Topic: Stop Burning Rain Forests for Palm Oil
Date: December 6, 2012
http://ogoapes.weebly.com/uploads/3/2/3/9/3239894/stop_burning_rain_forests_for_palm_oil_scientific_american.pdf
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Summary
In the Tripa forest in Indonesia's Aceh province, the rare Sumatran orangutans were dying. Their habitats were incinerated with flames and smoke in the air was widespread across the land. This clearing by the humans was intentional to plant oil palms-trees whose fruit yields palm oil, a widely used component of biofuels, cosmetics and food. There was a permit in place to conserve the land but it was unfortunately revoked for the purpose of planting palm oil. Palm oil is cheap and long-lasting which is widely used in many countries of the world for cooking. The plant is a major cash crop for poor farmers in developing countries like Indonesia, the world's largest producer of palm oil. Palm oil covers much of the land that is the size of Maine and its exports of these bring Indonesia and Malaysia $40 billion a year. Even though it may seem very beneficial towards their economy, there are drawbacks. Converting forests into palm oil farms can affect many of the inhabitants in the area and some of those may be nearly going to extinction. Another issue is through logging and burning which release large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Studies have shown that the continuation of this process will release 558 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2020. The most promising plans to stop this madness is in progress by the United Nations's Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) program, which would get developed countries to pay developing countries to not cut down trees. Companies like KFC and Cadbury have already began to replace palm oil with other vegetable oils. People like us should take our money elsewhere when products like palm oil endanger the ecosystems.
Reflection
After looking deeply into this article, I realize that how much one little thing can cause large problems to the species living in the Tripa forest who call it home. We come in running over their land and taking control of it without even knowing what lies there. Our cruel acts just for economical benefits doesn't seem right at all when negatives outweigh the positives. Making these poor animals suffer and creating a world of disgust of lots of nasty pollutants to the atmosphere through logging, burning, and deforestation isn't the best way to go. By ending this, many species will be in a safer environment and us included as well. We need change and more greener methods.
In the Tripa forest in Indonesia's Aceh province, the rare Sumatran orangutans were dying. Their habitats were incinerated with flames and smoke in the air was widespread across the land. This clearing by the humans was intentional to plant oil palms-trees whose fruit yields palm oil, a widely used component of biofuels, cosmetics and food. There was a permit in place to conserve the land but it was unfortunately revoked for the purpose of planting palm oil. Palm oil is cheap and long-lasting which is widely used in many countries of the world for cooking. The plant is a major cash crop for poor farmers in developing countries like Indonesia, the world's largest producer of palm oil. Palm oil covers much of the land that is the size of Maine and its exports of these bring Indonesia and Malaysia $40 billion a year. Even though it may seem very beneficial towards their economy, there are drawbacks. Converting forests into palm oil farms can affect many of the inhabitants in the area and some of those may be nearly going to extinction. Another issue is through logging and burning which release large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Studies have shown that the continuation of this process will release 558 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2020. The most promising plans to stop this madness is in progress by the United Nations's Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) program, which would get developed countries to pay developing countries to not cut down trees. Companies like KFC and Cadbury have already began to replace palm oil with other vegetable oils. People like us should take our money elsewhere when products like palm oil endanger the ecosystems.
Reflection
After looking deeply into this article, I realize that how much one little thing can cause large problems to the species living in the Tripa forest who call it home. We come in running over their land and taking control of it without even knowing what lies there. Our cruel acts just for economical benefits doesn't seem right at all when negatives outweigh the positives. Making these poor animals suffer and creating a world of disgust of lots of nasty pollutants to the atmosphere through logging, burning, and deforestation isn't the best way to go. By ending this, many species will be in a safer environment and us included as well. We need change and more greener methods.