Palm Oil and Deforestation

PALM OIL AND DEFORESTATION
Palm oil kills, but you can make a difference

Up to a hundred species are now becoming extinct every day (Rainforest Rescue) Did you know that  the production of palm oil is one of the main drivers of deforestation,  as vast tracts of rainforest are daily cleared to make way for palm plantations?  Far from being old hat, protection of the rainforest is now critical. In Indonesia, it is estimated that 98% of the forest there will be gone in nine years and that orang utans will have become extinct in the wild. Now, fewer than 400 Sumatran Tigers remain in the wild Deforestation also destroys the lives of tribal peoples and worsens climate change dramatically, whereas when left, undisturbed tropical forests are absorbing nearly a third of all CO2 emissions.  Palm oil is extracted from the fruit of the palm plants (not to be confused with coconut palms) and it is now in half of supermarket products.It is even used in vegan products. including cakes, chocolate, soaps, make-up etc.The Vegetarian Society has this month agreed to bring up the palm issue with its manufacturers. Whether in products or as a biofuel, the use of palm oil is immoral and unsustainable. Don’t let manufacturers fool you. Claims of being ‘sustainable’ or ‘organic’ are not born out. Some say they are accredited by the RSPO, but this is fatally flawed and hasn’t prevented human rights abuses or protected virgin forest. See 'Declaration of greenwashing of palmoil by the RSPO' (Google) Palm oil is now used as a biofuel in transport and power stations. The government thinks that as a biofuel palm oil stations would help climate change, but their use creates more climate change gases than fossil fuels. They are pledging to award biofuel power stations using palm oil, massive subsidies from OUR electricity bills. A power station in Bristol, if it goes ahead would receive £39million in subsidies (ROCS) per YEAR, which should be spent on truly green alternative energy-wind, water, solar, tidal, hydroelectricity etc. Why are we to be subsidizing slaughter? HOW YOU CAN HELP: 1) Write to your MP see details on biofuels consultation and letter to MP. Ask them to : a) Stop using subsidies (ROCS) from our electricity bills to support  palm oil power stations and for these power stations to be banned. b) Stop the explosion of palm oil use in consumer products c) Focus on practical measures to protect the rainforest 2) Lessen your use of palm oil products 3) Encourage manufacturers to stop using palm oil in their products 4) Spread the word via emails, Facebook etc. 5) Your ideas…!... 6) Can you help us with admin? It would really help the campaign! Contact Zenith Milner for information and enquiries  zenithtoday@yahoo.co.uk . Do look around the site and find draft letters to your MPS and   the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and MPs' briefing.

Further info: See http://www.greenthefilm.com/ (bring tissues) Google 'palm oil dead orangutans'-you won't like what you find.Also thewebsites:

Friends of the Earth, Biofuelwatch, Greenpeace, Rainforest rescue.

Benjy, the baby orang utan, hands in an 

 Orang-a-gram to

Brian from the Department of Energy and Climate Change saying stop using palm oil as a biofuel

Benjy, the suffragette, makes a stand against the use of palm oil in power stations

Benjy the suffragette, makes a stand against the use of palm oil in power stations!    

So can you! Write to your MP today! Standard letter in website!        

Hanging around after delivering the Orang-a-gram to David Cameron's representative at No 10 Downing St.   :0

Benjy gives a friendly wave to the human helpers.

                                                                     "Britain is a bit colder than Borneo, but I have had a warm reception from my human friends especially Aidan  who did the photos,which he told me to say to you are not 'photo shopped or nuffin' (that's how he speaks!), and Zenith. But there is no time to waste so please help put an end to these subsidies for palm oil as a biofuel. So much rainforest in our lands has already gone and the rest must be saved, please. You may not have written to an MP but it's not hard-they are human after all! It doesn't have to be posh just let them know what you think- they may not even know about whats going on. so tell them!And you can find a letter suggestion on the website. So many people including MPs do not know about the danger we are in and that they can make a difference by stopping giving subsidies to palm oil -as a biofuel- where they don't belong.Ask  them for the real renewables please, like wind, wave, tidal,solar and hydro electricity.Please harness the natural forces not destroy more than you can possibly imagine.Tell them to stop this monkey business. No subsidies for palm oil power stations!" :0

Orang utans further threatened by palm oil producers.

