Get the facts. Then share them

		Gemma Tillack, Rainforest Action Network
		Help spread the word about palm oil’s destructive impact on Indonesia’s rainforests—and how we can stop it! We’ve been writing to you about the deforestation in Indonesia caused by palm oil production for years now. But you might still be connected to the problem and not even know it. Palm oil is in roughly half of all the products on your grocery store shelves, including many of the most popular snack foods. Cookies, crackers, ice cream, peanut butter, chocolate bars… You get the point. Palm oil is difficult to avoid, especially if you don’t even know what to look for. How can you find out if palm oil is an ingredient in your favorite snack? Why are rainforests being cut down for palm oil in the first place? And what can you do about it? Everything you need to know is in this blog post, which you can easily share with your friends and family! To stop a problem as large as the destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests for palm oil, though, it’s not enough to arm ourselves with the facts. We need to spread the word as far and wide as possible. Everyone needs to know their connection to rainforest destruction and how they can be part of the solution. Is your favorite snack food contributing to rainforest destruction? Get the facts. Then share them. If you look for “palm oil” in the ingredients list of your favorite snack food, you may not find it. But that doesn’t mean it’s not there. Palm oil often gets listed as something seemingly harmless (though generally with more syllables than real food), like Ascorbyl Palmitate or Palm Kernel Stearin . We put together all the information you need about palm oil’s destructive impact on the rainforests of Indonesia, and outlined ways you can take action to break the link between America‘s favorite snack foods and rainforest destruction. Arm yourself—and your friends and family—with the facts now. For the forests, Gemma Tillack             Senior Agribusiness Campaigner

Laila Sapphira Williams, Greenpeace

Cameroon Indonesia Herakles Farm and Bruce Wrobel
www.greenpeace.org A U.S. corporation has its eyes set on plowing down an area of African rainforest ten times the size of Manhattan for a palm oil plantation. Send a message right now to Herakles Farms’ CEO Bruce Wrobel demanding his company drop its plans and commit to a ‘zero deforestation’ policy. www.greenpeace.org Industrial scale palm oil production is coming to Africa and it’s bad news for the rainforest of Cameroon. Palm oil is the world’s cheapest edible oil and global demand is booming. That’s why a U.S. corporation called Herakles Farms is pushing ahead with plans to plow down an area of primate rainforest ten times larger than Manhattan to create a palm oil plantation in Cameroon. Together we have won major victories to save rainforest from expanding palm oil plantations in Indonesia. Now we’re launching a campaign to do the same in Africa. Rainforest from the proposed site has already been cleared. We have to act before the large scale destruction starts. Send a message right now to Bruce Wrobel, the CEO of Herakles Farms, demanding his company drop plans to destroy rainforests for palm oil in Cameroon and commit to a ‘zero-deforestation’ policy. Cameroon holds part of the world’s second largest rainforest. And the proposed plantation site is home to wildlife species like the African elephant and endangered chimpanzee. It also provides for the livelihoods of more than 14,000 Cameroonians who rely on the forest for small subsistence farming. Yet Herakles Farms’ CEO Bruce Wrobel refuses to acknowledge these facts, instead claiming that the company is aiming to help the community through economic development. But the facts on the ground tell a different story. The Herakles Farms project is simply the wrong project in the wrong place. Help us shine a public spotlight on Herakles Farms’ African palm oil plantation proposal by sending a message to the company’s CEO today. We’ve voiced our concerns and, so far, been ignored. But Herakles Farms won’t be able to ignore thousands of your messages. Coming off of one of the biggest breakthroughs in forest conservation history only a couple of weeks ago in Indonesia, we know what citizen activism can do when it comes to protecting the world’s rainforests. If we flood Herakles Farms’ inboxes with letters over the next few days, the company will no longer be able to ignore us and will be forced to address the truth about its plans in Africa. This is only the beginning of our work. Over the next few months, Greenpeace will continue working with local partners in Africa to stop this project and to showcase solutions with farmers already active in the region. It all starts with getting Herakles Farms’ attention. That starts with you taking action today. Together, we can put a stop to this project before it really gets started. For the forests, Laila Sapphira Williams Greenpeace Forest Campaigner

Less stuff, more orangutans

 

Give the gift of RAN.

Forget Black Friday. It’s Non-Profit Tuesday! (No, we didn’t make that up.)

The holidays are coming up soon, and you’re probably starting to look for gifts for your loved ones. But—going out on a limb here—I’m willing to bet you don’t want to give a bunch of useless stuff to your friends and family. That’s why we’re excited to offer a variety of gifts that will make a world of difference without crowding our world with more disposable junk.

A Certificate of Action from RAN isn’t stuff—it’s a unique way to support our work to protect rainforests around the world and the people and wildlife that depend on them. You’ll be giving a meaningful gift to a loved one while at the same time doing something good for the planet.

