Rainforest Action Network

WHAT: More than 2,000 concerned citizens across the nation will descend on their local supermarkets on Wednesday, August 13, to apply stickers reading, “Warning! Product May Contain Rainforest Destruction,” on any items they find that contain palm oil. The massive day of action is being organized by Rainforest Action Network, which is targeting U.S. agribusinesses ADM, Bunge and Cargill for establishing soy and palm oil operations in many of the planet’s most threatened tropical rainforests.
 
Demand for palm oil, an ingredient in many common foods, cosmetics and household products, has risen significantly in recent years, causing palm oil plantations to expand at a rate of 2.5 million acres per year into the tropical forests of Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea. Pristine forests are clear-cut and burned to accommodate the expansion, contributing heavily to global climate change, species extinction, and the displacement of Indigenous and local communities.
 
WHEN: Wednesday, August 13.
 
WHERE: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Austin, New York, San Antonio, and many other cities across the country. Contact Sam Haswell at 415.659.0519 for more detailed information if you are interested in accompanying a group to a supermarket.
 
WHO: Members of Rainforest Action Network’s Rainforest Agribusiness Campaign along with citizens and activists across the country.
 
WHY: Palm oil plantations are expanding into the planet’s most biodiverse ecosystems, including rainforests, grasslands and peat swamps in South America, Southeast Asia, the Pacific and Africa. These regions are home to millions of plant and animal species, including highly endangered orangutans, clouded leopards and sun bears. Transforming ecosystems into massive monocrop oil palm plantations contributes heavily to climate change, as deforestation accounts for a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, the spread of palm oil plantations often violates traditional and Indigenous land rights by pushing communities off their land or forcing small family farmers to shift from subsistence to export-driven commodity farming.