This Earth Day, Make a Difference for Wild Tigers

Posted by Chelo Grubb & filed under In the News.

Happy Earth Day! This year, you can make a difference for our planet by committing to use products made with sustainable palm oil.

Did you know more than 50% of the products in the grocery store are made using palm oil? Palm Oil can be found in everything from food to shampoo and household cleaning products. To keep up with our demand, oil palm tree plantations are increasing throughout Asia and South America. Unsustainable farming practices are destroying habitat for species such as orangutans, tigers, squirrel monkeys and tapirs.

However, sustainability sourced palm oil has less of an impact on the environment than other vegetable oils. The demand for vegetable oil isn’t going to go away so, this Earth Day, choose to support companies that invest in sustainable palm oil practices!

Here’s how it works:

  • When you are shopping, check and see if the products you are buying have Palm Oil. It can go by quite a few names (Such as: Vegetable Oil, Palm Kernel Oil, Palmate, Palmitate, Glyceryl, Stearic Acid, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Sodium Lauryl Lactylate/Sulphate, Etyl Palmitate, Palmityl Alcohol).
  • If you see the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) logo, you know the product you’re holding is made by a company committed to certified sustainable palm oil!
  • If you don’t see that logo on a product with palm oil, scan your barcode in Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s Sustainable Palm Oil Shopping Guide App (available for iPhone and Android) and see if the product you’re holding is orangutan friendly!

Choosing to support sustainable palm oil practices is a little complicated, but it can have a big impact on our planet.