Plastics Impact on the Environment

The action I decided to take to help climate is an app free in the Apple App Store called PalmOil Scan. Palm Oil is a vegetable oil that comes from a fruit of the oil of palm trees. It is cheap and is used in about 50% of products in supermarkets. With the growing palm oil industry can come serious consequences to our ecosystems. After further educating myself, I found that palm oil plantations have significantly damaged forests that are home to many different kinds of species. According to the Rainforest Action Network, “Conflict Palm Oil, is driving iconic species like the Sumartran orangutan, tiger, elephant, and rhino to the brink of extinction” (RainforestActionNetwork). As the Palm Oil industry grows, the ecosystems starts to die. That is why I downloaded PalmOil Scan. This app allows be to scan any barcode from a product to see if the company that produces it sources Palm Oil. By downloading this new app, I feel proud to be apart of the change and hope to educate others on this topic as well. Another action I have done is signing a petition through RainForest Action Network that can help protect critical rainforests such as one specific rainforest in Indonesia called Leuser. The Leuser Ecosystem is in deep trouble as popular snack brands are destroy the forest and produce more palm oil. I will provide the link below if anyone would like to check it out! It takes under a minute to put your name and number down and could help save Leuser’s Ecosystem. 

https://act.ran.org/page/57120/petition/1