Sustainable palm oil myth & Cadbury's "sticky mess"

We respect that each person is free to make their own informed choices, whether for example, they choose to eat meat or be vegan, or try to live an eco friendly life or not. Just like many companies are good citizens despite choosing to make environmentally-harmful products. However, should you choose to manufacture a product that is not green, you should at least have the integrity to call it what it is - and not try to 'green wash' away the grime.

Palm oil is a worrying example of this. As we posted earlier, we see many companies trying to pass palm oil off as "sustainable" on the basis that it is a plant. This is quoted from the packaging of several brands of palm wax tealights: xxx organic tealights are made from 100% vegetable palm oil, a replenishing raw material that is an environmentally friendly, natural alternative to paraffin candles.

Unfortunately, orangutans - and their jungle home that is being felled - are not "replenishing".

For opinion on whether palm oil can be sustainable, we defer to this Greenpeace article about the myth of sustainable palm oil. It is a few years old, but I believe it is still the situation (the article from NZ below also reinforces this). Having lived in Indonesia for four years, I have a healthy scepticism. In any case, it is not worth the risk. The devastating reality is what is happening in the pursuit of wealth. See below the wonderful program Orangutan Diaires on YouTube or watch it on Channel Ten, Sundays at 3:30pm.

14 May 2010: please see our latest post on sustainable palm oil as WWF is encouraging people to support Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO).  Also, some of the major food manufacturers have since made commitments to support sustainable palm oil.

Back to the tealights, labelling them as "organic" is also unacceptable when there is no explanation of how the palm wax was grown and processed without chemicals.

It is easy to feel disheartened by businesses getting away with pulling the wool over consumer's eyes. Even worse, that other eco stores are actually taking the claims at face value and have these candles on their shelves. But then, something happens to re-ignite the fighting spirit...when consumer power takes on a giant like Cadbury. Cadbury New Zealand recently introduced palm oil to its chocolate recipe (labelled as "vegetable fat"). There has been a huge consumer response, even the Auckland Zoo removing all Cadbury products from sale. Here is an good article from the NZ Sunday Star Times that lays out the debate Why Cadbury leaves a bitter taste

And then, watch the beautiful orangutans on YouTube...



Biome's organic skin care is all free from palm oil and palm oil derivatives.  Pure and Green organic skin care is very openly palm oil free.  Our mineral makeup blog compares which mineral makeup brands are palm oil free.  Musq mineral makeup is 100% palm oil free.

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Hard work making life easier

By Hayley, Biome's Manager - Merchandise

We recently spent three days at the Melbourne gift fairs searching for useful, eco friendly and ethical choices to offer at Biome. The sheer quantity of low quality, synthetic, petrochemical, unethically-made products to wade through is incredible. It is like an exaggerated, intensified version of what eco-conscious shoppers deal with each day. Our criteria mean we need to ask many more questions than when a regular retail store selects products at these fairs.

There were many outrageous verbal answers, but I feel the written ones on the packaging are slightly more worrying. These printed messages will reach a bigger audience, and being printed on the product gives their claims more validity. Here are just a few examples:

• Labelled "organic" and "natural" without certification or justification and still containing synthetics or petrochemicals;
• Paper products promoting "recyclable" as an eco-benefit. This is environmentally misleading as almost all paper products can be recycled.
• Candles labelled as natural while still containing synthetics, or labelled as sustainable when containing 100% palm oil (at Biome we do not consider palm oil to ever be sustainably sourced due to the areas it typically comes from). See our Queen B beeswax candles for an alternative, and if you want a beautiful fragrant candle, add a few drops of our Tinderbox essential oils to the little wax pool at the top of the candle. Beware of fragranced candles touting themselves as natural as they will contain synthetic fragrances (natural essential oils cannot be mixed into candles without losing their scent very quickly).

Luckily there are some wonderful suppliers that answer our questions informatively and with empathy and integrity. We salute these amazing people and soon will be able to share the amazing products we discovered!

It's hard work, but at the end of the day we take so much satisfaction that we are making it easier:

• for our customers to choose genuine eco alternatives (without green washing);
• for those whose hands make the products (by supporting only those producers that fairly pay and treat their workers); and, ultimately
  
• for the earth.

Photo: Biome window display with a wonderful stick-light, hand made responsibly in Australia by Greg Hatton.

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A bit of eco friendly buzz

It is always a little buzz when one of our products or Biome is mentioned in the media. We were honoured to have a lovely profile on our Brisbane City store in Home Beautiful magazine last year. There is great interest in eco friendly products from home style magazines, which has to be a reflection of what their readers are looking for also. What wonderful news for the planet! You can see the latest news stories about Biome here

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Yes we should pay to drive on Cooloola Coast

As reported in The Courier-Mail today, the Queensland Government has released for consultation a management plan for the Cooloola Coast north of Noosa to Double Island Point and around to Rainbow Beach.

Our family loves this area, so I declare a vested interest, but also some first hand experience of the people that are damaging this environment and threatening the safety of others.

It is proposed to charge people to drive and camp in the area, just like you have to pay for a permit to visit some National Parks. At the moment, it is used and abused as though it is a highway and a fun zone. A proper management plan is long overdue because this area adjoins the Great Sandy National Park and the World Heritage Fraser Island area. It has equal environmental value and beauty.

We take great enjoyment from driving along the beach to swim at Double Island Point and walk up to the lighthouse to look for whales - although we do it with some guilt about the incongruity of driving a polluting 4WD through a pristine environment. So we try to drive and visit with respect for the privilege we have been given.

Paying for access will also allow facilities to be built to accommodate 46,000 car loads of people a year -- for example, there is only one set of toilets in this huge area at Freshwater.

