Researchers argue food can be made without destroying rainforests, using alternative energy sources like microbes, yeast and CO2, saving animals and emissions
Author Archives: Palm Oil Detectives
Green Lie of “Sustainable” Aviation Biofuel
“Sustainable” Aviation Fuel (SAF) is a biofuel alternative to using fossil fuels for powering planes and cars. SAF is being aggressively marketed by multiple industries as a greener alternative to burning fossil fuels in cars and airplanes.
However, SAF is produced from food crops such as rapeseed, palm oil, soy and sugar cane. This requires vast swathes of land to grow. This also means mass deforestation of land that is rich in biodiversity, putting at risk already threatened animals and plants and indigenous peoples all over the world. Emissions from palm oil-derived biodiesel are three times higher than fossil fuel diesel. According to Transport & Environment EU food-based biodiesel leads to around 80% higher emissions than the fossil fuel diesel that it replaces. Read on to find out how you can take action.
Palm Oil Deforestation and Disease-Carrying Mosquitoes
A 2023 study published in Nature has found that cutting down rainforest to grow palm oil makes it easier for certain disease-carrying bugs like Aedes albopictus mosquitoes to thrive.
The study looks at how these changes in land use affect the local weather and environment, which in turn makes it easier for the mosquitoes to complete their life cycle.
Specifically, turning forests into palm oil plantations can increase the chances of these mosquitoes growing by about 11%, which drops to around 5% as the palm oil plants mature. This could lead to more frequent outbreaks of diseases carried by these mosquitoes.
Aedes albopictus is known to transmit pathogens and viruses, such as the Yellow Fever, Dengue Fever, Chikungunya fever and Usutu virus.
The study suggests careful policy-making and planning is urgently needed to assess how we use land, balancing the need for palm oil farming.
There are strong inherent risks to public health from palm oil agriculture and vector-borne diseases. #Boycottpalmoil
Vegan Palm Oil Free Christmas Recipes
Boycott palm oil this Christmas 🎅🎄 with 10 yummy, #palmoilfree and #Vegan #recipes 🦧🦏🐘🐒🐍 and your #health 🥦🍆 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
Terrifying Tale of Halloween: Palm Oil Ecocide in Your Treats!
This #Halloween, as you revel in terrifying tales and creepy costumes, remember that the most terrifying tale of all isn’t enjoyable folklore—it’s the horrifying truth about palm oil. This ingredient causes #deforestation, #ecocide, #humanrights abuses and #indigenous land-grabbing. The production of #palmoil casts a dark shadow over our planet, as it can only be grown on destroyed tropical rainforests. So-called “sustainable” palm oil used by the world’s biggest food brands like Nestle, Mondelez, Hersheys, Ferrero and Mars is a complete greenwashing lie. So don’t buy any of it! All palm oil threatens the very existence of wildlife, polluting our air and water, accelerates climate change, and tramples on the rights of indigenous communities worldwide. This Halloween, take action and use your wallet as a weapon. 🌍🌳🦍 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
Choose Indigenous Trees Over Palm Oil In India
India is pushng palm oil growth, a massive mistake for local biodiversity, land rights and climate change, Indians should resist and Boycott palm oil!
The Amazonian Royal Flycatcher: A flurry of feathers
The Amazonian Royal Flycatcher is a member of a family of birds called the tyrant flycatchers, which occur throughout North and South America. This is the biggest family of birds in the world, with more than 400 species. As the name implies, the majority of tyrant flycatchers are entirely insectivorous (though they do not necessarily specialise in flies), while the ‘tyrant’ part comes from the noisy, aggressively territorial behaviour of some species in the group. Help them to survive every time you shop and #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife.
Meet Chimbu, the blue-eyed, bear-eared tree kangaroo
Tree kangaroos are so unusual that when Europeans first encountered them in Australia in 1872, back on the continent they were sceptical if they were real! Who would believe a #kangaroo could climb a tree? The Goodfellow’s tree kangaroo is an endangered species of the genus dendrolagus living in the Central Cordillera mountain ranges ofContinue reading “Meet Chimbu, the blue-eyed, bear-eared tree kangaroo”
Species Extinction: just how bad is it and why should we care?
This is arguably society’s biggest challenge, and arguably its biggest failure: the continuing loss of species from Earth. The massive impact we are having on the planet has firmly entrenched us in a period of our history commonly called the Anthropocene.
