On Friday, after our "Rock Star Mall", I was very happy to have been able to get a packet of Oreos. As I was riding the bus home, I got kind of bored and started to examine the wrapper. There were two things that happened to catch my eye. Number one was a (very small) label that said "Product of Indonesia". Number two was an ingredient on the ingredient list. Palm oil. This is almost certain to be Indonesian palm oil, and palm oil plantations are exactly what they're burning Sumatran rainforests down for. Exactly what is creating the haze. 
As an Oreo lover, I know you might not want to give them up. But think about it. Rainforests are being burned down. Homes to endangered animals. Endangered plants. Endangered plants which make the oxygen we breathe, the oxygen which helps prevent global warming, the oxygen we can't survive without. The burning makes the Haze, which lingers over not only Indonesia, but several other neighboring countries as well. With every packet of Oreos you get, you are supporting the burning of Indonesian rainforests.You probably aren't very happy about not being able to eat an Oreo without feeling guilty (or paying palm oil plantation owners to burn down more rainforests), and I found one replacement for them. That's how much palm oil is used, even though you may not realize it. I found some recipes to make your own Oreos, too. The links are below. I also found a petition to change the ingredients of Oreos, with the link below. Please comment on your favorite recipe, or if you can find another store - bought brand that is environmentally friendly.
This is a very helpful website with tips to finding palm oil free products.
http://www.orangutans.com.au/orangutans-survival-information/helping-you-buy-responsibly-palm-oil-free-alternatives.aspx
Some palm oil free products
http://www.palmoilfreeproducts.com.au/
These are the store - bought cookies.
http://www.countrychoiceorganic.com/products/cookies/sandwich-cremes/
This link is from a blog with a ton of other recipes (some of which are other types of homemade Oreos). For those ones, click Recipes at the top and you'll see the list.
http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/10/24/healthy-oreos/
This is a tricky one. Keep scrolling down until you see the recipe.
http://www.whatrunslori.com/2012/02/homemade-how-to-make-healthy-oreo-cookies/
The petition.
http://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/oreo-stop-putting-palm-oil-in-your-cookies-unless-you-know-it-does-not-contain-deforestation-animal-extinction#share
I never knew that oreos were so bad for the environment. I have never really liked oreos but now I don't like them one single bit! I wish that they would stop using palm oil in everything, because it really hurts the environment.
ReplyDeleteIt's true, there's palm oil in almost everything. I found some in the soap we use at home and even chapstick! The link about how to find palm oil in the stuff you use at home really was helpful, though.
DeleteI can't believe that anyone would ever want to put palm oil in anything, especially soap that everybody uses!
ReplyDeleteIt's sad, but it does happen. We used to use Hugo & Debra Naturals brand hand soap, but it says clearly on the back that there's palm oil in it, so we stopped. Now at my house, we use something called Dr. Woods.
DeleteI still can't understand why it's so hard to understand that people should just stop using palm oil, in everyday products that everybody uses!
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