Every day, tropical palm oil production is contributing to rainforest destruction, species extinction and climate change. The organic red palm oil we sell on Aisle 1 isn’t the culprit—it’s sustainably harvested from wild palm trees by indigenous West African communities. But conventional palm oil is a ubiquitous ingredient in 50% of consumer goods from lipstick to cereal, even “natural” ones. Increasing demand for palm oil is pushing palm oil cultivation into rainforests using “slash & burn” methods, which displaces native populations & endangers species. Indonesia, a major palm oil exporter, is the third largest greenhouse gas emitter due to the carbon released from burning rainforests.

Along with Mississippi Market Co-op, Linden Hills Co-op has signed a coalition letter asking Cargill, the largest U.S. palm oil importer, to “adopt and implement a comprehensive global forest policy” that will end slash & burn palm oil production. Learn more about the issue at Rainforest Action Network’s website. We’ve also taken the following pledge:

Linden Hills Co-op carries a wide variety of high quality products which are wholesome, supportive of local producers, help build a sustainable food distribution system, produced in an environmentally sound and socially conscious manner, and available at a fair price.

We were alarmed to discover the social and environmental impacts of palm oil production, including the destruction of tropical rainforest ecosystems around the world. The pure palm oil that we carry is produced sustainably. However, palm oil is an ingredient in many packaged foods and its source can be difficult, if not impossible, to determine.

Linden Hills Co-op encourages shoppers concerned about the rainforests, peat swamps and preservation of biodiversity to contact agribusiness companies (such as Cargill) and ask them to use their influence in the palm oil industry to require standards to protect the rainforests and respect the prior and informed consent of the communities impacted by palm oil expansion. We also encourage shoppers to contact their favorite natural foods companies to ask them to source their palm oil from suppliers that use sustainable production methods.

Courtesy of Mississippi Market, here’s a sample letter you can use to contact food companies.

Want to learn more?
Here’s a link to a film called Green. It’s a powerful documentary about tropical rainforest destruction from big Agribusiness. This links to the free online version. It is 40 min. long and incredibly moving.
For more information on rainforest preservation and RAN’s campaign to reform agribusiness, click here.