The environmental problem with palm oil

The world is currently bordering on witnessing the utter consequences of a significant environmental disaster. The global consumption of palm oil intensified by recent decades of commercial demand has dramatically increased production, causing catastrophic and widespread environmental destruction. Found in a vast range of commercial products, palm oil is directly linked to several environmental issues including mass deforestation, animal cruelty, habitat degradation and fragmentation, climate change, exploitation of indigenous rights, and impending extinction of certain endangered species. Without consumer awareness and objection, the effects of unsustainable palm oil will likely join the ranks of the world’s worst environmental disasters facilitated by humans. 

Over 60 million tons of palm oil is produced each year with estimations of it doubling over the next decade. With the highest rate of deforestation in the world, Indonesia is also the highest producer of palm oil, supplying over 61 percent to global markets with Malaysia following close behind. These two countries combined produce almost 90 percent of the world’s palm oil on three islands, Borneo, Sumatra and Papua. Palm oil is extracted from the fruit of the African oil palm which grows rapidly in monoculture plantations in peatlands pressing at the boundaries of the last protected areas of these forests. Around 300 football fields of the world’s most biologically diverse rainforests are felled every hour for palm oil plantations, killing around 6000 orangutans, plus Sumatran tigers and many other species every year.

Australians unknowingly consume on average 10 kilograms of palm oil each year and unclear food labelling makes it hard for people to exercise their consumer choice. Palm oil is a high yield and low cost versatile ingredient used extensively in most manufactured foods, cleaning products, body care, make up and bio fuels. Currently, there is a significant ‘glossing over’ occurring in the industry where most brands are choosing to not disclose the use of palm oil on their packaging. Inadequate government labelling regulations allow brands to hide palm oil behind more than 200 alternate names such as vegetable oil, Glycerine, Plant Surfactant and Caprylic Triglyceride, making it extremely confusing for consumers to identify. While some brands claim to be cruelty free and promote everything they do not contain, palm oil is used and hidden in their formulations. 

To further complicate the issue, there is substantial greenwashing around the term ‘sustainable palm oil’ which makes 99 percent of ‘sustainable palm oil’ claims unreliable. The industry’s self-regulating body the RSPO has developed a complex certification scheme that allows non-certified oil use such as GreenPalm to be labelled ‘sustainable’. The only 100 percent certain way to know if the palm oil used in a product is sustainable is to trace it back to plantation where it was grown, and this is almost impossible. The complex supply chain, hidden nature of palm oil use, and the fuzzy certification scheme have allowed manufacturers to get away with the guise of ‘sustainable palm oil’ for too long. For this reason, it is not possible to rely on a brand's assurances that they use ‘sustainable palm oil’ because they generally have not obtained thorough and legally binding commitments from their suppliers. 

Biome is 100% free from palm oil, and no longer stocks products with palm oil derived ingredients.

What can you do?

There are five ways you can avoid products containing palm oil and help reduce the destruction caused by palm oil cultivation.

1. Avoid all products containing palm oil, including processed and packaged foods;
2. Don’t trust claims including cruelty free, organic, vegan and sustainable palm oil;
3. Check ingredients lists for Glycerine, Plant Surfactant and Caprylic Triglyceride;
4. Adopt an orangutan or donate money to BOS Australia to help purchase a large block of rainforest on Borneo; and
5. Shop for palm oil free products at Biome.

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Palm oil labelling Bill needs your support

So far removed and yet so connected.  There may be some encouraging news for the orangutans and endangered species of SE Asia's rainforests if the machinery of our Government continues to grind in the right direction.

In November 2009, Senators Xenophon, Bob Brown and Joyce introduced to the Sentate, the Food Standards Amendment (Truth in Labelling – Palm Oil) Bill 2009. The Bill is under Inquiry and submissions closed recently (read the submissions).

It's not too late to have your say. Right now, you can sign a petition to support the Bill via the Zoos Victoria Don't Palm us off campaign.  80,000 other people already have!

The proposed Bill will require the accurate labelling of palm oil in food. The principal issues being considered are:

1. The rights of consumers to be provided with accurate and truthful information to enable them to make an informed choice;
2. That allowing palm oil to be listed as "vegetable oil" on food packaging is misleading;
3. That palm oil is high in saturated fats and consumers should be made aware for health reasons;
4. That the impact of palm oil production on wildlife, specifically Orangutan's in South East Asia is significant unless it is done sustainably;
5. That sustainable palm oil can be produced with low impact on the environment and with better labour laws on plantations; and
6. That manufacturers should be encouraged to use sustainable palm oil in their production process and can subsequently use the status of "Certified Sustainable Palm Oil" as a business benefit.

