A drawing my son did at home of what he’d learnt at school.
This year my son started ‘big school’ (he’s in year 1). He had a lot to adjust to after two years at a Montessori Pre-school, but we’re told by his teacher that he did excellently. Throughout the year we’ve had homework to do and much of it interesting. I myself was particularly excited about the focus of the last term being on sustainability. As well as working with my son on poster presentations and the creation of art works using recycled cans, cartons and other household waste, I learnt something from him: ‘Take three for the sea’. This is an initiative that tries to get everyone to do their bit to reduce pollution, particularly plastics entering the sea and suffocating and killing aquatic wildlife. The great things about this initiative is its simplicity: take three pieces of rubbish with you when you leave the beach or waterway or park. Anyone can do that!
To make sure kids fully understand that concept, they are encouraged to ‘take 3’ during lunch hours and are taught the anti-littering message. This must have stuck because on a recent trip to the beach my son took 3 for the sea and has taught his younger sister the message as well.
So next time you’re out enjoying the outdoors – take three!
Spring is in the air in Sydney. The smell of jasmine fills my backyard, flowers are out and after a very wet and cool August, the weather is slowly warming. My daughter is now five and a half months old and getting cuter by the day. She arrived into this world in a house full of madness. My son, then my middle daughter had the chicken pox, so we were confined to my bedroom in quarantine until the house was deemed safe for her to move around in. During this time, I read a lot and to keep me from going crazy my mum borrowed some magazines from the library. One of the magazines that she borrowed was ‘Green Lifestyle Magazine’ (http://www.greenlifestylemag.com.au/). It was while reading this magazine that I learnt about Palm Oil. I already knew a little about Palm Oil, but that article really opened my eyes, but first, some facts about palm oil. What is palm oil?
Palm oil is a vegetable oil that comes from the tree Elaeis guineensis. The oil comes from the fruit and kernels of the tree. Most palm oil comes from Indonesia and Malaysia (86%). What is it used for?
Palm oil has many uses. It’s used in anything from toothpaste, soap and shampoo, cosmetics, cleaning products to candles, biscuits, cereals, chocolate and ice cream! Even environmentally friendly, or organic products contain palm oil. What’s the problem with palm oil?
The main issue with palm oil is that large areas of rainforest are cleared to make way for palm oil plantations. This results in the loss of species and habitats for animals such as the Orangutan.
Additionally, the rainforests that are cleared to make way for palm oil plantations sit on top of peat bogs which are large stores of carbon. As the rainforest is cut and burnt, large amounts of carbon dioxide are released into the atmosphere. Is all palm oil problematic?
With so many products containing palm oil and its derivatives, it is unrealistic to rid the world of palm oil, so what alternative is there? There is a certification scheme called RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) which aims to ensure palm oil used is sustainably sourced. Though this is welcome, we must beware of greenwash and having marketing departments confusing consumers.
Firstly, just because a company is a member of the RSPO it doesn’t mean that they are using sustainable palm oil. Being a member of the RSPO means that they have made a commitment to ‘EVENTUALLY purchase sustainable palm oil, in most cases that commitment is to be in place by 2015’ (http://www.palmoilinvestigations.org/brand-palm-oil-statements).
Usually, if a company is using sustainably sourced palm oil, that they will display this logo and to complicate things further, if a brand states that they use sustainable palm oil, but don’t talk about whether this is certified, then what they may be doing is buying GreenPalm certificates to offset their usage. GreenPalm SUPPORTS the production of sustainable palm oil, BUT the physical palm oil used in the product is not certified.
Now, armed with more knowledge on palm oil, I decided to do some researching to see what I may have, which could potentially have unsustainable (bad) palm oil. When I looked into this website, I was left gobsmacked: http://www.palmoilinvestigations.org/products-australia . What I found particularly interesting, and concerning at the same time is that palm oil is referred to by some many names, which makes it difficult for many to decipher whether products that they buy contain palm oil. Here are just some of the names by which palm oil is known (for a more comprehensive list of names, please see: http://www.palmoilinvestigations.org/Fold%20up%20ingredients%20list-1.pdf):
• Vegetable oil;
• Elaeis guineensis;
• Elaeis oleifera;
• Sodium lauryl;
• Laureth sulphate (can also be derived from coconut oil);
• Cetearyl alcohol;
• Palmate, palmitic acid or Cetyl palmintate;
• Glyeryl stearate; or
• Sodium kernelate.
