Rebooting Our Relationship With Palm Oil

Fresh fruit bunches harvested in an Ecuadorian farm.

In a recent article the oil palm was presented as a Shiva of the modern consumer economy, “a great creator and a great destroyer”. The article explains how oil palm created and continues to create wellbeing for millions of people by contributing to developing local economies and eradicating poverty. But, as we know, the fast development of the sector has turned the oil palm into a destroyer as well, encroaching into natural ecosystems.

The article explores one way to reset our relationship with the oil palm, finding an approach to produce more oil on less land. Important, considering the projected growing worldwide demand for vegetable oil. The other side of rebooting our relationship with palm oil is raising the bar on what we want palm oil production to look like. We must voice what we expect, instead of voice what we reject.

Narrow perspective
Passionate as we are about the causes we advocate, and mindful in many of the choices we make, most of us are not aware of the impact of the current conversations about palm oil. A focus on destruction and exploitation, what we reject, has lead to a growing number of consumers dismissing the use of palm oil in their food and personal care products. They believe that avoiding palm oil is a solution to halt deforestation. In turn, manufacturers respond by reformulating their products using alternative…