Complex dilemna

Palm oil is a complex issue for consumers and business and one that Biome is passionate about.  Following is our latest assessment of the issue and in particular, "sustainable palm oil".  It appears that while highly unlikely that certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) is being used by all that claim to be, the WWF recommends that manufacturers and consumers support CSPO.

If you are not aware of the environmental threats due to palm oil, please see our Facts section below.  Biome has a commitment to not stock any products containing palm oil or its derivatives.  We do still offer some products with palm oil but we are working to remove these or to get our suppliers to substitute.  We clearly label the products where we have found palm oil. 

We are often told by suppliers that they use "sustainable palm oil".  However, we know that this would be unlikely and it is very difficult to be certain.   There is also the complex issue of whether palm oil is a better choice than a petrochemical oil... Realistically, the key problem is the major food producers and fast food chains - not a home-based soap maker making a natural plant oil alternative to petrochemical soap.

I was thrilled to discover this report today on the Don't Palm us off website, which covers brilliantly sustainable palm oil certification WWF Palm Oil Buyers Scorecard Australia.

This report explains WWF's work with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and their certification program.  There is no hope for the orangutans without a credible organisation like the WWF working with the industry to solve the problem.   The question is, do you refuse all palm oil or support RSPO certified producers?  The WWF says:

"By supporting the RSPO and using only CSPO, companies can help slow down deforestation and the disappearance of some of Earth’s most amazing and threatened wildlife, including tigers, elephants and orang-utans. Choosing sustainable palm oil also helps companies to reduce climate change impacts, since slashing forests for oil palms can contribute to the release of greenhouse gas emissions."

According to the report, there is in fact enough CSPO to meet Australian demand, but it is not being purchased by manufacturers.  By January 2010, RSPO certified plantations were able to supply 1.76 million tonnes of sustainable palm oil per year—more than 13 times the amount imported into Australia each year.

Despite being available in sufficient quantities, only a small portion of the available CSPO has actually been bought. In the 12 months leading up to January 2010 only 40% of the CSPO available was purchased.  Apparently this is because of the premium price for the certified oil.

How do you know if the palm oil is CSPO?

As the WWF explains, at the moment you can not know.  Manufacturers that use palm oil need only list ‘vegetable oil’ in the ingredient list.   To find out whether a product contains palm oil consumers would need to contact the company who made the product and ask them whether they are using palm oil and if so, is it CSPO?   You should then ask for a copy of the certification.  If the palm oil is from a a bulk product, there is no chain of custody to prove its origins.

The hopes are for mandatory palm oil labelling to become a reality in Australia should the proposed Food Standards Amendment (Truth in Labelling Palm Oil) Bill 2009 be passed. A provision within the bill mandates that retailers and manufacturers label their product as containing ‘CS Palm Oil’ in the ingredient list if the product contains sustainable palm oil produced in accordance with the RSPO’s standards.

What can you do?

• Sign the petition to support the Bill at Don't Palm us off.
• Write to or call your local MP and tell them to support the Bill.
• Avoid products that do not list full ingredients or list "vegetable oil". 
• Avoid products from manufacturers and fast food outlets that use palm oil - see the WWF Scorecard report, thePalm Oil Action Group Australia website and BOS Australia.
• If the product contains palm oil ask for proof that it is CPSO - or avoid the product as this is the only safe way of knowing. 
• Join the Australian Orangutan Project, adopting an orangutan or buying their cute t-shirts.

Palm Oil Free Products

Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) has an excellent list of Palm Oil Free alternatives for food and body products. Some of the brands listed that are available at Biome:
Clean Conscience - green cleaning
Pure and Green - organic skin and hair care
Beauty & the Bees - soap, beer shampoo bar, baby care
Riddels Creek Toothpaste

We welcome any other ideas on making an ethical choice about palm oil.

Palm Oil Facts

From the Don't Palm us Off website

• Over 85% of the world's palm oil comes from Malaysia and Indonesia. 
• The most common cause of deforestation and fragmentation in Indonesia is related to palm oil.
• An estimated 40% of food on our supermarket shelves contains palm oil.  
• In SE Asia alone, the equivalent of 300 football fields are deforested every hour for palm oil production.
• Palm oil typically costs the lives of up to 50 Orangutans each week.
• Australians unknowingly consume on average 10 kilograms of palm oil each year because we do not currently have the ability to exercise consumer choice. 
• Sustainable Palm Oil Plantations are a possibility however you need you to tell FSANZ you want palm oil labeling if they are to become a reality.
• Once palm oil is labelled, consumers can actually drive a market for proper certified sustainable palm oil because they can demand it of manufacturers.

