boycott palm oil!

hey guys! This is really important! I implore your attention!

So, palm oil is an immense ecological and humanitarian concern that everyone should be made aware of, but it never seems to catch on. I don't know if it's because it's too easy to just shrug off or because not enough awareness is out there, but in either case not much seems to be getting done and we should really all be making our best efforts to combat the problem.

Aside from being absolutely terrible for you, palm oil is ruining the rainforests and the lives of the indigenous people who live there. Essentially, palm oil companies go to places like Indonesia where there crops can grow best. But, apparently buying land the honest way is just no fun, so they often promise the natives a share of the profits or a flat playment in exchange for farming in their part of the forest. When interviewed, these men and women claim that they would be all right with the entire ordeal, if not for the fact that they are very rarely given what is owed and are thrust into the terrors of poverty.

I feel like that's upsetting enough, but it goes on: palm oil companies, as you might guess, aren't really into that whole "sustainable farming" thing. All of the problems that we usually encounter with mass production of produce and genetic engineering can apply to palm oil crops. Except, of course, it all happens within out wonderful and diminishing rainforests.

I know everyone likes things like Girl Scout Cookies, Skippy Peanut Butter and Mission Tortilla Chips (that's right, I'm name-dropping like there's no tomorrow), but I really think we need to consider the effects of everything that we're doing. By purchasing these products, you are directly supporting the companies responsible for incredible amounts of damage.

boycott palm oil! tell all yo' friends!