Green Options » palm oil

Don’t Like Biofuels? Bet You Can’t Beat Retaliation by Blowpipe!

Nick Chambers — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:32:20 +0000

Native Malaysian tribespeople are taking to traditional methods of battle — including the use of blowpipes — to combat the destruction of their homeland to satisfy the exploding worldwide demand for palm oil.

The rate at which virgin tropical rainforests are currently being cleared to plant palm plantations to supply the ravenous growth of worldwide palm oil demand is staggering: In Indonesia alone 4.4 million acres of rainforest disappear each year. Given that one American football field is roughly one acre, that’s just about 4.4 million football fields. Truly staggering.

Together, Malaysia and Indonesia account for 80% of worldwide palm oil production, but they also contain more than 80% of the remaining virgin rainforests in Southeast Asia. Unfortunately, the only remaining lands in Southeast Asia that are also the best for palm oil production are these vast swaths of virgin rainforest.

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Madagascar Coup Threatens Bio-diversity “Hot Spot”

Michael Ricciardi — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:35:51 +0000

Isalo National Park, Madagascar (photo: Bernard Gagnon)

160 million years ago, what is now called Madagascar–the world’s fourth largest island–broke free from its parent continent (Africa), allowing evolution to do some of its most creative work.

The Island, located just off the Southeast coast of Africa and roughly the size of California, is home to an amazing array of life-forms found no where else: bats (with suction cup “elbows”), the Silky Sifaka lemur (an ancient line of primate relatives), dozens of “new” species of scorpions and spiders, and an estimated 200 - 400 new species of frog (most of which have yet to be named). There are also numerous, unique species of plants. An estimated 80% of these new species (especially the frogs) exist only in protected areas of Madagascar’s remaining rain forests.

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What’s the Global Problem with Palm Oil? It’s in most Local Supermarket items.

Lucille Chi — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:10:45 +0000

So what is the problem with palm oil? Take a peek at this short video explaining:

To recap, palm oil is in many common supermarket products such as snacks, candy, and even soaps and detergents. Rainforest Action Network has created a site to educate consumers on the how destructive palm oil is to our global environment. Palm oil destroys vital ecosystems, contributes to global climate change, results in the displacement of Indigenous people and small family farmers, and is produced through exploitative labor practices.

Please help educate grocery shoppers about these facts and take action in anyway possible. RAN tells us: “Palm oil plantations are expanding into the planet’s most biodiverse ecosystems, including rainforests, grasslands and peat swamps in South America, Southeast Asia, the Pacific and Africa. These regions are home to millions of plant and animal species, including highly endangered orangutans, clouded leopards, and sun bears.”

Big palm oil companies pay to have important oxygen providing rainforests clear cut for their palm crops and painfully push out the native people that rely on the land. This endangers the plants, animals and waterways that entire communities have thrived on forever.

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Monoculture Tree Plantations Negatively Impact Women’s Lives

Leslie Berliant — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 13:10:27 +0000

In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8th, a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women, the World Rainforest Movement (WRM) and Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) have released three new case studies and a video on the impacts of monoculture tree plantations on women in Nigeria, Papua New Guinea and Brazil.

These tree plantations provide rubber for car and bus tires, palm oil for processed foods and pulp for toilet paper - all items being used in the west. They are also destroying local communities according to WRM and FoEI.

In the case of Nigeria, in 2007, the French tire maker Michelin came in to the Iguóbazuwa Forest Reserve, a biologically diverse region supplying food for around 20,000 people. Michelin bulldozed the forest and local farm lands to convert them into rubber plantations. Women living there lost their subsistence farms and the local forest which provided medicinal herbs and plants.

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Peanut Butter Worth Praising: MaraNatha

Heather Dunham — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 20:43:51 +0000

With all the bad news lately about salmonella-tainted peanut butter in processed food products, isn’t it high time we had a peanut butter story we could feel good about?

MaraNatha Nut Butters offers a wide variety of natural and organic nut butters which are super-yummy. And they are not involved in the current PCA recall.

Every day, the news is just getting worse and worse. More and more products, including natural and organic ones, are being recalled in the US and Canada. Our faith in our entire food supply system is being tested.

But there is some good news. Not all food manufacturers use peanut products from the Peanut Corporation of America. And while we certainly should not become complacent, there is also no reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater… or, in this case, with the peanut butter.

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Korea’s Daewoo Leases Half of Madagascar’s Arable Land for Free

Amiel Blajchman — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 19:58:01 +0000

According to a report from the Financial Times, Korea’s Daewoo has just completed a deal to lease an area about half the size of Belgium (about 1.3 million hectares) in Madagascar for food production. The most surprising part of this lease is that the initial cost to Daewoo is nothing. That’s right, zip, nada, zilch.

Why is a South Korean company leasing so much land on another continent?

