Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil that comes from the fruit of oil palm trees. It is the most widely used vegetable oil in the world. More than half of all packaged products American consume contain palm oil. You can find it in lipsticks, soaps, detergents, ice cream or cookies for example. Palm oil is so popular because it is a very efficient crop and has low costs. The oil palm tree grows in the tropical rainforest. Plantations are spreading across Asia, Africa and Latin America. Indonesia and Malaysia make up over 85% of the worldwide palm oil supply.
However, the production of palm oil also has an immense impact on rainforests that are very important to our world and our climate. Not only are rainforests a home to a great diversity of animals and plants but they also produce about 20% of our oxygen and store a huge amount of carbon dioxide. Furthermore, rainforests are helping to regulate our global temperature and to reduce the impact of greenhouse gas emissions.
As I mentioned before, the oil palm tree grows in the same area as the tropical rainforests. Due to the uncontrolled clearing of land for conventional oil palm plantations, we’re losing irreplaceable rainforests. Often the tropical rainforest is burned down in these areas to create space for oil palm plantation. Sometimes, these fires get out of control because of the drier weather conditions. The deforestation of the tropical rainforest is a massive problem. It destroys the habitat of endangered species such as orangutans, rhinos, elephants and tigers. In addition, huge amounts of emission are getting released into the atmosphere while burning and destroying rainforests. Some of the chemicals that are used on palm oil plantations cause pollution of the soil and water in those areas. This affects the indigenous people that live there. In some parts of Asia, palm oil is estimated to cause almost half of all deforestation.
Some of the most popular replacements for palm oil are canola and sunflower seed oils. However these plants also require a lot of water and time to grow and often come at a higher cost. The closest replacement would probably be single cell oils from algae or yeast. There are some labels that claim “sustainable palm oil” but there is also some criticism about that. Oil palm trees grow in the same areas as the tropical rainforest, so the rainforest has to be destroyed in order to grow palm trees. And the deforestation of our rainforests is not very sustainable.
In my opinion, companies should focus more on the environmental impact of their products. We can’t continue to burn down the rainforests that are so important for our climate. I think that there should be more research about finding and using more sustainable ways to produce all these kinds of products that include palm oil.
Questions
Did you know about the environmental impact of palm oil?
Do you pay attention to whether your products contain palm oil or not?
Do you think we have to do more to prevent more rainforest deforestation?
Sources
https://viable.earth/understanding/sustainable-alternatives-to-palm-oil-do-they-exist/
https://www.greenmatters.com/p/palm-oil-alternatives
https://qz.com/1711172/the-global-demand-for-palm-oil-is-driving-the-fires-in-indonesia
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/palm-oil-deforestation#tips
Replies
I personally do not pay any attention to whether or not my products contain palm oil or not. Until now, I had no idea about the impact palm oil has on the environment,and personally, I still don't really know how it impacts the environment, but I think if we can, we should try to prevent it.
I had didn't know anything about palm oil until this story. No I haven't been paying attention to palm oil in my products because I didn't know anything about it until now. I think it would be good to prevent more deforistation, but if we are going to keep taking the trees down I think it would be a good idea to plant as many trees as we're taking down.
I think that this is a good idea too
I honestly didn't even know about palm oil until I read this story, I didn't even know it was in products I use daily. I feel like we could still use palm oil, but I think it's a little excessive for how much we use, maybe instead of using so much we could find a substitute for it so we wouldn't have to keep cutting down forests just for this oil.
I knew that palm oil production was bad for the environment, but I wasn't aware of how much deforestation is caused by it. I don't pay attention to whether or not there is palm oil in anything I use because my parents buy everything for me and my brothers. Governments especially have to do more to stop farmers from burning down rainforests.
I don't think I have ever learned about the impact palm oil has on the environment. I don't usually pay attention to whether or not theres palm oil in the products I buy. I do think that we should try to prevent deforestation in the rainforest.
I think so too.
No, I did not know about the environmental impact of palm oil but I think that this is a very interesting and important topic to think about. I'm sorry to say I do not pay attention to whether or not palm oil is in the products I use in my daily life. Yes, I think that we have to find better ways to prevent deforestation it doesn’t just impact the animal's habitats in the forests it impacts everyone on earth and if we don’t stop deforestation it could destroy a lot more than just trees.
I didn't know the impact of palm oil on the environment, let alone it being a thing. I personally don't look at what a product contains when purchasing it. I think that we need to protect rainforests for all the animals and for the trees so we have oxygen.
I agree with you that we have to protect our rainforests more since they are so important.
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