Former teacher, current student. Book, music and nature lover. Christian, creative, and amateur explorer.
My challenge
Find the main causes of deforestation and avoid products that contribute to it.

While palm oil is terribly terribly bad for the rainforest, boycotting it completely is not always the answer. It is a good crop to grow, both for the many millions who depend on it for their livelihood, and because it grows with less space and less chemical use than other oils such as coconut and shea. 

Various methods are being tried to make palm oil sustainable, including using ground that is not forested, increasing palm yield and mixing palm and other crops together.

FairPalm is Traidcraft’s method of creating sustainable palm oil, and while it is ethical and organic, there are still issues surrounding price and scaling up. But hopefully as more companies begin to see the value in sustainable palm oil – encouraged by consumer choice – it will become more ordinary to see labels with sustainable palm oil certification on.