No to Biodiesel from Unsustainable Palm Oil
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 5.07
A year ago we complained that rainforests were being cleared to grow palm oil, for use as biodiesel and in as a cheap and devious replacement in fryers for transfats, even though palm oil is high in saturated fats and not much healthier. In August we noted that the first boatload of Malaysian palm oil was being shipped to Germany. Today we learn that Germany and Britain may not want it after all. There were big plans for a German utility to convert a British power station to biofuel, but they were scrapped, because "the company was unable to guarantee that enough palm oil could be bought from sustainable plantations. “There wasn’t enough palm oil that we could demonstrate was sustainable,” the spokesman said. “The bottom line is: are you contributing to global warming by chopping down rainforest?” ::Times Online via ::Grist
what is devious about using palm oil to replace hydrogenated oils? are all saturated fats bad? i know in the past sat fats and trans fats were generally lumped into the same category, but from recent news i was under the impression that those tropical fats were actually not nearly as bad for you as the media/government previously claimed. in fact, there was a post on treehugger last year touting coconut oil (one of the most highly saturated) as healthy.
far from hiding it, newman's own advertises the use of palm fruit oil in their cookies as healthy.
there doesn't seem anything misleading to me about taking trans-fats out of a food product and advertising that on the package.
just trying to put this together.
LA: I will do a post on this soon, it is a good question. I have always considered it bad and avoid it like the plague; perhaps I am wrong.
Please go to the following link to get better informed about the goodness of palm oil:
http://www.mpoc.org.my/arc_nutn_250606_02.asp
I agree, check out www.palmoiltruthfoundation.com for more information. It seems a shame to judge something without looking at all the available info.
I went to that Palm Oil Truth site and now I have more questions than before:
Is it really as healthy as the studies show? If so, why do we paint it as something else?
Are the RSPO and existing laws sufficient?
What can I do as a consumer, when confronted which these two sides of the story?
Come on man! Treehugger should realize that these attacks against palm oil are spurious, to say the least!
Can't you see that all these attacks are planned by these unsavory NGOs to induce the inflow of funding from the underinformed public, govts. and corps.
I would have thought that Treehugger would remain above it all and not be drawn to take sides. Only then can Treehugger claim to be credible!
I agree that Treehugger should remain above it all. Let the two sides slug it out.
Methinks, there's more to the issue that meets the eye. I'm a little troubled after reading the Palm Oil Truth site. Their articles are well researched and seems to be backed by solid facts.
If their position is right, somebody or some grouping is doing a dirty on palm oil! And why, we must wonder?
I agree with both Randy and Charles. As a consumer, I smell a rat somewhere.
The more a third world commodity that is more productive and cheaper is attacked by NGO's on this side of the pond, the more my hackles are raised!
Global warming? Greenhouse gasses? Everytime, a jet takes off from Kennedy Airport, more greenhouse gasses are released into the atmosphere than thousands of palm oil plantations can ever release!
hi im milli and im trying to stop them killing rain forest creatures. I love animals and they disurve to live too. I would really like to help but i dont know how to. So can you please give me an email saying how i could help. That would be great.
thanks milli.