Background or “normal” rates of extinction vary through time but are typically in the order of one to two species per year. Current rates of extinction, however, are estimated to have reached 1000 to 10,000 times this rate. Help animals to survive when you shop and be #Vegan 🌿🍌🍇 #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🩸🤮☠️#Boycott4Wildlife
Demand for meat is driving deforestation in Brazil – changing the soy industry could stop it
For many people, soy as a commodity has a pretty innocuous reputation thanks to its association with vegan food and meat alternatives. However don’t be fooled – crops of this pale legume are behind much of Brazil’s epidemic of deforestation. Much more #soy is fed to farm animals that people eat than is used in vegan food. Since 2000, #Brazil has doubled its total area of soy plantation to 36 million hectares and become the world’s largest producer. This expansion has erased vast swathes of forest and other habitats in some of the country’s most biodiverse regions. Soy, along with palm oil and meat deforestation are the biggest land-hungry commodities in South America and threaten the world’s largest rainforest biosphere. Help fight against this ecocide every time you shop, be #vegan #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
One-fifth of reptiles heading towards extinction
Almost one-fifth of the world’s reptiles are currently threatened with extinction.A recent study assessed 1500 species for extinction risks. From the 19% found to be in danger, 12% were classified as Critically Endangered, 41% as Endangered and 47% Vulnerable. Three of the species listed as being Critically Endangered are believed to be possibly extinct. ThisContinue reading “One-fifth of reptiles heading towards extinction”
Climate Explained: what would happen if we cut down the Amazon rainforest?
What would happen if we cut down the entire Amazon rainforest? Could it be replaced by an equal amount of reforestation elsewhere? Removing the entire Amazon rainforest would have myriad consequences, with the most obvious ones possibly not the worst. Most people will first think of the carbon currently stored in the Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest. But the consequences would be far-reaching for the climate as well as biodiversity and ecosystems — and, ultimately, people. Fight for animals, indigenous peoples and the planet itself #BoycottPalmOil #BoycottGold and #Boycott4Wildlife
Why you should stop buying new clothes
Alana James, Northumbria University, Newcastle The fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world, producing 20% of global wastewater and 10% of global carbon emissions – and it’s estimated that by 2050 this will have increased to 25%. A staggering 300,000 tonnes of clothes are sent to British landfills each year.Continue reading “Why you should stop buying new clothes”
How plywood started the destruction of Indonesia’s forests
Indonesia now has the has the fastest rate of deforestation in the world, driven largely by clearing for palm oil plantations. But the process began long ago, with one of the most common building materials: plywood. As far as commodities are concerned, it was plywood that defined the rainforests of Borneo in the 1970s andContinue reading “How plywood started the destruction of Indonesia’s forests”
Video: Slowing deforestation is the key to preventing the next pandemic – but what does that cost?
Les Kaufman, Boston University In a recent journal article, a team of biologists, medical scientists, environmental scientists and conservationists proposed a number of measures to reduce the likelihood of future pandemics, many of which originate with wild animals such as bats. They argue that spending billions of dollars per year – a fraction of theContinue reading “Video: Slowing deforestation is the key to preventing the next pandemic – but what does that cost?”
Explainer: What is a tipping point, and why should we care?
Lately, you may have heard someone say that we have reached a “tipping point.” Recently, we have witnessed dramatic shifts in our social and economic states of being. Our ability to understand and act thoughtfully around this single concept could determine the fate of life on Earth. Help reverse the upheavals and tipping points every time you shop #Boycott4Wildlife
Can we feed the world and stop deforestation? Depends what’s for dinner
It’s a tricky thing to grow enough #food for a ballooning population without destroying the natural world. And when I say a tricky thing, I mean it’s one of the greatest challenges humanity has ever faced. Luckily for us, it is theoretically possible, and the easiest way to get there is by drastically cutting down on meat. We deforest an area the size of Panama every single year. Across the world, food is the number one cause of #deforestation, especially our taste for meat. If we all woke up #vegan in 2050, we would need less land than in 2000. We could reforest an area the size of the Amazon. 80% of deforestation is from #meat” Take action every time you shop and go plant-based #Boycott4Wildlife
African Greys: How politics killed the parrot
The African Grey Parrot of the Congo is an understated beauty sporting ash-grey plumage, which partially conceals the red flash of their short tails – not to be confused with the smaller and darker Timneh grey parrot. This species is found, as their name suggests, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), along with Kenya, Tanzania and parts of Angola. Already globally threatened, any self-described bird lover must understand jus how the political environment in the DRC is threatening this gorgeous parrot. One of the most pervasive threats for these rare birds is poaching for the illegal pet trade, which, in the past 40 years alone, has resulted in almost three million birds being snatched from their homes. That’s three million birds who will never reproduce in the wild and ensure continuity of this species. Help these birds every time you shop and be #Vegan, #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife.
How does COVID-19 affect Wildlife Conservation?
How does COVID 19 affect Wildlife Conservation? This pandemic has affected several continents, and everyone seems to be at its mercies. It’s sad to see people lose lives, property, jobs, among others. It’s crippling the economy and results to be a pandemic pushing us to a very difficult corner. No Money = No Tourism ApartContinue reading “How does COVID-19 affect Wildlife Conservation?”
Mass extinction: what is it and are we in one now?
For more than 3.5 billion years, living organisms have thrived, multiplied and diversified to occupy every ecosystem on Earth. The flip side to this explosion of new species is that species extinctions have also always been part of the evolutionary life cycle.