Action Packed Gifts for 2012
	Found only in Malaysia and Indonesia, man’s closest relative is being threatened by rapid loss of rainforest habitat. Your gift will support efforts to stop the devastating expansion of paper and palm oil plantations into Indonesia’s tropical forests, saving the lush wild places that orangutans call home.
	Your gift directly supports the grassroots efforts of historically underfunded organizations and communities struggling to protect their rainforest homelands—known to be the best guardians of the forest. Help ensure that small local organizations and Indigenous federations across the globe are supported in their efforts to protect the world’s remaining rainforests for many generations to come.
	There are less than 400 Sumatran tigers remaining in the wild and habitat destruction by the pulp and paper industry is a primary cause of their decline. Your gift will support RAN’s campaign to stop the conversion of Indonesia’s stunning and diverse rainforests into a wasteland of single species pulp plantations to make cheap copy paper, books, tissue and toilet paper.
	The biggest banks are threatening to take us to the edge of an ecological catastrophe if they don’t stop funding coal, the primary driver of climate change. Coal is responsible for 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and poisons the world’s streams, rivers and oceans with mercury, arsenic and other dangerous chemicals. It’s long past time that U.S. banks start funding a renewable energy economy.

Celebrate the holiday spirit this year by giving a gift that makes a world of difference. Thank you for your ongoing support!

		For the rainforests,
		Scott Kocino Membership Manager

P.S. These creative gifts make it easier than ever to support RAN’s work for the environment.

Herakles Farms is cutting the heart out of Cameroon’s rainforest – reblog

  full story … click on the red link below

Herakles Farms is cutting the heart out of Cameroon’s rainforest

(cameroonwebnews.com)

Cargill needs to come clean … Ashley Schaeffer, Rainforest Action Network

With palm oil in half of all products for sale in US grocery stores, we have the right to know the true cost of its production.

Cargill is the #1 importer of palm oil into the US, but the company refuses to be transparent about who it does business with. For instance: Is Cargill still sourcing from the notorious palm oil company Duta Palma even though this company is embroiled in severe social conflicts with communities near its destructive palm plantations?

Dozens of people are gathering outside Cargill’s offices today in Minneapolis to ask the company to come clean about its operations.

Will you help us amplify their voices by writing to Cargill now and demanding transparency around its “no-trade list”?

In the past, Cargill has said Duta Palma was on its “no-trade list,” but the company has never made this list public and RAN has reason to believe Cargill’s policy of sourcing from any company that pays membership dues to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil allows it to get palm oil from Duta Palma.

Please email Cargill CEO Greg Page now and ask him to come clean.

In 2009, Rainforest Action Network released a case study documenting illegal rainforest burning by Duta Palma on community lands used by the people of Semunying Jaya in Borneo. Duta Palma doesn’t have permits to operate these plantations and police refuse to do anything about this blatant land theft and environmental destruction.

So community members took action themselves.

A few weeks ago, members of the Semunying Jaya community seized several pieces of machinery, trucks, bulldozers and chainsaws, then barricaded the doors of Duta Palma’s palm nursery, shutting down operations. The community members are now facing possible criminal charges for standing up for the health and safety of their home.

We have the right to know: Is Cargill profiting from the oppression of the people of Semunying Jaya by buying palm oil from Duta Palma? Please demand transparency now.

For the forests,

Ashley Schaeffer

Rainforest Agribusiness Campaigner

Extinction doesn’t get a second chance … Ashley Schaeffer, Rainforest Action Network

		Click on the photo above for even more info
		Extinction doesn’t get a second chance. Endangered orangutans are hovering on the very edge of extinction.  Palm oil companies have deforested so much of the forests orangutans depend on for survival, they literally have nowhere left to go. Mankind’s closest relative urgently needs our help. Wild orangutans are nearly extinct and need us to take a stand.  You can help this important work by chipping in just $10 today. The footage below, which I filmed in Borneo, shows a pregnant orangutan trapped inside an area of active palm oil development on the border of Tanjng Puting National Park.  Because orangutans cannot swim, she cannot reach the protected lands on the other side of this river, condemning her to inevitable death by starvation or at the hands of plantation workers. Watching her broke my heart. Palm oil companies prioritize profit over life. Horrific scenes like the one captured above must come to an end. RAN is pushing big industry buyers like Cargill to take responsibility for the very real impacts of their supply chains, their role in land conflicts affecting Indigenous communities, and the role palm oil is playing in species extinction. By donating just $10 today, you are joining with hundreds of other donors to make sure that we are saving orangutans, like the one above, from extinction. Deforestation in Indonesia has reached crisis proportions — but a narrow window of time remains to stop this historic tragedy before it is too late. During the past decade orangutan populations have decreased by about 50% in the wild. This means that without drastic intervention, orangutans may soon be extinct as biologically viable populations in the wild. RAN is working hard to pressure the Indonesian government and palm oil industry giants like Cargill to end this tragedy once and for all. Please be generous.  Extinct orangutans don’t get a second chance. For the forests, Ashley Schaeffer             Rainforest Agribusiness Campaigner

Will the EPA Choose Political Influence over Science?

