Palm Oil – the facts

“an invisible ingredient with very visible consequences”  - a socio-environmental concern.

30 square miles of forests and habitats are being destroyed in Malaysia every single day making way for huge Palm Oil plantations, not only does this release huge amounts of carbon, but the huge amount of species that this effects is unfathomable as the rainforest is  home to 420 species of birds, 210 species of mammals, 254 species of reptiles, and 368 species of freshwater fish. (Lone Droscher –Nielseen 2009 BOS)  As well as the many local communities who rely upon the rainforest to survive – the focal point of the BOS campaign for sustainable palm oil is on the Orang utan who exist only in the forests of Borneo and Sumatra; the areas most susceptible to the pillaging of carbon rich rainforests.

What is palm oil and what products can you find it in?

Palm oil is the cheapest of all food oil; as well as being edible it is increasingly being used in the bio-diesel industry; in Europe it is the primary substitute for rapeseed oil.

It is a common ingredient in food products (Warburton’s Bread, KitKat Chocolate, Kellogg’s Cereal, Mcvitie’s Biscuits) and domestic products (Persil , Surf)..  Although there are some companies that use palm oil in their products many actively use sustainable palm oil, which has, been promoted via membership of the organisation “Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO); there are some who are members who still do not source RSPO certified palm oil for their products.

Unilever have pledged “that by 2015 100% of its palm oil will be certified sustainable” To see the full list of brands and companies click here to read “The Independents” review: click here

It is also important to remember that palm oil will be included in the list of ingredients as “vegetable oil” so it is important that you find out which products actually use palm oil in an unsustainable way. You shouldn’t boycott palm oil altogether but take the rational approach of lobbying multi-national companies to source palm oil in the most sustainable way.

Meanwhile the WWF has recently published a report that 14 out of 25 UK Companies have failed to buy any RSPO oil; however 7 UK firms were among the 10 best performers in Europe which have take significant steps in the amount of RSPO oil used in their products.  “ Sustainable palm oil is about social justice and benefitting local people as its environmental impact. “ (comment: Independent Online 29.10.2009) While the RSPO have reported that they have “…certified enough plantations to produce 1.75m tonnes of sustainable palm oil midway through this year. The tragedy is that less than 15% of this sustainable oil has actually been sold.”

What is so wrong about using it?

Rainforests and peat lands across Southeast Asia are being destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations. The country most effected is Indonesia whose rate of deforestation is the fastest in the world, and consequently is the worlds 3^rd largest greenhouse emitter; what’s more large amounts of Indonesian rainforest rests on peat lands, which in turn releases huge amounts of gases once it is destroyed.  Despite recommendations from the 2006 Stern report that the first response of government in tackling climate change and carbon emissions should be to cease all deforestation, which is the fundamental source of carbon emissions, all our other solutions in combating climate change will be rendered redundant if we fail to do this.

This rise in the production in palm oil has been related to the conscious effort to reduce the amount of fossil fuels being burned and replacing them with bio-diesel… however the stark irony is that the destruction of rainforests and peat lands actually releases more carbon emissions than the burning of un-renewable resources.  With targets such as China’s ambition to have 15% of its fuel to be grown in fields by 2020 – the ten million hectares of Indonesian peat land and forest looks set to rise dramatically.

The production of palm oil is a socio-environmental concern given that many communities depend on the palm oil plantations for survival therefore cohesion is needed between the environmental and consumer spheres… the western world needs to put pressure on the brands to make sure that the source of the products we buy are more transparent, that they ensure that the products are created in the most sustainable way.  Which is that palm oil is sourced from cultivations from land that had already been created for farmland not specifically for palm oil… however despite the availability of millions of hectares of degraded land across SE Asia some companies choose not to use these due the profits they can generate by first clearing the land of forest and then selling the timber.

The impact on orang utans in Borneo according to the Dr Willie Smits “The rate of loss of orang utans has never been greater than in the last three years and oil palm plantations are mostly to blame. We are facing a silent massacre-taking place far from where people can see what is going on. We need international co-operation to address this crisis” (Borean orang utan survival foundations founder/chairman) The Bornean orang utan population stood at 300,00 100 years ago today the figures have dropped to 30,000 with extinction expected within 5-10 years which have been subjected to a murderous regime from the bulldozers and fires used to destroy the rainforests.

Recent Progress

Six governors have recently signed an agreement backed by an UN scheme that aims to protect the forests in return for carbon credits. The scheme known as REDD+ as upheld a promise to boost livelihoods for local communities whilst reducing deforestation. These carbon credits can then be sold onto rich nations therefore generating an income for these developing countries.

What can you do?

Lobby your supermarkets to ensure that your favourite products and brands are using palm oil from only the most sustainable companies.

Tesco:
Sir Terry Leahy
Chief Executive
Tesco House
Delamare Road
Cheshunt
Hertfordshire EN8 9SL

Asda:
Mr. Andrew Bond
Chief Executive
ASDA PLC
ASDA House Southbank
Great Wilson Street
Leeds LS11 5AD

Morrisons:
Sir Kenneth D. Morrison CBE
Executive Chairman
Wm Morrison
Supermarkets plc
Thornton Road
Bradford BD8 9AX

Sainsburys:
Mr Justin King
Chief Executive
Sainsburys plc
33 Holborn
London EC1 2HT

Waitrose:
Sir Stuart Hampson
Executive Chairman
Waitrose plc
Central Offices
Southern Industrial Area
Bracknell
Berkshire RG12 8YA

Further reading:

http://www.forests4orangutans.org

http://www.rspo.org/

Turning off streetights to reduce carbon emissions

While I was driving back home along the M25 I noticed how many street lights ran along the hard shoulder and slip roads from joining junctions. The power alone from my little Fiat Punto’s headlights did me fine while driving along the unlit country roads of Sussex, so why is it necessary to have just so many street lights on a heavily used highway?