 

Orang utans further threatened by palm oil producers.

 

See this link for the last tragic clearance of rainforest in Sumatra for palm oil and the horrific threat of extinction of teh local orang utan population.

 

 

http://www.care2.com/causes/100-orangutans-estimated-lost-in-indonesian-fires.html 

 

 

Palm oil as an ingredient-cheap,but unhealthy and unethical

Palm Oil as an ingredient -cheap, but unhealthy and unethical.

At first glance palm oil may seem like an acceptable ingredient.  After all it comes from a plant and its producers often label it as 'sustainable' and 'organic'. However nothing could be further from the truth.

On foods, it may be labelled as 'palm oil' or 'palm fat' or concealed under the general label of 'vegetable oil.' But this, however, will cease as the law is shortly changing in the UK so that it has to be clearly labelled as 'palm oil.'

In food, palm oil is often confused with coconut oil, which is an ethically produced, healthy ingredient. But palm oil  contains saturated fat and is therefore unhealthy.  It has been found not to be produced organically, despite producers' claims,  but has been found to have been sprayed with large amounts of chemicals, and it leads to ecocide in the countries that are the major producers.

Why is palm oil so destructive? It says it's sustainable?
The palm oil industry is massive and massively expanding. New plantations are grown on newly cleared rainforest and it is a major driver of deforestation, violence and death to Indigenous peoples and animals and more.It is mainly grown in Indonesia, Malaysia and Borneo, the only homes of the near exctinct orang utan. It is easy for  palm oil suppliers to say that their product is sustainable but these claims are unsubstantiated eg in the case of suppliers who say that they are accredited by the the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil, or that their approval has been sanctioned by the RSPO. This body has been widely discredited-it is not an external professional body with teeth, far from it, it hasn't even prevented human rights abuses or destruction of virgin rainforest. For more information please Google: 'The Declaration of Greenwashing of Palm Oil by the RSPO' .This has been signed by 250 groups worldwide.

Palm oil in other products.
Palm oil is cheap and has crept into a wealth of products including washing products,shampoo, soap, makeup and household products. In these it is labelled under its chemical names. The implications to forest destruction are the same.

Ethical consumption.
As awareness is spreading about the destructiveness of palm oil production, consumers are looking more and more for ethical products that don't contain palm oil. When the new law comes in, by the end of 2012,in the UK, it will be much easier for them to see if palm oil is an ingredient and avoid purchasing these goods.
There will be an increasing demand for palm free food ,soap, makeup and washing  and other household products.
Some manufacturers have looked into the palm issue- by going to Indonesia where it was sourced and by listening to their consumers- and have taken it out of their goods. One company was horrified when they visited a palm plantation in Indonesia by the rainforest devastation and human suffering caused and acted accordingly halting their use of palm oil.

Going palm oil free makes sense-sense for ensuring a healthy, genuinely organic ethical product that more and more consumers will be requesting. Why wait?

Biofuels incl palm oil consultation update. PLEASE ACT NOW!

The consultation on whether or not biofuels, including  palm oil , should receive government subsidies-renewable obligations certificates (ROCS)- from OUR electricity bills is underway.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has proposed that the subsidies for biofuels such as palm oil should be granted  for up to 6 large power stations and that  there should be no limit for biomass (wood ) stations.

The MPs now have the next two months to consider this and will probably vote on it in April. So we need to lobby our MPs like we have never lobbied before! If we can stop these insane subsidies the  devastating biofuel power station industry would fold. Just one palm oil power station like that planned in Bristol would receive a massive £39 million pounds subsidy PER YEAR! And where from ? US of course-our electricity bills. So if these outrageous policies go ahead, people like us that care, will be forced nevertheless to pay for inhuman companies to ravish our world's forests.

So, it's vital we do all we can to get our MPs onside. MPs are obliged to listen to their constituents and take their questions further. So even if you don't get an answer from DECC itself (though its worth a try and the new Minister, Ed Davey may be more receptive than his predecessor, Chris Huhne), your MP will most likely answer.

The pernicious thing about biofuels is that so few people know about the issues . Even though the problems caused by their use are ones that concern human rights activists, animals rights campaigners, hunger and poverty charities, environmentalists and climate change activists  and Occupiers etc. So lets all club together and spread the word. Lets get those MPs working for us, not for false solutions that only benefit industries.

