Here are 10 important facts about Palm Oil that we think everyone should know about!
1. Palm oil is a vegetable oil that comes from the fruit of oil palm trees.
2. Oil palms are the most productive crop in the world and take less land to produce than any other vegetable oil.
3. Palm oil is used in nearly half of all of the items that we buy.
4. 85% of all palm oil is grown in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Papua New Guinea.
5. Palm oil companies prefer to demolish primary forests for their plantations because these forests don’t require as much expensive fertilizer.
6. These rainforests are often cleared using fires.
7. Palm oil plantations have significantly damaged the environment, the surrounding communities, and the climate.
8. Palm oil and palm oil plantations are the leading cause of orangutan extinction.
9. Avoiding palm oil could have worse effects on the environment because it takes support away from companies trying to improve this bad situation.
10. Palm oil can be produced in a responsible way that respects the environment and the communities where it is grown!
Check out the World Wildlife Foundation’s website to find out what items you might have in your own home that contain palm oil!