Social and Environmental Impact of Palm Oil

June 24, 2021

The demand for palm oil, especially in the parrot community, is skyrocketing, but the demand comes at a high price. Why is palm oil so well-spoken for among parrot owners?

Benefits of Red Palm Oil To Parrots

Well, too put into the simplest of terms, it's an edible vegetable oil derived from palm oil trees' fruit. Palm oil has one of the richest natural sources of carotenoids. Carotenoids are filled with cancer-fighting antioxidants. They also promote strong cardiovascular health, assist in bone formation, improve infection resistance, promote healthy eye tissue, repair body tissue… and the list goes on.

Parrots can get their carotenoids from fruits and vegetables. Still, red palm oil contains 15 times the betacarotene of a carrot. It contains Vitamin E, Omega 3, Omega 6, and Vitamin A. This is way more efficient and way more cost-effective than a grocery cart full of produce.

What's So Terrible About Red Palm Oil?

The production of palm oil itself obliterates land and often relies on child labour. While we cannot change how it's made, we can change our buying habits as consumers—and surprisingly, the trick isn't to stop using palm oil entirely (I'll talk about that in a minute).

First, let's dive into why palm oil is so damaging to our environment. Palm oil is partially responsible for the rapid deforestation in areas in Indonesia and Malaysia. Not to mention, orangutans, the world's largest tree-dwelling mammals, spend most of their time in tropical forests. Orangutans use trees for travel means by climbing between branches or by making the branches themselves sway together. Forest clearing for palm oil is destruction for orangutans and other wildlife. It also makes illegal poaching threatening to orangutans.

What is Sustainable Palm Oil?

It is almost impossible for most consumers to go a day without using or eating something that contains palm oil, one of the world's most controversial ingredients. Well, how can we still use palm oil but not ruin our wildlife and forests? We can use palm oil that derives from sustainable businesses. In a nutshell, sustainable palm oil does make businesses profitable while not harming people or the environment. WWF (Worldwide Fund for Nature) teamed up with the palm oil industry to launch the RSPO (The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil). RSPO aims to promote the growth and use of sustainable oil palm products through credible global standards. The Organic Red Palm oil I get is imported from West Africa. It is sustainably extracted from organic palm fruit trees. Make sure any palm oil you use, especially for your parrots, comes from certified sources.

Lastly, I want to end this post with a really nice poem that I felt was necessary to share:

There’s a Rang-tan in my bedroom and I don’t know what to do. She plays with all my teddies and keeps borrowing my shoe. She destroys all of my houseplants and she keeps on shouting “ooo!” She throws away my chocolate and she howls at my shampoo.

There’s a Rang-tan in my bedroom and I don’t want her to stay. So I told the naughty Rang-tan that she had to go away. Oh Rang-tan in my bedroom, just before you go… Why were you in my bedroom? I really want to know.

There’s a human in my forest and I don’t know what to do. He destroyed all of our trees for your food and your shampoo. There’s a human in my forest and I don’t know what to do. He took away my mother and I’m scared he’ll take me too. There are humans in my forest and I don’t know what to do. They’re burning it for palm oil so I thought I’d stay with you.

Oh Rang-tan in my bedroom, now I do know what to do. I’ll fight to save your home and I’ll stop you feeling blue. I’ll share your story far and wide so others can fight too. Oh Rang-tan in my bedroom, I swear it on the stars The future’s not yet written but I’ll make sure it is ours.

The poem, created by Greenpeace and adopted by Iceland to remove palm oil from its own-label products, highlights the environmental impact of palm oil production.