With my magnifying glass in hand, I set about going through the myriad of everyday products in my home to find whether they contain palm oil and unfortunately I found many. In fact, going through the listing of products from the list in the link above and my fridge, bathroom, kitchen etc, I was overwhelmed.
Here is just a sample of some of the products that I have on my ‘no, does not contain good palm oil’, ‘yes, contains good palm oil’, ‘Don’t know’! This is only a sample though. With limited nap times, I couldn’t go through everything in my home. The bad list Not sure if these contain unsustainable palm oil
So with spring in the air, I’m on a palm oil detox mission! I expect that I will not rid my home of unsustainable palm oil altogether, but I hope in the next 6 months to reduce the unsustainable palm oil present in my home by 50%. I will report on this over the next 6 months and will share any tips and difficulties I face. I look forward to you sharing your journey also. Resources
Wading through the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of this issue is difficult. You almost need a chemistry degree to understand it despite best intentions, however this website is useful and there is an App that should help when out and about shopping: http://www.orangutans.com.au/Orangutans-Survival-Information/Helping-you-buy-responsibly-Palm-oil-free-alternatives.aspx?gclid=CJXu1pX1l8ECFVUAvAod-CAAfQ
Other resources include: https://www.facebook.com/palmoilproductsinAustralia http://www.ethical.org.au/know-the-score-in-the-store/ http://www.saynotopalmoil.com/ http://www.zoo.org.au/get-involved/act-for-wildlife/dont-palm-us-off https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/palm-oil-shopping-guide/id671945416?mt=8 http://www.wwf.org.au/our_work/saving_the_natural_world/forests/palm_oil/
I was amazed by all the weird and wonderful teeny tiny frogs I saw.
I visited this beautiful country in 2003 on a backpacking trip with my then fiance (now husband). We spent three weeks in this small but impressive country. Costa Rica is blessed in many ways. It has beautiful forests, both cloud forests and tropical rain forests. It has geothermal activity as we discovered in Rincon de la Vieja national park with bubbling mud pools and geysers. It has Caribbean beaches and it has more wildlife than you can poke a stick at. We saw Toucans, sloths, monkeys galore, weird and wonderful frogs, coral snakes, turtles laying eggs, crocodiles and the list goes on. It has volcanoes too. I recall a very wonderful night watching lava bursting out of and streaming down Volcan Arenal. We sat in a thermal bath James Bond style drinking cocktails with the fireworks display in front of us.
Some facts about Costa Rica:
– It abolished the military on 1 December 1948! that’s 65 years ago!
– Costa Rica is home to about 12,119 species of plants, of which 950 are endemic.
one fourth of Costa Rica is under some form of national park protection and 9.3% is protected under the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
– AND it has the most chilled out children I EVER came across in my 1 year backpacking trip. Like seriously laid back, relaxed chilled out ‘Pura Vida’ Style (Pure Life, the national catch phrase, just like G’Day is to Australia). Nothing phased them and I wonder ‘what was it? how do these parents do it?’ I have no answers for that.
Now why am I here gushing about Costa Rica. Well because they want to add another feather to their cap. They have the audacity to want to be the first country in the world to be Carbon Neutral and do you know what, they may very well do it! http://news.nationalgeographic.com.au/news/2008/03/080307-costa-rica.html
Here is a short report about how wind is helping on them on this journey. Now how can a small coutnry like Costa Rica just decide – hell let’s stop talking and start doing? whereas most of the rest of the world is still talking and arguing. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/05/201352685625545920.html
I say ‘Salut’ to Costa Rica. You have shown us again how it should be done!
Trying to be an eco-mum on a budget 