S.O.S. :: Sumatran Orangutan Society

photo credit - Sumatran Orangutan Society
http://orangutans-sos.org/

With fewer than 7,000 surviving in the wild, it is predicted that the Sumatran orangutan will be the first Great Ape species to become extinct if current trends continue. The Sumatran Orangutan Society works with local communities living alongside orangutan habitat, helping them work towards a more sustainable future for their forests.

In my last post, Orangutans + Why You Should Use Sustainable Palm Oil, I wrote about how important it is that we understand, as soap makers, that palm oil comes from places that are killing and wiping out orangutans in the rain forests of Sumatra and Borneo in order to harvest it.

It is possible to harvest it without doing this and by purchasing sustainably harvested palm oil from sellers who are members of the the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). I go on in detail in my previous post so feel free to read it and pass on the information.

Daniela Maldonado, owner of Hello Bath + Body and Supplies by Hello (also my fabulous sponsor), suggested I also direct you to the Sumatran Orangutan Society (S.O.S.). Daniela...stroke of genius. I visited the website and I was blown away by how much there was to learn and how many things I could do to help!

For example, you can become a member, purchase stuffed animals, T-shirts and other gift shop items, make a donation, and purchase tickets for Orangaid comedy relief through TicketMaster. But what I thought was interesting, and totally free, was Everyclick.com. Everyclick.com is a search engine that raises money for charity every time you perform a web search. Simply bookmark Everyclick.com as your preferred search engine, nominate the S.O.S. as your favorite charity, and every time you search the internet, S.O.S.will receive a donation!

Oh, there's a lot more that I didn't know about that I learned about on their site, like illegal Orangutan trading in Indonesia. You could click here to download a petition asking the Indonesian government to enforce the existing laws that protect orangutans, and put a stop to the illegal trade of protected species.

They have a plethora of ideas on how to help with lists of links, suggestions, advice on fund raising events, campaigns and ideas.

" Contact us if you would like to discuss your fund raising ideas - we can offer support in the form of inspiration, information materials, collecting tins, helping you obtain permits for city-centre collections, and even the loan of our orangutan costume!"

So if you'd like to get informed about their missions and progress, go peruse their website and settle in. http://orangutans-sos.org

With fewer than 7,000 surviving in the wild, it is predicted that the Sumatran orangutan will be the first Great Ape species to become extinct if current trends continue. The Sumatran Orangutan Society works with local communities living alongside orangutan habitat, helping them work towards a more sustainable future for their forests.

p.s.: Run your mouse through the leaves on the top of their website. I just love that!

Please link back to this posting if you have a blog about soap, so we can educate and end the destruction of more animals. Thank you.

Orangutans + Why You Should Use Sustainable Palm Oil

There is a lot of talk about using and finding sustainable palm oil. At first, I wasn't really sure why. You may not know either so I'll just touch on some of what people are going on about that you may or may not be aware of.

I quote from this article: "Orangutans and palm oil: What's the connection?"

The forests of Borneo and Sumatra are the only two places on Earth where these gentle, intelligent creatures live. The cultivation of palm oil over the last decade has directly led to the slaughter of thousands of individuals as the industry has expanded into previously undisturbed areas of old-growth rain forest. The UNEP estimates that an area of Indonesian rain forest the size of six football fields is cut down every minute of every day. The palm oil and timber industries are guilty of truly horrific ecological atrocities, one of which is the systematic genocide of orangutans. When the forest is cleared, adult orangutans are generally shot on sight. In the absence of bullets they are beaten, burned, tortured, mutilated and often eaten as bush meat.

If this is all true, I am sick.

After I read this, I started making soaps without palm, and honestly, the soaps just weren't as nice. I began my search for sustainable palm because I knew it was out there, but honestly, it wasn't easy to find!

I first went to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which is the International organization of producers, distributors and others that promote the growth and use of sustainable palm oil. I poked around, and it was very confusing to actually find a supplier. If anyone from there reads this.... Make it REALLY easy to find a palm oil supplier so this change occurs faster!

