that did not come from deforestation, and that the claims by corporations, certification schemes and non government organisations are simply ‘greenwashing’, useful to continue business as usual,” he added. “No shortcuts: if you use palm oil, certified or not, you are definitely destroying tropical forests.”

Unfortunately, most government officials in these areas love the huge paychecks these greedy corporations hand them on an ongoing basis to keep their mouths shut and add the stamp of approval to keep clearing the forest. 

Certified Sustainable Palm Oil is a Con and The Roundtable On Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Is In The Forefront Of the Scam

The Roundtable On Sustainable Palm Oil was started in 2004 by large corporations such as Nestle and Mondelez. All members, big and bigger, in the RSPO as long as they are a member, get to stamp that their products contain certified sustainable palm oil. 

This is by label only, it actually took 14 years for this club of fat cats to actually add the rule of having it's member get it's palm oil from so called sustainable sources in the rainforest. Even though this "rule" now exists, it is not enforced, these corporations are still destroying rainforests and getting away with it. 

Rainforest deforestation fires

The 2015 rainforest crisis found a large handful of the RSPO members at the centre of the crisis - clearing rainforest for new "sustainable" fields. These fires raged on again in 2019 and once again, the RSPOs benefited from the destruction of the rainforest and RSPO members fingers caught in the cookie jar. Not that they got in trouble for it. 

Well, that was depressing, thanks, Carolyn, now what?

How Can You Help Save The Rainforest?

There are a couple of things we all can do to try and save the rainforest:

  • Look for products in your local markets that are palm oil free (way easier said than done)
  • Support local makers and businesses or even big ones if you can find one, that make their products palm oil free
  • You can join and/or donate to Greenpeace
  • You can donate to the Rainforest Alliance
  • You can share companies that do palm oil free products with your family and friends via word of mouth and/or social channels 
  • You could share news, scientific studies and scientific blog posts with your family and friends via word of mouth and on your social channels that provide education on the topic

Transpiration In The Rainforest