WHY PALM OIL FREE?

WE BELIEVE WE SHOULD STRIVE TO MINIMIZE HARM TO OTHER SENTIENT BEINGS, THE ENVIRONMENT, AND OUR HEALTH.

WE'VE CONCLUDED THAT LIVING A PALM OIL FREE LIFESTYLE IS ALIGNED WITH THIS VALUE.

HERE ARE A FEW FACTS THAT LED US TO DRAW THIS CONCLUSION:

THE SURGING GLOBAL DEMAND FOR PALM OIL HAS LED TO MASSIVE DEFORESTATION IN INDONESIA AND MALAYSIA — WHOM ACCOUNT TOGETHER FOR ALMOST 50% THE WORLD'S TOTAL.

IN TURN, THIS HAS DESTROYED THE HABITAT OF ENDANGERED WILDLIFE THERE — INCREASING THEIR CHANCES OF GOING EXTINCT. THIS INCLUDES THE ORANGUTAN — ONE OF OUR CLOSEST LIVING RELATIVES EVOLUTIONARILY SPEAKING. (1).

PALM OIL IS IN 50% OF PACKAGED CONSUMER PRODUCTS SUCH AS PROCESSED FOOD AND COSMETICS LIKE SHAMPOO, SOAP, TOOTHPASTE, LOTION, LIPSTICK — AS WELL AS BEING IN INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS.

FARMERS PRODUCED 77 MILLION TONNES OF PALM OIL FOR THE GLOBAL MARKET IN 2018, AND THAT AMOUNT IS EXPECTED TO GROW TO 107.6 MILLION TONNES BY 2024 (2).

THE UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME (UNEP) INDICATED IN 2007 THAT PALM OIL PLANTATIONS ARE THE LEADING CAUSE OF RAINFOREST DESTRUCTION IN MALAYSIA AND INDONESIA (3).

WHEN TROPICAL FORESTS ARE CLEARED TO MAKE WAY FOR OIL PALM PLANTATIONS, CARBON IS RELEASED INTO THE ATMOSPHERE AS CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2) — THE GAS THAT IS THE LEADING CAUSE OF GLOBAL WARMING.

TROPICAL DEFORESTATION ACCOUNTS FOR ABOUT 10% OF TOTAL GLOBAL WARMING EMISSIONS (4).

THE DRAINING, BURNING, AND CONVERSION OF PEAT SWAMP FORESTS TO PALM OIL HAS BEEN ESPECIALLY DAMAGING TO THE WORLD'S CLIMATE — BECAUSE PEATLANDS CAN CONTAIN AS MUCH AS 18 TO 28 TIMES MORE CARBON THAN THAT OF THE FORESTS THEMSELVES (5).

PALM DRIVEN LAND USE CHANGE IN INDONESIA AND MALAYSIA HAS EMITTED ROUGHLY 500 MILLION TONNES OF CO2e EACH YEAR — CONTRIBUTING 1.4% OF GLOBAL NET CO2e EMISSIONS.

THIS IS ALMOST AS HIGH AS GLOBAL EMISSIONS FROM THE AVIATION SECTOR AND MORE THAN THE TOTAL GHG EMISSIONS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA (6).