From the BOS Australia website

"The single greatest threat facing orangutans today is the rapidly expanding palm oil trade. Rainforests are being cleared at the rate of 300 football fields per hour to make way for oil palm plantations.
While there are millions of hectares of degraded land that could be used for plantations, many oil palm companies choose to instead use rainforest land to gain additional profits by logging the timber first. Palm oil companies also frequently use uncontrolled burning to clear the land, resulting in thousands of orangutans being burned to death. Those that survive have nowhere to live and nothing left to eat."

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Eco Easter holiday & sticky chocolate news

Going on an Eco Easter adventure?  Don't forget to...

Switch off the hot water system before going away - you could be wasting energy and money keeping water hot when you're not there.

Service your car before a long trip and check your tyre pressure. A tuned up car improves fuel efficiency by up to 30% and will save you petrol money. 

Take your reusable shopping bags on the grocery supplies trip.

Recycle bottles, cans, cardboard and plastic packaging.  Please call your local Council to check which types of plastic packaging they will accept - many will accept the firm plastic that easter eggs are packaged in.

Encourage kids at home to switch off their game consoles, DVD player, TV and stereo at the wall when not in use.

Purchase Easter gifts with the least amount of packaging and choose certified Free Trade and organic chocolate and easter eggs.

References http://www.climatesmart.qld.gov.au/

What to take?

Eco friendly picnic, catering and entertaining supplies, reusable water bottle,  stainless steel cup set, BPA-free lunch boxes for storing food.

Petrochemical free natural sunscreen, environment-safe shampoo and soap (especially camping in National Parks).

Natural mosquito repellant and New Mountain sandalwood mosquito diffuser, flies off food nets.

Sticky chocolate issues

Will Nestle ever reclaim its Facebook page from palm oil protestors  Is this the most successful social-media influence campaign ever...?

Treehugger reports on the wasteful excess of Easter Egg packaging and improvements to eliminate plastic boxes.  Easter Candy Insanity...

Australian Fair Trade Easter 2010 Campaign website.  Learn more about the issues and the choices you can make.

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Vegetarian no longer eco. Who moved my cheese...?

Photo of Chocolate Tofu Mousse from Martha Goes Green Vegetarian Cookbook

In the world of eco-friendly, one thing is for certain... change!  Just when you think you have the goal posts lined up for what is the most eco-friendly choice, someone moves them.  This is not a criticism, we love the intellectual and ethical deliberations, but I'm not good at change.  When it comes to change, I turn like an ocean-liner...slowly.

It happened with palm oil and soy.  At first, it was virtuous to be replacing petrochemical oil with with a plant oil, for example producing a palm wax candle instead of a paraffin candle -- but then the environmental movement made us aware of the rainforest destruction being caused by palm and soy plantations.

Bamboo is the perfect eco-friendly material, a fast growing and self-renewing plant requiring no pesticides or fertilisers that can be used for food, clothing, paper and building -- but now we've learned that we need to look for "panda-friendly" bamboo.  This is bamboo that does not deprive pandas of a food source, like Moso bamboo, which has no leaf growth on the first five metres of the stem.

Recently, the WWF has released a report that shows a vegetarian diet is not necessarily better for the planet than meat.  The UK study found that many meat substitutes were produced from soy, chickpeas and lentils that were grown overseas and imported into Britain.  It found that switching from beef and lamb reared in Britain to meat substitutes would result in more foreign land being cultivated and raise the risk of forests being destroyed to create farmland. Meat substitutes also tended to be highly processed and involved energy-intensive production methods (quoted from the article at Times Online "Tofu can harm the environment..")

When I read this story, the first thought that came to mind was "who moved my cheese" again? One of our Biome team introduced me to this great change management concept.  Your "cheese" may be your career, a relationship, your neighbourhood peace and quiet, your environmental values.  For those of us who struggle with change, it may be worth a look.  Who Moved My Cheese? is about helping you to enjoy less stress and more success by learning to deal with the inevitable change.

The WWF study is not course-changing for us vegetarians, but it is a nudge to the bow.  It encourages everyone to think about where our food comes from and to eat more foods that are less packaged and less processed - the same principles for whatever diet you follow.

More reading and vegetarian recipe books at Biome.

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Pure and Green - achieving "real" organic skin care

We have looked closely at many natural skin care brands and as you may know many are just “bulk purchased bases” that are custom branded.  Further, many brands claiming to be organic are either not certified, or they use a certification that allows fairly small quantities of organic ingredients.

Unique skin care formulations are few in number and certified organic choices with close to 100% organic content are rare.   Newcomer Pure and Green Organics is an exceptional Australian creation that has ticked all the eco-credentials, led by an enterprising young businessperson wanting to achieve something special.

In June 2009, Pure and Green was the first company in the world to have every product in its range from face, body, dental and hair care to be certified organic.  You can usually tell when an eco company is "for real" by the extra steps taken that set them apart.  Pure and Green has shown deep consideration the whole way through to the packaging, using innovative ingredients and mixing their own formulations in a custom built kitchen.