According to a Daewoo spokesperson:

We want to plant corn there to ensure our food security. Food can be a weapon in this world,” said Hong Jong-wan, a manager at Daewoo. “We can either export the harvests to other countries or ship them back to Korea in case of a food crisis.
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Korea’s Daewoo Leases an Area Half of the Size of Belgium in Madagascar for Free

Amiel Blajchman — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 19:41:15 +0000

According to a few under-the-radar reports, Korea’s industrial conglomerate Daewoo has just completed a deal with Madagascar for a 99 year lease of an area half the size of Belgium (about 1.3 million hectares). While complete terms of the lease are not yet available, the total price is: NOTHING.

The initial plan is to plant maize and palm oil for export to South Korea. The benefit to Madagascar of losing a little over half of their arable land would be the anticipated employment opportunities for farmers and other locals.

According to a Daewoo spokesperson:

We want to plant corn there to ensure our food security. Food can be a weapon in this world,” said Hong Jong-wan, a manager at Daewoo. “We can either export the harvests to other countries or ship them back to Korea in case of a food crisis.
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Greenpeace Blocks Palm Oil Ships to Highlight Deforestation

Melissa Elliott — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:34:17 +0000

Three tankers containing crude palm oil were halted by Greenpeace when they attempted to leave an Indonesian port for China and Europe. Activists wanted to highlight the rapidly expanding palm oil industry currently destroying rainforests, harming wildlife, and emitting greenhouse gases.

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Florida Trains to Run on Biodiesel

Andrew Williams — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:41:28 +0000

Florida authorities have announced bold plans to begin running many of the state’s trains on biodiesel. The switch will result in a significant reduction in carbon emissons and drastically reduce the chances of soil pollution in the event of a fuel spill.

Under the plan, South Florida’s Tri-Rail system is to operate 8 of its fleet of 10 locomotives on a 99 per cent blend of either soya or palm oil. The move has been hailed as an important step towards energy independence by the nation’s top transport regulator, the Federal Transit Administration.

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Greenwashing Alert: Malaysian Palm Oil

Becky Striepe — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:26:05 +0000

[Image credit: pfly at Flickr under a Creative Commons license]

Rather than taking steps to make palm oil production more sustainable, the industry is relying on marketing tactics to fool the public. They have been running a series of ads with the tagline “Sustainably Produced Since 1917.” The ads feature lush images of the very rain forests that palm oil production pollutes and destroys. The Malaysian Palm Oil Council touts the product’s value as a sustainable oil for producting biofuel, a source of vitamin E for skin products, and a healthy oil for cooking and baking. So what’s the truth about palm oil?

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Asian Oil Palm Plantations Are No Substitute for Rainforests

Nick Chambers — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:19:19 +0000

As the global market for biofuels heats up, much of the demand for biodiesel is being satisfied by clearing virgin rainforests to create oil palm plantations. But, as it turns out, these plantations are an awful substitute for rainforests.

A group of British, German and Danish researchers has found that the biodiversity of oil palm plantations is far lower than that of tropical rainforests and that no amount of plantation management changes could ever possibly make them come close to replicating rainforest diversity.

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Malaysia, Indonesia Will Pump Out 40% More Palm Oil Biodiesel

Gavin Hudson — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:12:59 +0000

Malaysia and Indonesia decided this week to convert surpluses of edible palm oil into biodiesel fuel.

Currently, the two southeast Asian countries grow about 85% of the world’s palm oil and control 88% of all palm oil exports. But amid stalled plans for more production plants and a slowing demand for palm oil, the countries are beginning to worry.

The proposal to turn so much food to fuel comes as an attempt to increase demand for palm biodiesel and drive up prices. In 2007, palm oil biodiesel prices made a dizzying 80% jump to over $944 per tonne. However, when prices hit today’s price of $871 per tonne lags just below prices seven months ago.

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Samsung to Invest $1.63 Billion in Indonesian Biodiesel Project

Nick Chambers — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:39:19 +0000

According to an article in the Jakarta Post, an official from the Indonesian government has spilled the beans on Samsung’s plans to invest up to $1.63 billion dollars in what’s sure to be a controversial acquisition of land for growing oil palms and construction of a biodiesel plant in Indonesia.

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Greenpeace, Dove, Palm Oil, and the Destruction of the Rainforest

Jennifer Lance — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:26:21 +0000

This story contains additional media. Click here to view the media.

Unilever, makers of Dove, has recently released a video aimed at promoting children’s self-esteem by illuminating how the beauty industry targets girl’s body images. The goal of the Dove Self Esteem Fund is to change “the current, narrow definition of beauty.” As much as I agree with this goal, there is a downside. Unilever imports palm oil from Indonesia, where rainforests and tropical peatlands are destroyed.

