If you love to support your local Girl Scouts, you may be disappointed to learn that they use palm oil (from unsustainable sources) in their cookies. I learned this during my first January boycotting this pervasive ingredient several years ago (RIP processed cookie addiction), but last week I finally heard the full, unsettling story, thanks to a Girl Scout from Tennessee and an AP investigation.
If you have heard about even one of the destructive consequences of the unethical global palm oil industry, it’s probably easy enough for you to assume that it doesn’t end there. Like many other sustainability advocates, I first heard of its catastrophic affects on rain forests and animals (most famously orangutans). But I’ve only learned more horrifying facts from there, such as the use of child labor and the greenwashing tactics many major brands use to assert that their palm oil is actually sustainable.
The incredible mistreatment of humans, animals, and the environment in this industry has now been clearly documented again and again, but I wouldn’t quite consider it a mainstream issue (perhaps it could benefit from its own version of the ‘stop sucking’ campaign). Which is why this investigation feels of particular importance.
Skimming AP News, I saw their article Child labor in palm oil industry tied to Girl Scout cookies. If you give it a read, you’ll find the painfully ironic link between girls selling Girl Scout cookies here in the US and Indonesian girls quitting schools to work on palm oil plantations that support their families… for samoas and thin mints.
You cannot simultaneously empower and exploit girls. That’s not how it works.
I hope you’ll read the article, linked here. It’s unfortunately only the latest in the AP investigation into this $65 billion industry–one that uncovers even more abuse of women and girls. Another terrifying headline:
Cutting it out means cutting out many processed foods (and I swear, 99% of what’s sold at TJ’s), not to mention conventional beauty and household items.
I can’t remember exactly, but I think I first learned about the industry from Elizabeth Stilwell on Selva Beat. So grateful they have kept their archives public! I’ve linked to other resources I’ve saved in the past below:
Friends of the Earth Palm Oil Fact Sheet
Orangutan Conservancy Threats to Orangutans
Associated Press Fruits of Labor
5 Innocent Animals Suffering at the Hands of the Palm Oil Industry
How The World Got Hooked on Palm Oil
Other Names for Palm Oil (look at that list!!!!!!)
[…] you’ve just started omitting unsustainable palm oil from your diet, you might be a little concerned about getting your chocolate fix. I know I was, at […]