ACO certification
We have learned that there are very different standards applied by organic certification bodies.  Pure and Green chose to be certified by Australian Certified Organic (ACO), the gold standard for high-level cosmetics certification.  It requires:

• at least 95% of ingredients by mass to be certified organic (other certifiers accept as little as 20%);
• no use of synthetic vitamins (eg. pro-vitamin B5) or synthetic surfactants (eg. coco glucoside, coco betaine), which other Australian certifiers will allow; and
  
• no toxic solvents to be used as ingredients or used in the extraction of any other ingredients. Other certifiers may not check, creating a loophole for toxins to silently enter products which still get labelled 'certified organic'.

Palm oil free
Palm oil is often hidden in derivatives like sodium lauryl sulphate, sodium palmate, stearic acid and glycerine without mentioning it on the label, or it is labelled as palmitate or simply "vegetable" oil.  Pure and Green has gone to lengths to ensure there is no palm oil in any ingredient.

Certified vegan and cruelty-free
The products carry independent certification of this, again taking it that extra step.

World leading packaging

• The first cosmetic company in the world to use 100% post-consumer recycled cardboard caps for its bottles. Not just recycled, but they have even ensured it is post-consumer, which is the true standard for recycled paper.
  
• The first company in Australia to use BIOpack bottles made from plant sugar.  This was not an "off the shelf" packaging option -- they achieved this with persistence, and they are custom manufactured for Pure and Green in a carbon-neutral factory.
  

We have been so impressed by the creators of Pure and Green with their responsiveness and openness to questions.  They are small business people who have fought every step of the way to make things happen that most others accept are not possible, like the BIOpack plastic bottles and eliminating palm oil.

Take a wholistic approach to your skin care by choosing safe mineral makeup.  We have selected the three best mineral makeup brands for Biome - read more about Inika, Sante and Musq mineral makeup.

National Organics Week will take place from October 16 - 25.  Stay tuned for organic-themed events and specials in the Biome stores. 

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Palm oil is in Australian chocolate too

At first we thought that it was only in NZ that Cadbury had introduced palm oil, but we asked what was happening in Australia - and learned that they had changed to palm oil in Australia also.

Interesting that while the issue created such a front page news hub-bub in NZ, in Australia it seemed to go under the mainstream media's radar.

The Northern Rivers Echo picked it up! See the article Group celebrates as Cadbury and KFC go palm oil free with a spokesperson from the Palm Oil Action Group.

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Cadbury bows to the power of the people!

Further to our last post about palm oil...

From stuff.nz.co: Cadbury has bowed to consumer pressure and stopped using palm oil in its dairy milk chocolate. The confectionery giant caused a furore when it was revealed it had substituted cocoa butter with vegetable fat including palm oil. Read the rest of the article Cadbury stops using palm oil in its chocolate.

To better understand this issue, the links in our post below are worth looking at, particularly the article from the NZ Sunday Star Times.

At Biome we are trying to dig out any of our products that may contain palm oil. We then contact the manufacturer to find out their plans for removing palm oil. When we tackled this issue last year with Beauty & the Bees natural skincare, we were thrilled that they made the leap to replacing palm oil, including in the much-loved Beauty & the Bees beer shampoo bar. Changing their recipes and packaging was a costly step and we hope everyone gives this fantastic Australian brand even more support because of their leadership.

Palm oil has made its way into almost all conventional processed products (from food to skin care). Here are some of the ingredients to look out for that can be palm oil in disguise:

In food
cocoa butter substitute, palm olein, palm stearine, vegetable oil

Non-food
cetyl alcohol, fatty alcohol sulphates, glyceryl stearate, isopropyl, sleareth, sodium laurel/lauryl, sodium lauryl sulphate, sodium palmate, sodium stearate, stearic acid

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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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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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Nothing but plants in this soap

Watching TV can be quite stressful as I can't help but watch the claims from mass commercial brands. Tonight, an advertisement for a "real soap" with 1/4 moisturising cream. Actually, real soap has 100% moisturisers - just pure plant oils, like these gorgeous soaps from Est. Conventional soaps need to "put back" the moisturiser because they take it out in the first place. Many soap makers strip out the moisturising glycerine because it is more valuable to sell it to the cosmetics industry. With many commercial brands, the moisturisers are also actually from petrol, not plants.

These lovingly hand moulded Est soaps are made from olive oil. Est mix herbs, grains and oils in huge stainless steel bowls in their lovely old shop kitchen. Even better, they are free from palm oil (widely used in soap making because it's cheap), so they are not contributing to the deforestation of orangutan habitat. They last forever too -- my Nanna says we'll go broke selling them because people don't need to come back for months! natural beauty

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