I was in touch with Mike Lawson of Soaper's Choice/Columbus Foods (fantastic company, fantastic guy!), and their organic palm oil is sustainably harvested. Mike conveyed this to me:

"Regarding your question of sustainable palm production, our Organic palm is from South America, grown in a mixed species environment with legume under story to provide nitrogen specific plants to host, and feed beneficial insects. Residue from the oil pressings is also returned to the groves to provide nutrients. The farm is in a region of the Amazon that was cleared by previous owners 30-40 years ago, and the reestablishment of a forest crop has brought back many species of birds and other plants and animals. While not as diverse as native Rain forest, it is a vast improvement over grasslands. All our conventional Palm suppliers are members of RSPO as well.

We are conscious of where we purchase our oils, and will continue to seek conscientious growers, and producers."

Mike assured me that the organic palm had certification of its sustainability in addition to its membership with RSPO.

So instead of eliminating palm from your recipes, just change your buying habit. If we all make the change, maybe WE can make the difference.

Please link back to this posting if you have a blog about soap, so we can educate and end the destruction of more animals. Thank you.

Essential Oils = Green? Perhaps Not.

Sharon Elvin, of Platypus Dreams and I spoke on the phone recently about using essential oils and the Green Movement (can I Init. Cap. that??). Sharon makes a BIG point about the strain on the environment to produce these natural oils. Are we saving the planet by pumping all that pollution into the air to produce them or are we being GREEN by using them? Here is her blog entry in its entirety:

Are Essential Oils All That Green For The Environment?

Normally I don't talk about green and clean and all that goes with this because we are always trying to do our best and live with as little impact as possible to our environment.

I have been pondering over this and looking for research on this topic for quite some time. I haven't seen many talk about or even discuss the carbon footprint of essential oils and one would have thought so with the natural movement. Some are really trying their best but some are just jumping on the green and clean marketing bandwagon to try and get a marketing angle or sell more of their wares.

So what does it take to produce the essential plant oils we use? Lets' have a look at what I have found.

From some studies I have found the following:

Lavender Bud and Stem - 41.6l/ha

16513kg/ha crop plant including stems and flowers
41.3litres EO/ha
399kg of crop / 1 litre
399gr per mil of eo
So that is of plant matter per mil of eo doesn't sound much on the small scale of things.

Chamomile - 6.6l/ha

26400kg/ha crop plant matter yeild
6.6litres/ha essential oil yeild
4000kg plant matter / litre of eo
400gr / gram eo

Rosemary - 11.5litres/ha

Thyme - 11.8litres/ha

Yarrow - 5l/ha

So what does this all tell us? It takes quite a lot of plant matter to produce 1 litre of essential oil.

I feel we need to think about the following with our essential oils:

Land preparation - diesel to run equipment
Land and crop maintenance - diesel to run equipment
Tilling weeds - mechanical driven diesel powered equipment
Irrigation - energy source of some kind to power pumps unless gravity fed
Herbicides used - power source required to spray the crop if required
Pesticides - power source required to spray the crop if required
Harvesting of the crop - mechanical energy source, low cost labor maybe available in some countries
Cartage of the crop to the distillery - energy source to power vehicles
Energy needed to run the distillery - wood, coal, gas or electric driven
Energy required to bottle the distilled product - electric driven in most cases pumped or gravity fed into vats or drums or hand distilled.

If electricity was used as a power source how was it made now a lot of people don't think about where the power comes from when they turn on a switch. It just happens like magic.

What is driving your local power plant is it burning coal, hydro electricity, wind generated, solar powered. With a coal powered power plant think on the following and ponder for a while, where did the coal come from, was it local, how much energy was expended getting the coal out of the ground and how much was expended on washing the coal (yes they wash and crush coal), more energy.

Now with this whole energy thing and lowering the carbon foot print so to speak, well it's huge, I have only touched the tip of the iceberg on a couple of issues that I have had time to write about.

So next time when you grab for that bar of essential oil soap, treasure it.

When you switch on a light bulb think of where did the power come from? How far has it travelled to get to my light bulb, what made the power. Do I need all those lights on, switch some off. It maybe just one little crumb less of coal that is burnt and choofing off into the atmosphere.

Till next time Cheers.

Stats Ref: http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/crops/industrial/research/reports/RDREP02.pdf

Reprinted from Platypus Dreams Blog with permission