By In Fossil Fools Day spirit, a dozen palm oil activists and one endangered orangutan protested General Mills’ use of rainforest-destroying palm oil in front of a San Francisco Safeway yesterday, on the eve of the second National 350-community strong Palm Oil Action Week. In dozens of states, groups of concerned community members are hitting the streets throughout the next week to inform grocery store shoppers that if their children are eating breakfast cereals like Lucky Charms or Cheerios, they are eating rainforest destruction in every spoonful.
General Mills, you don’t have to be a Fossil Fool! Take Action Now!
Deforestation accounts for 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Massive tracks of tropical forests are getting cleared and burned every hour in South East Asia to make way for mono-crop palm oil plantations which exacerbate climate change and wipe out critical habitat for endangered species like Sumatran Orangutans, Elephants and Tigers.
General Mills, one of America’s most trusted food brands, adds palm oil and its derivatives to almost 200 of its products and brands including Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, & Bisquick.
Protesters passed out several hundred spoof Lucky Charms “Magically Destructive” and Cheerios “Rainforest Destruction in Every Spoonful” postcards to grocery store shoppers. We generated over a hundred petition signatures to General Mills CEO Ken Powell and half as many photo petitions demanding that the food giant stop stalling and take action to ensure that its palm oil supply chain is free of rainforest destruction because the climate can’t wait!
