palm oil
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The death of ‘sustainability’
Can destroying a tropical rainforest be “sustainable”? Well, according to a decision taken yesterday by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the major industry-NGO body, this greatest of environmental crimes is now officially “green.” Palm oil plantations have driven the destruction of more than 30,000 square miles of tropical forest in Indonesia and Malaysia […]
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Critical List: Natural gas bigwig steps down as company chair; new coral reefs
Aubrey McClendon, chair of the natural gas company Chesapeake Energy, is giving up his role as chairman (but will remain CEO). McClendon faced criticism for mixing his personal finances with the company’s business. More Indonesian palm oil plantations are going on peatland, which means more intensive carbon emissions, which means … well, you guys know […]
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Ask Umbra: Can I escape the clutches of palm oil?
A reader wonders if there are any palm-oil-free butter substitutes. Umbra spreads her knowledge.
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Scout’s honor: The push for sustainable cookies isn’t over yet
The efforts of two concerned scouts have finally led Girl Scouts USA to source the palm oil in their cookies sustainably. But the girls say the new policy still isn't enough.
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The five big forest trends of 2012
In the past year, examples abounded of forests being protected or restored on a grand scale. But those successes put the colossal failures and the corrupting forces behind them in stark relief: For too many forests, some combination of rapacious corporate greed, rising global population and consumption (particularly in Asia), local corruption, ignorant or careless […]
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Breaking: Obama pushes huge free trade deals to Wednesday vote
If you thought President Obama’s expressions of sympathy for the Occupy Wall Street movement meant he was suddenly going to stand up for “the 99 percent” and their planet, think again. Obama has just submitted to Congress the Chamber of Commerce-backed Colombia, Panama, and Korea Free Trade Agreements, which are opposed by pretty much every […]
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How rainforests can produce biofuel sustainably
Production of biofuel from palm oil has been an unmitigated disaster for the rainforest, leading to clear-cutting throughout Indonesia and propelling that country to the top ranks of the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters. That's why it's so strange that biologist Willie Smits, last seen cooking up a plan to save orangutans, thinks that biofuels could actually save the rainforest.
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Girl Scouts censor Facebook criticism of palm oil in cookies
Critter-killing cookies?Photo: Laura TaylorLooking for a lesson of how not to respond to green consumer demand in the internet age? Check out Girl Scouts USA. The Scouts’ CEO Kathy Cloninger has for several years rebuffed polite requests from individual scouts, major environmental organizations, and others that they make their famous Girl Scout cookies rainforest friendly. […]
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How two 15-year-old Girl Scouts (and Grist readers) changed Kellogg’s
It’ll take some willpower, but don’t have “samoa” until they stop harming the planet.Photo: Laura TaylorWhen Kellogg’s announced this week that it is moving to limit the deforestation caused by the palm oil it uses to make Frosted Flakes, Keebler cookies, Rice Krispies, and Girl Scout cookies, it represented an enormous achievement for two 15-year-old […]