Be wary of Greenpeace claims. It is also worth investigating how Fronterra sources their feed material.

It’s a cop out to say that it’s OK because it’s a byproduct. It’d be like saying it’s OK to import whale skin because the whale skin is only a byproduct of the whaling industry.

The destruction of rainforests and peat lands is the main reason Indonesia accounts for around a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions caused by deforestation, and why the country ranks as the world’s third largest emitter.

The presence of orangutan hair in the milk is obviously symbolic and there is no question that Fonterra imports 25% of the world’s entire production of PKE which directly contributes to the deforestation in Indonesia.

This includes orangutan and tiger habitat and indigenous peoples’ lands that the Govt is allocating for “conversion”.

Anything NZ can do to put pressure on the companies contributing and anything that organizations like Greenpeace can do is important. Opinions about whether the ad is to your taste or not is not particularly important in the scale of things. Stopping Fonterra being party to this is.

We’ve wiped out more than enough native forests in NZ – we need to learn our own lessons from that and not contribute to it happening in other countries while branding oursekves as clean and green.

Sure it’s not as big an income earner as the oil but it’s certainly significant enough to affect the economics of deciding to chop rainforests down.

It’s a dirty, corrupt and destructive business and a company like Fonterra would do well to stay a million miles away from it.

i checked out a q&a on the greenpeace website, and while obviously it supports their claims, the claims are largely externally referenced and there’s plenty of sources. More reports there too.

But at the end of the day only a few basic facts are needed – The palm oil industry is major contributor to Indo’s deforestation. Which in turn, along with destroying monkey homes, is a significant contributor to climate change and its resulting impacts on ways of life, economy and environment and which will make all this seem very petty.

As it should be, the writing is on the wall for the industry as . And fonterra with a notable 25% wedge of the PKE element could and should move on, and the sooner the better. More than enough facts, science, say that…

Thanks Greenpeace, for making a compelling and memorable ad without promoting the violence against women that PETA trades in.

As usual, we have met the enemy, and he is us.

*I’m gerunding the intertubes!

We all need to stop companies like Fonterra effectively subsidising these operations and expose the relationship between these palm plantation and forestry companies and the governments of colonising states like Indonesia. At the same time, we have to stand up against efforts to steal their lands via carbon forestry based carbon trading schemes like REDD under the false pretence of taking action to halt climate change. [link: http://www.reddmonitor.org

Climate Justice means supporting those fighting for their lives and livelihoods on the front lines of climate change in order to protect us all against those who profit from carbon intensive industry and those who promote carbon credit co2lonisation as a solution to climate change.

http://www.climatejusticeaction.org
http://indonesiahumanrights.org.nz/

There’s a lot I don’t like about the palm oil industry, but I somehow doubt NZ’s use of a palm oil byproduct is causing much destruction of rainforests.

I would really like to see Fonterra feed cows something else in winter when grass is short on the ground. They use it because it is cheap and high in fat.

The primary driver for growing the crop is palm oil. Therefore, while using the palm kernel expeller does increase the value of the crop, it wouldn’t stop it being used. If anything, it makes the crop more environmentally friendly because the expeller isn’t left to rot. It’s like complaining about the manufacture of gelatin from a cow – completely ignoring hamburger and steaks.

If Greenpeace wants to go after palm oil, they should go after, oh I don’t know, PALMOLIVE, the other big brands that use Palmitate (look at your shampoo bottle), and the large chocolate manufacturers.

http://econ.mpob.gov.my/economy/Overview_2009.pdf

Palm Oil 36,906.30
Palm Kernel Oil 3,021.00
Palm Kernel Cake 495.7
Oleochemical Products 6,559.20
Biodiesel 605.8
Finished Products 1,911.10
Others 91.2
TOTAL REVENUE (RM Million) 49,590.30

Palm Kernal Cake is < 1% of revenue. By-product. Spent Cake products < 0.2% of revenue. By-products.

Palm Kernel Cake is less than 1% of revenue. It’s a By-product. Spent Cake products less than 0.2% of revenue. By-products.