So it would be great if you can spread the word by whtever means you have.Telling everyone, facebook, twitter, emails, people on the train......
Please note that I use this blogsite, emails and am amember of teh  Energy Equity and Environment Group At Occupy St Pauls googlemail group  (and am not using facebook ,twitter etc) So if you can spread the word in these ways aswell that's great. And feel free to email me, I do answer quieries ,either individually or here on the blog site. I am very interested to get feed back from the responses you get from your MPs. Some of them are onside obviously, but I'm sad to say, some have been taken in by the false idea that  large scale biofuelss are sustainable and good for climate change. Neither of which is true. Biofuels result in more emmissons than fossils fuels, remove the carbon sink properties of the affected rainforest FOR EVER and are in no sense sustainable for people with common sense. As one taxi driver said ' the minute you cut down the rainforest it's not green is it'
ITS not complicated.  Large scale biofuels: just say no!

So please Act now! by writing to your MP at least and Ed Davey. See draft letters given. Thankyou.

  Zenith Milner
zenithtoday@yahoo.co.uk

ps. http://www.greenthefilm.com/ is a moving portrayal of palm oil issues and its destruction of animals and forests.

Urgent new draft letter for MPs re biofuel consultation

Draft Letter/email to MPs about the consultation-urgent
NB Please add your address. This is important as MPs can only reply to their constituents. This can be sent, or better,compose your own letter

(Your address)

Dear (name of MP)

I am writing in regard to the current Government consultation on biofuels.

I am strongly opposed to the use of large scale biofuels and biomass in electricity power stations, as is being proposed in the UK, against the wishes of local residents, environmental, humanitarian, animal rights and climate change groups in this country and abroad.

Far from being a renewable, sustainable, carbon neutral form of energy- as has been thought by governments- large scale biofuels give rise to more emissions than fossil fuels, and when rainforests are cleared to make room for eg. palm plantations,  this robs the planet of  the very forests that are currently absorbing 20% of its CO2. Furthermore, when peatlands are cleared, vast amounts of methane is released. So, using large scale biofuels or 'agrofuels' does not help the government meet its targets of reducing green house gases- quite the opposite.

In addition, rainforest clearance is endangering many species eg orang utans, Sumatran tigers and leads to human rights abuses-violence, murder and rape of local people who are forcibly removed from their lands-including indigenous peoples who lose their whole way of living. Furthermore, using land for fuel while so many millions of people are starving is immoral and irresponsible.
Repeatedly, government representatives claim that palm oil can be produced sustainably and it is thought in some quarters that the RSPO, the Roundtable for Sustainable Development ensures sustainability. However the RSPO has been widely discredited by 200 groups and has been shown to neither protect human or animal rights or the destruction of virgin rainforest.See the 'Greenwashing of Palm Oil by the RSPO' (on google).

Using temperate forests for wood for biomass is also flawed thinking and Campaigners in Canada are already working against the destruction of forests there.

I therefore urgently request that you:

1.  Ask Ed Davey and Charles Hendry, at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, to stop the Renewable Obligation Certificates subsidies (ROCs) for biofuels and biomass, and express my concern over the serious omission in the current consultation that sustainability impacts have been entirely ignored, making it unfit for purpose. I am horrified that the government would use subsidies from my electricity bills to cause such destruction and ask that you do all that you can to stop this.

2.  Please sign Early Day Motion 2428 about the negative impacts of Biomass and Bioliquids for Electricity Generation.

http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2010-12/2428

3.  Please attend the debate to be organised by Charlotte Leslie, M.P. on the issue and request a full parliamentary vote. The draft regulation will be subject to the ‘Affirmative Resolution’ procedure, which means it will require positive approval by Parliament.

4. Please vote against ROCs for biofuels, biomass and waste incineration if the opportunity rises.

 Please encourage the government to instead re-direct funds earmarked for biofuel power stations to support genuinely sustainable renewable energy solutions such as appropriately sited wind, tidal, wave, solar, geothermal , hydroelectric energy and, crucially, to curbing energy consumption.

