Palm Oil Matters http://deforestationwatch.org Fri, 18 May 2012 16:09:54 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://deforestationwatch.org/images/M_images/joomla_rss.png http://deforestationwatch.org Palm Oil Matters http://deforestationwatch.org/index.php/Key-Papers/Palm-oil-and-the-Magic-Eye.html One of my nephews brought a book of Magic Eye images to a family gathering. Magic Eye images look like ordinary two-dimensional patterns, but when viewed in a certain way, the flat surface appears three-dimensional.We took turns trying to train our eyes to make the three-dimensional image pop out. One family member had trouble seeing the extra dimension. That appears to be the trouble with the cabal of “green” and “civil society” groups such as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth (FOE), the WWF and even zoos like the Melbourne Zoo, the Auckland Zoo and the Philly Zoo. Articles & Papers - Key Papers Thu, 10 May 2012 17:00:07 +0100 http://deforestationwatch.org/index.php/Key-Papers/Palm-oil-and-green-NGO-sharks-in-a-feeding-frenzy.html Scientists who study sharks tell us that they are most likely to attack when they sense blood in the water. The blood acts as a trigger to their feeding mechanism and they attack, often in a group, creating a deadly feeding frenzy. Blood in the water marks the vulnerability of the target.Sadly, this is sometimes how people respond to those who are hurting. This happens in schools, the office and even in the neighborhood. Instead of being a community where people are loved, cared for, and nurtured, it can become a dangerous environment where predators are looking for the “blood in the water” of someone’s failings or faults. And then the feeding frenzy is on.Instead of kicking people when they are down, we should be offering encouragement by helping to restore the fallen.In many ways, this explains the behavior of “green” and “civil society” groups such as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth (FOE), the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), the WWF and even zoos such as the Melbourne Zoo and Auckland Zoo who viciously assail the innocent third world commodity with a litany of trumped up charges ranging from the supposed deleterious health effects of palm oil to massive deforestation to threatening the extinction of exotic wildlife like the orangutan! Articles & Papers - Key Papers Thu, 03 May 2012 17:00:36 +0100 http://deforestationwatch.org/index.php/Key-Papers/Palm-oil-and-the-Christmas-spirit.html Christmas is supposed to be a time of generosity and goodwill. However, the acts of generosity and goodwill that flourishes in December often fade quickly, causing many to say, “I wish we could keep the Christmas spirit all year long.” Why does it seem that kindness and compassion are chained to the calendar? Is there an ever-flowing fountain of compassion deeper than warm holiday feelings that pass with the season?However, the entire cabal of “green” and “civil society” groups such as the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), Greenpeace, the Friends of the earth (FOE), the WWF and even zoos like the Melbourne Zoo, the Auckland Zoo and the Philly Zoo, appear to be bereft of the redeeming human qualities of generosity, goodwill or compassion. Articles & Papers - Key Papers Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:00:02 +0100 http://deforestationwatch.org/index.php/Key-Papers/Palm-oil-and-cinnamon.html My favorite flavor is cinnamon! I love cinnamon rolls, cinnamon graham crackers, cinnamon candies, cinnamon toast, cinnamon apples, and cinnamon pretzels. Cinnamon is one of those spices that make other things taste better. However, it never crossed my mind to think about where cinnamon comes from. Then, on a recent trip to Sri Lanka, I learned that 90 percent of all the cinnamon in the world comes from that island nation located in the Indian Ocean. For all of the cinnamon I’ve enjoyed over the years, I never stopped to consider its source.Similarly, palm oil is a wonderful edible oil. Endowed with natural healthful qualities, palm oil is beneficial to the heart and current research shows that it may be useful in the treatment and prevention of certain cancers and diabetes (see: Palm oil for the Heart http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/health/palm-oil-for-the-heart-1.52617). This is due to the nutrients and poplyphenol packed nature of palm oil which is chockfull of betacarotenes, Co Enzyme Q10 and a super Vitamin E called tocotrienol. Further, and perhaps more incredibly, palm oil is super productive! Just one hectare of palm oil plantation can