On the Palm Oil Crisis, Trolls and Steve Best

The palm oil crisis has had another big break.

In terms of coverage, at least.

Fortune magazine’s "Eco-police Find New Target: Oreos," by Marc Gunther, re-alerts the masses that . . .

"The link between the supermarket shelf, climate change and shrinking rainforests is palm oil, a controversial ingredient that may now be the most widely-traded vegetable oil in the world."

There are also some creatures in there who are suffering and dying off. Oh, and some workers aren’t exactly being treated well, either.

Gunther mentions the Rainforest Action Network campaign (among others), including links to their arguments, and even quotes the ED of RAN, Mike Brune, who said:

"Most customers won’t want rainforest destruction and climate change in every mouthful of cookies or crackers, so our plan is to start with the most prominent brands. Once we get some of the top brands on our side, we’ll use the power of the pocketbook to convince the ‘A,B,C’s’ (ADM, Bunge and Cargill) that destroying rainforests and increasing climate change isn’t smart – for business or the planet."

The E’s aren’t far behind (wink wink, nudge nudge). Then again, I’m not sure if Earth Balance qualifies as a prominent brand to the rest of the world. Gunther continues:

"The agribusiness companies say they are doing their
best to buy palm oil that is produced with minimal harm to the
environment. All are participants in a partnership, formed by the World
Wildlife Fund and Unilever (UN), called the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, or RSPO, which is setting standards for palm-oil cultivation."

Is that like the Freedom Food, Animal Compassionate and Certified Humane? Read on . . .

"The
trouble is, critics say, the RSPO principles as they are now written
are vague, don’t prevent the destruction of rainforests, and are not
well-enforced. What’s more, only a handful of palm plantations have
been certified to date by RSPO.

‘There’s currently no palm oil in the world that can be proven to be
sustainable,’ said Leila Salazar-Lopez, who leads RAN’s agribusiness
campaign. The growing use of palm oil in biofuels has made the problem
even more urgent."

There is hope. Sort of. Like by
growing palm trees in already cleared land (according to at least one
expert). But at least for the short term, the answer is still: Just say
no to, well, you know . .  .

As for trolls, Steve Best directed me to a post on the Delaware Liberal called "Troll Management"
that has some great tips, such as: "Being an asshole is your
prerogative, recognizing you as one is the prerogative of the rest of
us." Ironically, another is: "Do not  use abusive language (at
management’s discretion) you will be warned then banned."

My favorite is: "Attempting to drag any DelawareLiberal contributor
or commenter’s real life into the blog-world will not end well for
you." And here’s my question about that: Remember how I was annoyed that Wayne Pacelle (the human conundrum) is a vegan,
yet he runs a welfare organization and, in my mind, doesn’t do animals
justice? I took his personal choice to be a vegan and factored it into
his position and his work and end up mighty confused. Meanwhile, if he
weren’t a vegan, I wouldn’t be at all surprised or disappointed by what
he does. But there are plenty of other reasons to be disappointed.

Stay tuned for Monday’s post: Steve Best’s critique of Pacelle and HSUS.