 Sadly, in the last two years, a potentially vast amount of electricity has not been imported which could have been from Norway.NB this was because Ofgem failed in its duty to assess truly green smale scale hydroelectric plants there. But this could be increased.  A potential two terrawatt hours could be importedI  from the backlog. I request that you ask why this energy is being squandered and  request that  the supply of electricity from Norway which could meet much of Britains electricity needs - should be improved. This energy is appropriate for subsidies, not biofuels, whose use is self- defeating.

Insulation schemes should be prioritized and given more subsidies, particularly for the elderly. In addition, the amount of packaging and waste has spiralled- waste should be reduced eg by reducing packaging not just by increasing recycling, that consumes energy. There are many jobs that could be created to reduce climate change gases, we do not need at grasp at false solutions like using large scale biofuels.(See the pamplet  'A Million Climate Change Jobs').

It is vital that government policies work together with each other. Efforts to protect the environment and human and animal rights should not be undermined by a destructive energy policy.

The biofuels consultation will be decided on in the next two months, so I look forward to your early response and to seeing correspondence on this matter.

Yours sincerely,





Ok here is how to find out who your MP is !
Zenith
http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/

Draft Letter to Dept of Energy and Climate Change

Please send this email or your own letter/version to daveye@parliament.uk and charles.hendry@decc.gsi.gov.uk

Thankyou.

Consultation about the Renewables Obligation Banding Review 11D/876

I am responding to the Consultation on the Renewables Obligation Banding Review.  I call on DECC to remove ROCs  subsidies for bioliquids, biomass and waste incineration.

I do not wish subsidies taken from my electricity bill to cause the destruction of rainforest and other forests. The idea of using upto £3 billion of our public money to subsidize forest destruction is totally unacceptable. Sadly very few people know about this issue so each letter you get will speak for many.

Unlike the other renewables under review, biofuels and biomass  increase carbon emissions rather than reducing them. Biomass electricity produces 50% more carbon emissions than coal.  Liquid biofuels produce more greenhouse gas emissions than fossil fuels. For this reason alone the subsidies should be stopped.

Palm oil production leads to deforestation and other ecosystem destruction releasing further carbon emissions and highly detructive methane when peat lands are disturbed.
The forest that still remains is currently absorbing 20% of the worlds CO2 emissions-to remove this forest is totally counterproductive. It is essential that the remaining rainforest is protected.

For many more reasons too-
Human rights abuses, including land grabs, murder, rape. Tribal people lose everything. And even for selfish reasons it could be useful to learn from them about the medicinal herbs in the rainforest, not throw them off their land with no means of supporting themselves.

The killing, maiming, burning alive and torture of animals, pushing  many animals further to extinction associated with palm oil production should not be allowed. Why should orang utans be further threatened by the production of palm oil for power stations over here? They are already estimated to be extinct in six years. There are fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers left-why should they be made extinct in the wild because of our energy policy? And sun bears and Sumatran elephants? We need to be looking for ways to protect endangered species, not aggravating the problem. DECC has a  moral responsibility not to  allow subsidies for palm oil production which harms people, animals and plants. It is unacceptable for energy policies to undermine the efforts for conservation of other government departments, concerned citizens, scientists, and those working to protect animals and  the environment.

Biofuel power stations cause much pollution with nitrous oxides and PM10 and PM2.5 particulates which are harmful to heart, lungs and skin. Local MPs, councillors, doctors and residents in areas where biofuel power stations have been planned are very concerned about health effects, including heart disease, asthma and eczma.For these reasons power stations were refused planning permission in Southall and Newport. Local residents should not have polluting power stations foisted upon them. Biomass burning produces similar levels of air pollution as coal burning, with even higher levels of nitrogen dioxide and small particulates.

Instead of looking to subsidize destructive biofuels and biomass, I ask you to look to subsidise truly green alternatives such as solar, wind-appropriately sited-,wave, tidal. geothermal and other innovations, and hydroelectricity including imported.

It is vital that we take reduced consumption into the equation. Large scale insulation schemes-which provide many jobs- are essential to conserve energy-especially for the elderly. It is a disgrace that 25,000 pensioners died last year (last figures 2009-2010). And 3.5 were in fuel poverty. This must be remedied through insulation and other measures.


I therefore ask you to put a stop to subsidies for biofuels and biomass. They are neither ethical or sustainable.Thankyou.

Yours sincerely,