yield 4-5 metric tons of edible oil. This yield is interestingly just the baseline and it is already ten times that of its competitors such as soy, canola and sunflower. Whilst its competitors have probably reached the upper limits of their yield potential, current R D points to palm oil potential yield easily reaching a whopping 20 metric tons per hectare! What all this translates to is a highly competitively priced edible oil which worries its competitors no end, for such a cheap source of oil could also be a cheap source of feedstock in the production of bio-fuels and bio-diesel. Articles & Papers - Key Papers Thu, 19 Apr 2012 17:00:26 +0100 http://deforestationwatch.org/index.php/Key-Papers/Palm-oil-and-the-virtue-of-friendship.html One of the greatest thinkers of the Roman Empire was Cicero. He was a skilled orator, lawyer, politician, linguist, and writer. Still today he is quoted for his clear prose and practical wisdom.For instance, of having friends he wrote: “Friendship improves happiness and abates misery, by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of our grief.” He understood the double benefits of friendship along life’s journey.Nearly a millennium earlier, King Solomon had written about the value of friends as well. He was reputed to have said: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up”. Certainly a life without friends makes our sojourn lonely and hard to bear.Both Cicero and King Solomon were right: Friends are important.However, this universal truth appears to be lost on an entire cabal of “green” and “civil society” groups like such as the oddly named Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth (FOE), the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), the WWF and even zoos such as, wait for this… the Melbourne Zoo, the Auckland Zoo and the Philly Zoo who have collectively made it something of a career to attack palm oil on the flimsiest of grounds. Articles & Papers - Key Papers Thu, 12 Apr 2012 17:00:52 +0100 http://deforestationwatch.org/index.php/Key-Papers/Palm-oil-and-the-elitist-CEO-of-the-Rainforest-Action-Network.html Rebecca Tarbotton, let’s be honest: we’ve had our ups and downs over the last few years. I wrote all that stuff about the Rainforest Action Network’s (RAN) conniving ways. I’ve poked fun at your anti-palm oil campaigns. But now I’ve got your best interests at heart, truly. Articles & Papers - Key Papers Thu, 05 Apr 2012 17:00:02 +0100 http://deforestationwatch.org/index.php/Key-Papers/Palm-oil-and-caricatures-of-Green-Groups.html Setting up their easels in public places, caricature artists draw pictures of people who are willing to pay a modest price for a humorous image of themselves. We find these drawings amusing as they usually exaggerate one or more of our physical features in a way that is recognizable but funny.However, the caricatures that many green groups have become are certainly not funny! Articles & Papers - Key Papers Thu, 29 Mar 2012 17:00:08 +0100 http://deforestationwatch.org/index.php/Key-Papers/Palm-Oil-and-Star-Wars.html There’s a scene in the Star Wars trilogy that reminds me of the situation facing the palm oil industry. At an establishment somewhere in a remote corner of the galaxy, grotesque-looking creatures socialize over food and music. When Luke Skywalker enters with his two droids, C3PO and R2D2 (who are more “normal” than anyone else there), he is surprisingly turned away with a curt rebuff: “We don’t serve their kind here!”That strange scene captures the malady that we all struggle with, in our relationships here on planet Earth, racism. It is difficult to belief that racism can rear its ugly head over a third world commodity, but unfortunately that appears to be the case. Articles & Papers - Key Papers Thu, 22 Mar 2012 17:06:42 +0100 http://deforestationwatch.org/index.php/Key-Papers/Palm-oil-and-the-lie-detection-expert.html “Our natural tendency is to trust people,” according to lie-detection experts. However, not everyone is trustworthy all the time. Signs that someone may be lying include fidgeting, lack of eye contact, and noticeable pauses in speaking. Even with these clues, experts warn that it is still quite tough to tell deceivers from honest people.In many ways, “green” and “civil society” groups have for so long now lived off the crises that they create vis a vis palm oil and so they regularly trundle out wild and unsubstantiated claims against palm oil. However, these kinds of covert operations against palm oil are well documented. Articles & Papers - Key Papers Fri, 16 Mar 2012 08:59:16 +0100 http://deforestationwatch.org/index.php/Key-Papers/Palm-oil-and-the-Dalton-Gang.html