		Tell Obama’s EPA not to cave to industry pressure on palm oil and climate change. The EPA recently confirmed that the destruction of rainforests for palm oil is having a devastating impact on our climate. In fact, this deforestation, in large part for palm oil plantations, has led Indonesia to become the third largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world, just behind China and the United States. These severe climate and forest impacts should ensure that palm-oil based biofuels stay out of the EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard, which mandates that American motorists use 36 billion gallons of biofuel in their cars and trucks by 2022. But not if the powerful palm oil lobby has anything to do with it. A massive lobby effort led by palm oil companies Cargill and Wilmar is being waged to persuade the EPA to overturn its own climate science on palm oil. Tell Obama’s EPA not to cave to industry pressure on palm oil and climate change. Palm oil companies know this is jeopardizing news to their multi-billion dollar industry. In the United States, the EPA’s decision could also determine to what extent the U.S. becomes a major palm oil buyer. Consumption of palm oil in the United States is growing at a much faster rate than anywhere else in the world–making sense that industry reps from Indonesia and Malaysia are concerned about protecting palm oil’s reputation here. The palm oil industry will do whatever it takes to maximize profits at the expense of destruction of the forest, species, and communities of Indonesia and Malaysia–where 85% of the world’s palm oil is cultivated. Please urge the EPA to adhere to its own scientific findings over listening to palm oil industry giants such as Cargill and Wilmar. For the forests, Ashley Schaeffer Rainforest Agribusiness Campaigner

Will the EPA Choose Political Influence over Science?

		Tell Obama’s EPA not to cave to industry pressure on palm oil and climate change. The EPA recently confirmed that the destruction of rainforests for palm oil is having a devastating impact on our climate. In fact, this deforestation, in large part for palm oil plantations, has led Indonesia to become the third largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world, just behind China and the United States. These severe climate and forest impacts should ensure that palm-oil based biofuels stay out of the EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard, which mandates that American motorists use 36 billion gallons of biofuel in their cars and trucks by 2022. But not if the powerful palm oil lobby has anything to do with it. A massive lobby effort led by palm oil companies Cargill and Wilmar is being waged to persuade the EPA to overturn its own climate science on palm oil. Tell Obama’s EPA not to cave to industry pressure on palm oil and climate change. Palm oil companies know this is jeopardizing news to their multi-billion dollar industry. In the United States, the EPA’s decision could also determine to what extent the U.S. becomes a major palm oil buyer. Consumption of palm oil in the United States is growing at a much faster rate than anywhere else in the world–making sense that industry reps from Indonesia and Malaysia are concerned about protecting palm oil’s reputation here. The palm oil industry will do whatever it takes to maximize profits at the expense of destruction of the forest, species, and communities of Indonesia and Malaysia–where 85% of the world’s palm oil is cultivated. Please urge the EPA to adhere to its own scientific findings over listening to palm oil industry giants such as Cargill and Wilmar. For the forests, Ashley Schaeffer Rainforest Agribusiness Campaigner

Next steps to save Tripa forest …Lindsey Allen, Rainforest Action Network

Give a wake up call to Cargill

As you know, Tripa rainforest is in a state of emergency.
The Tripa forest of Sumatra, home to Indigenous communities and critical to the survival of endangered Sumatran orangutans, is still in peril from the landclearing fires started by palm oil companies in March.
U.S. agribusiness giant Cargill—trader of 25% of the world’s palm oil—can make a difference by adopting the safeguards necessary to guarantee that rainforests, communities and critical habitat for endangered species are not destroyed through its palm oil business.
Cargill clearly needs a wakeup call. Can you commit five minutes of your time to give it to them?
Applying the kind of pressure required for Cargill to take a stand for the local people of Tripa, the survival of Sumatran orangutans, and the 130 million year old rainforests that they call home is no small task, but it’s a worthy one.
Are you ready to do what it takes to transform the destructive behavior of a corporate giant? Cargill needs to hear from you, and hundreds of other rainforest advocates like you, to be moved to action at this critical moment.
Let’s give this sleeping giant a wake up call today to save Tripa!

		For the forests,
		Lindsey Allen             Forest Program Director             Twitter: @probwithpalmoil #savetripa

Stop the fires in Indonesia and save Sumatran orangutans … Lindsey Allen, Rainforest Action Network

		Urge the President of Indonesia to stop the fires in Indonesia’s Tripa Swamp forest Over ninety-two fires burn out of control in the Tripa swamp rainforest of Indonesia—home to one of the largest remaining populations of wild orangutans in the world. The fires now ablaze in Tripa started as palm oil companies rushed to clear forests once they realized that community groups had gone to court to try and stop their plantation expansion. Sumatran orangutans could be completely wiped out if these fires are allowed to continue. We must all take collective action now to save these orangutans. Demand that the president of Indonesia declare a state of emergency in Tripa and deploy firefighting units immediately to stop the burning. The current crisis in Tripa could have been avoided with greater palm oil expansion oversight and attention to forest protection, species conservation and community rights. President Yudhoyono stated this past September, “I will continue my work and dedicate the last three years of my term as president to deliver enduring results that will sustain and enhance the environment and forests of Indonesia.” Please hold Indonesia’s president to his word. Urge President Yudhoyono to order palm oil companies to cease the burning of Tripa immediately. Thank you for your rapid response to this urgent crisis. For the forests, Lindsey Allen             Forest Program Director             Twitter: @probwithpalmoil #savetripa