A mass extinction is usually defined as a loss of about three quarters of all species in existence across the entire Earth over a “short” geological period of time. Given the vast amount of time since life first evolved on the planet, “short” is defined as anything less than 2.8 million years. Right now loss of species on earth is being driven by a mix of direct and indirect human activities, such as the destruction and fragmentation of habitats, direct exploitation like fishing and hunting, chemical pollution, invasive species, and human-caused global warming. Help species survive #BoycottPalmOil be #Vegan and #Boycott4Wildlife
On Overcoming Activism Exhaustion and Burn-Out
It’s Okay Not To Be Okay, But Not Okay to Remain That Way We all go through stuff that makes us feel no okay, maybe a phase/season/period/stage, etc. It’s okay for this to happen, and our feelings are totally valid. There’s nothing wrong with that. Just allow yourself to outgrow the situations. Remember, you areContinue reading “On Overcoming Activism Exhaustion and Burn-Out”
Inside the colourful world of animal vision
Want to hear something trippy? Unlike other aspects of an object such as its size or mass, colour is not an inherent property. Perceiving colour is a function of an organism’s sensory system. In other words, colour is a construct of the mind. But whose minds? Aside from the human experiences of colour, other-than-human eyes perceive colour in radically different ways.
The Rarest Rhino: The Two Last Northern White Rhinos of Kenya
The rarest rhino in the world can be found wallowing in the mud at the Ol Pejeta Nature Conservancy in Kenya. Constantly guarded by vigilant rifle-clad guards, these two animals have no idea that they are the last members of their kind. They are northern white rhinos – the very last northern white rhinos anywhere on Earth. They have been poached to the very edge of extinction, with virtually no hope for recovery. Could this be the saddest story ever told? Likely! Vehemently and strongly oppose all forms of trophy hunting and poaching wherever you see it and #Boycott4Wildlife
Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire: Let’s Sort the Plastic Menace
Smoke is a clear sign of something brewing up. The decision taken afterward determines the outcomes. If ignored, the fire may destroy everything. But if we bother to check out, we may save the day. It has been more than a month now since we heard the rumors of Kenya being used as a hubContinue reading “Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire: Let’s Sort the Plastic Menace”
The lengthy childhood of endangered orangutans is written in their teeth
Orangutan populations of all three species are critically endangered in the wild. One of the things that may hamper their survival is the time they take to rear new generations.
Just like human mothers, primate mothers raise only a few slow-growing offspring during their reproductive years. An orangutan mother will not give birth again until she’s finished providing milk to her previous offspring. Nursing can take a long time and vary across seasons, as found in research published in Science Advances. Help these beautiful and rare great apes to survive when you #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife in the supermarket!
Every Living Organism Has a Way of Communicating
Every living organism has a way of communicating. We may not be able to understand each other’s language. But its there and communication get passed from one organism to another. How do forests speak to us? If you have ever been into the woods and feel different ways nature talks to us. From the windContinue reading “Every Living Organism Has a Way of Communicating”
Wildlife and Environmental Advocate Winnie Cheche
I love wildlife and I am ready to do whatever I can to ensure that future generation get to see animals. Poaching and conservation area encroachment continue to be a threat to wildlife existence, and something needed to be done. Knowledge is power and a good start to ensure things change. Extinction is already taking them away, and humans contribute to that. Helping them know how they play that part will help stop the reaction. If you want to get involved in conservation, look at the many ways that humans are driven crazy out of our greed and selfishness. Then work to find fixes and solutions for that. We can allow our humanity and compassion to guide us towards advocating for the right thing for animals and for the natural world.
Dangers of wildlife mass death in this era
For a while now, we have been labeled as a generation promoting mass extinction of other species as a result of some negative activities we do for developments. We have occupied and displaced these species, as our population continues to expand. Cheche Winnie The mass death of elephants in the Okavango Delta A few daysContinue reading “Dangers of wildlife mass death in this era”
How forest loss has changed biodiversity across the globe over the last 150 years
The Earth’s forests have been changing ever since the first tree took root. For 360 million years, trees have grown and been felled through a dynamic mix of hurricanes, #fires and natural regeneration. But with the dawn of the 17th century, humans began replacing large swathes of forest with farms and cities. The global pace of #deforestation has slowed in the 21st century, but #forests are still disappearing – albeit at different rates in different parts of the world. In the tropics, forest loss is accelerating in previously pristine wilderness. Help rainforests, wild animals and indigenous peoples to survive #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife
Rüppell’s Vulture Gyps rueppelli
The Rüppell’s Vulture is an enigmatic avian marvel soaring the African and European skies. Their powerful wings carry them aloft on streams of air to altitudes of 11,000 metres. From far above they scan the endless landscapes for sustenance. These remarkable carrion cleaners pose no threat to humans and only eat dead animals. They now teeter on the brink of extinction, fewer than 22,000 individuals remain alive due to the depletion of their prey species, human and wildlife conflict and palm oil deforestation throughout their range. This critically endangered species, are known for their awe-inspiring high altitude flights—reaching heights seen by commercial airlines. They face a grave threat from the insidious palm oil industry, mining along with other destructive industries across their range. Help them to survive and #BoycottPalmOil and #Boycott4Wildlife every time you shop.
Palm Oil Detectives 