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Girl Scouts vs. Cookies

Shirley Siluk Gregory — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:03:16 +0000

Hey, way to go, Madison Vorva and Rhiannon Tomtishen! These are two young Girl Scouts who are showing what it takes to be real young leaders and good citizens.

According to the Ann Arbor News, these two 12-year-olds gave up on selling Girl Scout cookies after learning that the cookies are made with palm oil, which comes from Indonesian plantations that threaten the orangutan’s natural habitat. What started out as a research project on orangutans aimed at earning their Bronze Award has since turned into a two-girl campaign against palm oil production.

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Coconut and Babassu Oil Blend Used in First Virgin Atlantic Biofuel Flight

Max Lindberg — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 15:20:53 +0000

Virgin Atlantic Airlines has used a sustainable fuel from biomass mixed with traditional jet fuel to power one engine on a 747 flight from London Heathrow to Amsterdam. The fuel was supplied by Imperium Renewables of Seattle, Washington, a commercial biodiesel refiner.

As promised in their earlier news releases, Virgin Atlantic said they would use a sustainable fuel made from feedstock not normally used for food products. Both coconut oil and babassu oil are used in cosmetic products, lip balm and other such applications. The raw materials were harvested from existing, mature plantations in Brazil.

Sir Richard Branson, president of Virgin Atlantic is quoted as saying,

“Today marks a biofuel breakthrough for the whole airline industry, Virgin Atlantic nd its partners have proved that you can find an alternative to
traditional jet fuel and fly a plane on biofuel. This pioneering flight
will enable those of us who are serious about reducing our carbon emissions
to go on developing the fuels of the future, fuels which will power our
aircraft in the years ahead.”

There was wide speculation that an algae-based biofuel would be used in the test, but that, of course, proved false even though Virgin Atlantic hinted strongly at the possibility.

According to Radio Netherlands the Boeing 747 landed at Amsterdam’s Schipol airport after a successful flight.

Engineers will now study results of tests taken during the trip to determine if sustainable biofuels will fit into commercial aviation and lessen CO2 emissions.

Not everyone agrees, however, that biofuels will “fly”, as noted here by Pem Charnley, contributor to Green Options’ EcoWorldly blog. His feelings are outlined here, Pies in the Sky.

Source

Virgin Atlantic to Use First-Generation Feedstock Instead of an Algae-Based Biofuel for Boeing 747 Test Flight

Max Lindberg — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:37:18 +0000

In what has become a somewhat confusing change in terminology, Boeing has announced it will use a first-generation feedstock for the fuel to be used in its upcoming demonstration flight this month.

It was first reported in January that Virgin Atlantic would test flight a Boeing 747 jetliner using a biofuel, without naming the fuel. An algae-derived biofuel was, however, mentioned as a strong possibility for the flight between London Heathrow airport and Amsterdam. The plane will carry a limited flight crew and no passengers.

Next, an official of the UK Department of Transport claimed in a document leaked to Flight International that a 20% mixture of algae biofuel and regular jet fuel will be used in one engine for the test.

The latest comes from a Boeing official who said, in an interveiw with Flight at the Singapore air show, the Virgin Flight will definitely not use algae-derived biofuel in the test. Instead, a first-generation feedstock, such as soy, canola, babassu or palm oil will be the source of the biofuel.

The use of a hydrogenated fuel would, as one expert put it, “be a good demonstration of proof of concept.” He did say, however, that algae will be considered as a fuel source in the future.

Well, whatever they use, it’ll be a first for the commercial aviation industry. An Airbus 380 flew with a gas-to-liquid biofuel a few weeks ago, proving that a biofuel was an option, but in their case it was a fuel derived from fossil deposits.

The test is slated for the end of February, so we’ll know soon what fuel was used in the flight.

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Asia’s Biodiesel Dilemma

Gavin Hudson — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:02:34 +0000

Some environmentalists see palm oil, which makes up about one third of all vegetable oil, as a biodiesel blessing. Others blame palm biodiesel for deforestation and species extinction. The pros and cons make biodiesel one of the hottest environmental topics in Southeast Asia, where oil palms grow.

Together, the Southeast Asian countries of Indonesia and Malaysia control about 85% of the world’s crude palm oil market. In Indonesia, the biodiesel industry employs 1.5 million people and Malaysia has already approved 91 new biodiesel plants. Currently, about 30% of Malaysia’s total oil production is biodiesel from palm oil.

The pros of palm oil for use in biodiesel have drawn interest from the international business community. Finnish biodiesel mogul, Neste Oil, is working on opening the world’s largest biodiesel plant in Singapore using a palm oil feedstock. The plant is set to go online in 2009 with a production capacity of 800,000 metric tons per year of biodiesel–16,000 barrels, in oil terms. Neste is followed by many other companies, including Australian Mission Biofuels, which opened a new Malaysian plant in December and will produce 100,000 tons a year.

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