Palm Oil Research- Week 2
To start researching into Palm Oil i had to figure out what it was, to do this I started by going straight to a good source. http://www.orangutan.org.uk/about-orangutans/what-is-palm-oil This site is called 'The Orangutan Foundation' and as they are the main animals affected by Palm Oil manufacturing, they will know the most about the product in question.
Palm Oil is just another form of vegetable oil, yet this form is taken from the kernels in Oil Palm Trees. Indonesia and Malaysia are the main countries that want the product and it is them that are causing this crisis in Africa, as the plantations placed to gain more Palm Oil are forcing deforestation of the rainforests that house Orangutan. This is the big issue with the product. Sunflower Oil which grows in our country, causes to death, deforestation and would be a lot cheaper to grow so this is why I feel strongly about what is happening as it is causing endangered species to become more threatened as fires used for the replantation are burning down the precious rainforest.
So this is what Palm Oil is and why people like Orangutan Foundation and Green Peace are fighting against and to stop.
Palm Oil is just another form of vegetable oil, yet this form is taken from the kernels in Oil Palm Trees. Indonesia and Malaysia are the main countries that want the product and it is them that are causing this crisis in Africa, as the plantations placed to gain more Palm Oil are forcing deforestation of the rainforests that house Orangutan. This is the big issue with the product. Sunflower Oil which grows in our country, causes to death, deforestation and would be a lot cheaper to grow so this is why I feel strongly about what is happening as it is causing endangered species to become more threatened as fires used for the replantation are burning down the precious rainforest.
So this is what Palm Oil is and why people like Orangutan Foundation and Green Peace are fighting against and to stop.
Statistics
- 'By the beginning of 2004, there were 6.5 million hectares of oil palm plantations across Sumatra and Borneo. Of this total area, almost 4 million hectares had previously been forested.'
- Soon this amount is going to be more around 22 Million Hectares (in the next 4 years)
- The list below are all of the different deceiving names for Palm Oil so consumers would be confused! INGREDIENTS: Vegetable Oil, Vegetable Fat, Palm Kernel, Palm Kernel Oil, Palm Fruit Oil, Palmate, Palmitate, Palmolein, Glyceryl, Stearate, Stearic Acid, Elaeis Guineensis, Palmitic Acid, Palm Stearine, Palmitoyl Oxostearamide, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-3, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Kernelate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Sodium Lauryl Lactylate/Sulphate, Hyrated Palm Glycerides, Etyl Palmitate, Octyl Palmitate, Palmityl Alcohol
- Palm Oil is unsustainable the way it is collected today, but it could become sustainable if controlled
- Said to be worth $88 Bn by 2022
When starting out researching, I collected some information and images of main products, facts and manufacturing methods just to show in basic what was used for what and why. I am going to do mood boards for each element yet this shows just how much we use this product, yet not until about a month ago, did I even know what it was, let alone know it was in nearly all of our junk foods.
Food Products
Junk food seems to be the main culprit and host to this oil, it was called vegetable oil (any many more seen in the list above) so many didn't know what it was or questioned that it could be bad for the environment, becuase why would you. Here shows just the extent of what Palm Oil goes into for food products.
Household Items
After finding out Palm Oil was in most junk foods I wasn't as surprised as it was a vegetable oil, yet finding out it was in most cleaning products, make-up brands and hair treatments, this was more of a surprise. This also adds to the overall understanding of the scale of what Palm Oil has gone to and achieved in such a small amount of time. One of my team members who is a beautician was severely disheartened to find out about the make-up impact as it is an issue that was kept very quiet. Experimenting on animals had been a big issue for decades yet this has gone under the radar.
Animals Affected
In Africa, hunting animals is normally the issue that causes endangered animals to be threatened, yet this crisis is to do with deforestation of their habitat that leaved them homeless, therefore left to die, or they perish in the fires that are caused to plant new Palm Oil Trees. Here are all of the animals affected. The top 5 are the;
- Sumatran Tiger
- Sumatran and Bornean Orangutan
- Bornean Pygmy Elephant
- Sumatran Rhinoceros
- Malayan Sun Bear
Effected Area and Environment
Malaysia, Indonesia and areas in Africa are the ones most affected by Palm Oil plantations, these plantations as seen below can stretch for miles on end and cause mass deforestation as a result. These trees grow outward more than up as they are like Palm Trees, this means they cannot be placed tightly together, this causes more room to be needed of the trees and therefore more area needing to be cleared.
Stages in Manufacture
This diagram shows the stages in which Palm Oil goes through to be released into the public and into our foods and household products. This is much like any other oil as it needs to get down to an oil consistency so this needs different stages in machines and boiling to achieve. As it goes through many stages, this will also effect the cost as the machines will need to be powered to do the tasks for each stage.
After doing this research on this week off. I will meet back up with my team and discuss all of the facts, figures and mood boards and decide upon out animation and the documenting process. This will be interesting to see what they have found as I was shocked and saddened by much of what I found. Hopefully they can feel the same so we can create a documentary filled with passion and care for the subject.
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