Link to The Courier-Mail article

Have your say by 7 September 2009 Go to the Queensland Government website for info on the Cooloola Recreation Area plan and how you can make a submission.

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A wander through coastal woodland of Scribbly Gum & Banksia

Cooloola section of the Great Sandy National Park, near Rainbow Beach, Queensland

Once at threat from sand-mining, this stunning area stretches from the north shore of the Noosa River, along beaches backed by high dunes, open wallum heathland, woodlands of scribbly gum and banksia, shady blackbutt forests, rainforests and tranquil lakes, to the mangrove lined fish habitats of the Tin Can Bay inlet. The coloured sands, Carlo Sand Blow and Double Island Point lighthouse are popular attractions. Our family explored the area over the school holidays.
house

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The Burning Season - please support this incredible Australian-made movie about saving Orangutans

Help us spread to word so everyone goes to see this movie!
The Burning Season, which premiered in Brisbane last night, is the story of a remarkable achievement by one young man not afraid to single-handedly confront the biggest challenge of our time. Dorjee Sun believes there's money to be made from protecting rainforests in Indonesia, saving the orangutan from extinction and making a real impact on climate change. Armed with a laptop and a backpack, he sets out across the globe to find investors in his carbon trading scheme. It is a battle against time, but Dorjee's determination to succeed and his award-winning achievement will uplift and entertain audiences and inspire hope in our future.

One of Biome's team members, Lauren, is a good friend of the Associate Producer from local Brisbane film production company, Freshwater Pictures. She has seen this movie go from idea to reality, and how the production team have all been passionate, ecologically minded professionals, absolutely intent on supporting Dorjee Sun in his quest to protect the Indonesian rainforests, away from just the business side of making the film.

It showcases the ideology that we can all make small, everyday, ecologically friendly changes to how we live our lives and that one person can make all the difference.

The Burning Season website has lots of info about the issues and what you can do. Check when its screening near you and follow them on Twitter.

David & Margaret from At The Movies on ABC TV loved it too, awarding it 4 stars each! Read their review.

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Landcare calls on everyone to help

Landcare Australia and Coastcare are calling on all Australians to join their register of volunteers to help our country and planet.

Landcare's Your Planet Needs You campaign aims to make it easy for you to sign up to a volunteer register to say what skills you can offer. Everyone can help, whether it be pulling weeds, making coffee, transporting equipment, designing or distributing posters to promoting events within your company.

On World Environment Day, Landcare staged a flash mob event to promote Your Planet Needs You. Look at those awesome inflatable globes being tossed around... Biome's Earth Balls. We were very chuffed that Landcare chose our Earth Balls for the fun. And, yes, among the celebs in this photo is French ‘Spiderman’ and climate campaigner Alain Robert (who else could look so cool in a red suit?).

Check out the Flickr album with more photos of the Landcare event

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Continuous loop of Reverse Garbage

We're having a big clear out trying valiantly to stop our home looking like a staging warehouse for the stores. I heard that environmentalists are the worst hoarders because they can not bear to send anything to landfill. That gave me great peace-of-mind about my compulsion. The guilt I feel when I sneak a large plastic kid's toy into the wheelie bin almost buries me. What do you do with a plastic toy piano that is completely broken? Can’t go to the Salvos because it doesn’t work, it has embedded components that can’t be recycled and no plastics recycling symbol.

We can finally be rid of the old printers, computers and faxes in our garage because at Greenfest I found Buyequip, who take it all. Incidentally, does it alarm anyone else that you can buy a fax machine at Officeworks for $95? Break that down into retailer margin (guessing 40% of $95), transport costs to Australia, materials and factory running costs, and it does not leave much for the wages of the people that assembled it. And, when it breaks (quite readily), it costs more to repair than buy a new one. So off it goes to landfill...

Back to the clear out, which reminded me about the wonderful not-for-profit co-operative, Reverse Garbage. They take all manner of industrial discards that people then purchase for schools and other creative endeavours. In my case, it is a continuous loop. I take stuff to Reverse Garbage that in their words is “waste that is too good to waste” and while I am there can’t resist a few must-haves (“I just know those cardboard pipes and plastic discs will be great for a store display one day”). Then, here I am 12 months later, donating those same items back to Reverse Garbage. Of course, I can’t leave without one quick circuit around the shelves - and so it continues.... The photos here are from their website, which also lists what they accept and sell and Eco-art School Holiday workshops. Surely you could find a use for those eyes!

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life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance,
you must keep moving. - albert einstein

when I see an adult on a bicycle, i do not despair for
the future of the human race. - h. g. wells
(quoted around the "golden age of the bicycle" 1890-1905)

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Lighthouses - shining the way

Our participation at Greenfest in Brisbane inspired us to start a new feature called “Lighthouses”. A lighthouse shines a light for travellers, shows the way and protects from harm...and so it is with people who illuminate our path.
The light eminating from Greenfest was positively blinding. The grand lighthouse of them all was Greenfest founder, Colman Ridge. Graham Readfearn of The Courier-Mail has written more about Colman's story

How exciting though to find a group of young people devoting their time to a sustainable future. As part their community education outreach, the Queensland Youth Environment Council were running seedling workshops. One of the QYEC team visited our stall to show us the paper pot maker they were using to make little seedling pots from recycled newspaper. We were thrilled to see the useful life this little Biome product was having. The story, however, is about the young leaders who are members of the QYEC and their work for our planet's future. Read more on the QYEC website.

Biome team sets up our green theme display.
Do you have a story from Greenfest or can you tell us about someone who is a Lighthouse?

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