On World Orangutan Day

 

An orangutan sips from a pitcher plant. NatGeo

This is the most beautiful photograph that I have seen in a while.

  
August 19th was Orangutan Day - one for the Old Man of the Forest - but it isn't a day for celebration: in the last four decades, the population of orangutans has plunged into an abyss that precedes extinction because of deforestation, its home cleared principally for planting oil palm.

This arrangement - clearing of timber and planting oil palm - suits the oil palm companies well, for they make money in both operations.  The World has watched on silently....

India is the World's largest palm oil importer, earning this dubious distinction after having been completely self sufficient in our traditional oils - groundnut, mustard, coconut - and sunflower oil (and, later, rice bran oil) until the '90s.  

Read about it here...

https://thewire.in/political-economy/india-edible-oil-self-sufficiency

Palm oil is now a cheap, unhealthy option and palmolein - which you find in most bakery products and processed food - is outright dangerous for your heart.

...and for the orangutan too.  

In a sentence, we - rather, a silly change of policy - created this problem.  

Some years ago, I took the decision to avoid palm oil in anything I used or ate - soaps, shampoos and food - and the consequence was fascinating:  there were hardly any regular options left, which meant searching for truly sustainable ones. 

Here's one such option that I use (not doing a marketing pitch, but these products - and the folks behing the social enterprise - are top class.

If you'd like to be part of the solution, look for products - food, cosmetics, soaps, shampoos - that are palm oil-free this weekend.  It's the least we can do for the Old Man of the Forest. 

 
For a different, perhaps contrary view, do read this as well
https://www.orangutans-sos.org/learn/palm-oil/