I haven’t seen in the press, media or on blogs the suggestion that one way we could save energy would be to reduce the amount of street lighting that we have on our roads; apart from the annual global incentive of  “Earth Hour”. While I understand that street lighting is relied upon for security and safety and is a useful crime deterrent in some areas, I am sure that there is an abundance of un-necessary street lighting.  After a little research i.e putting “turn street lights off, save energy” into Google I found an interview with Ed Milliband where the question had been put to him:

Why don’t we turn off every other streetlight from midnight to five in the morning? (Robert Megicks)

Where by his answer had been:

No one has ever suggested that to me. Let me look into how the energy is generated.

I am guessing this was from November last year, as the interview wasn’t dated.

Digging a little deeper I discovered a whole wealth of examples of councils around England dipping there toes into the waters of “turning off street lights” to reduce carbon emissions. Essex, Poole and East Sussex have attempted or are attempting schemes, either by dimming lights or turning off street lights in predominantly rural areas or areas with low levels of crime. Public reaction seems to be split, although someone did mention that with less street lighting anti-social behaviour had been reduced as dark streets seemed to deter kids from “hanging-out” although how far that this is true I can not say.

However, figures show that this can be an effective way to reduce energy use.

In Essex where the scheme to turn lights off at midnight has been piloted, there are approximately 120,000 council funded lights producing an annual energy consumption of 44 million kilowatt hours of electricity and 19,000 tonnes of carbon emissions. (source: The Independent)

Results have yet to be published, however if boroughs around the country followed suit, either by turning lights off, dimming them or even have one light on for every three in the most suitable areas, then this would surely be progress.

And those who argue that this will encourage crime and anti-social behaviour, will be pleased to realise the cost-effective benefit, in the USA, Santa Rosa, California are removing 6,000 of their 15,000 street lights, which they believe will save $400,000 each year. This money could then be used to invest in anti-crime methods such as more police and youth projects.

Meanwhile, Sir John Madejski of Auto-Trader and Reading football club fame has become the main backer of Clearview which own ‘Solar Lite’ road studs. These studs incorporate a solar energy cell instead of a reflecting light, which is used in the humble cat’s eye. They are charged via the sun during the day and release light during the night; 2 hours of daylight store enough power to run for 10 nights, although needless to say this would work better in sunnier climates than our own.

However, according to a report published by The Cochrane Study advises that removing street lighting would be potentially adverse considering “that street lighting reduced the number of fatal [car] crashes by 77 per cent and other collisions by between 32 and 55 per cent.” (Source: the telegraph), this technology could support those councils wishing to trial these changes.

Some councils have switched off some of their street lighting and started to install these new road studs on roads that are little used late at night. They also help the driver navigate the road better as the lights can be seen up to 1km away and can map out the roads path and bends ahead.  The company has just secured their first motorway contract, where 5,000 studs will be installed at Clacket lane on the M25. Bucks council has also endorsed these studs whereby they saved 500 tonnes of Co2 in the past 12 months. (Source: the times online )

However, one German scheme seems perhaps like a step too far, where an almost pay-per light system accessed via your mobile phone means residents must use their cell phone to call the energy provider and key in a pin-code for the lights to be switched on at a rate of 3euros per hour!

The company Telensa has designed a chip that can be installed in street lamps that connects to a central computer on a wireless connection. Via the Internet thousands of lights can be controlled to reflect local conditions better than can be done with the traditional method of timers. Telensa say that this could slash energy use by 40%.

Which ever method is used, either dimming lights, turning them off between certain hours, or using the technology as mentioned above, I think would be warmly welcomed, and I for one would love to be able to see the stars more clearly at night!

The greenest brands!

Here is a great list illustrating which of the brands we use, wear or eat,  are the best in terms of their Green credentials! The results are based on a survey in which people were asked how they well they felt the brand themselves were portraying their Green values.

1. Body Shop
2. Marks & Spencer
3. Waitrose
4. Tesco, Sainsbury’s (tied)
5. Asda
6. Dove and Google (tied)
7. Co-Operative Bank
8. E.ON
9. Morrisons
10. Nivea and Toyota (tied)

Top tips to help you get green

Leave your car at home and cycle to work, there are plenty of ways to get on your bike the government have set up a new initiative where you can purchase a bike tax free, see www.cyclescheme.co.uk

Eco-balls are the next best thing to wash your laundry instead of detergent. Each plastic ball contains mineral salt pellets that produce ionized oxygen which lift the dirt way from you clothes! The combined effect of fewer chemicals and lower temperature provide a natural, environmentally friendly, efficient and cost-effective way to wash your clothes! www.ecozone.co.uk

Soy candles will burn for longer than the usual parfin candles and will produces 96% less soot. You can buy them at www.brightsuncandles.com

If you shop at Tesco make sure you get a club card as every Tesco Bag that you re-use you will earn one green point!

If you are a car driver make sure you don’t have unnecessary stuff in your boot, the extra added weight will mean that you will use more fuel.

Next time you are in London and your carrying a plastic bottle then be sure to throw it away put itone of  our eco-friendly Hedgehog Vans!

When you’re cooking make sure that you put a lid on top of your saucepans so that the contents heat more quickly and as a result you use less energy.

You can clean you oven using a lemon, cut the lemon into slices and place in the microwave for 30 seconds, use the juice to wipe the oven. Stains will be easier to remove and those nasty food smells will be neutralized.

Add a small amount of baking soda into the bag of your vacuum cleaner to help reduce musty/pet smells being spread throughout your house when vacuuming.