The Dalton brothers were infamous outlaws during the late 1800s in the US. They started out on the right side of the law as officers. But then they followed a gradual descent into crime and became known for bank and train robberies. Their day of reckoning came when they tried to hold up two banks at once. Hearing of the robberies, the townspeople armed themselves and began to fire on the Dalton Gang. When the smoke cleared, Emmett Dalton was the sole survivor.After serving 15 years in the penitentiary, Emmett was pardoned and set free. While in prison, he had come to see the error of his ways. So when he was released, he wanted to deter young people from a life of crime. Drawing from his own experience, Emmett wrote and starred in a film about the Dalton Gang. In many ways, Emmett’s film was showing others the folly of being an outlaw.Oh, if only the spin doctors who commissioned the great palm oil lie could, like Emmett Dalton own up to the folly of their ways! Using as proxies “green” and “civil society” groups such as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth (FOE), the WWF and even zoos like the Melbourne Zoo, the Auckland Zoo and the Philly Zoo to carry out their dirty work by issuing Press Releases and “Reports” with false accusations of massive deforestation by palm oil on such a scale that it threatens the existence of exotic animals such as the orangutan, it is only a matter of time before they bite the dust like the Dalton Gang! Articles & Papers - Key Papers Thu, 08 Mar 2012 17:00:20 +0100 http://deforestationwatch.org/index.php/Key-Papers/Palm-oil-and-hidden-treasures.html Stephen May discovered a treasure while teaching literature at the University of Northern Colorado. In the library, he found 150 boxes of letters, manuscripts, journals, outlines, and notes given to the school by James A. Michener.Surprisingly, no one was using those materials to write a biography of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, known for his historical novels. After years of research and writing, May produced a new account of the life of Michener from that great treasure.As I contemplate on the situation facing palm oil which has attracted so much flak from “green” and “civil society” groups such as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth (FOE), the WWF and even zoos like the Melbourne Zoo, the Auckland Zoo and the Philly Zoo, it’s really sad since like Michener’s hidden treasures, palm oil has so many positive attributes that it far outweighs the negative. Articles & Papers - Key Papers Fri, 02 Mar 2012 20:41:41 +0100 http://deforestationwatch.org/index.php/Key-Papers/Palm-oil-and-the-right-information.html We had been airborne about 15 minutes when the pilot announced that the aircraft had a serious problem the crew was trying to analyze. A few minutes later, he announced that it was a vibration and that we would have to return to the airport. Then the flight attendants made a series of step-by-step announcements explaining what was going on and what would happen once we were on the ground. In an event that could have been terrifying, the fears of the passengers were relieved because we were given the right information.Contrast this with the rampant disinformation being spread on an almost daily basis by a cabal of “green” and “civil society” groups such as the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), Greenpeace, the Friends of the earth (FOE), the WWF and even zoos like the Melbourne Zoo, the Auckland Zoo and the Philly Zoo. Articles & Papers - Key Papers Mon, 27 Feb 2012 02:50:03 +0100 http://deforestationwatch.org/index.php/Key-Papers/Palm-Oil-the-New-York-Times-and-Copernicus.html Throughout history there have been many theories that were widely embraced by the scientific community including academicians as well as by politicians and by the general public at large that were later discovered to be patently wrong. For instance, by the late Middle Ages, especially in Italy there was an influx of texts and scholars from the collapsing Byzantine empire. Copernicus proved that the Earth was not the centre of the solar system as Aristotle had argued. All aspects of scholasticism were criticized in the 15th and 16th centuries, and the Catholic Church executed people who publicly argued the truth of Copernicus' earlier findings. One author who was notoriously persecuted, but not executed, was Galileo, who made innovative use of experiment and mathematics.Similarly, it staggers the imagination the level of hype and false science that has been applied to the issue of deforestation and extinction of exotic biodiversity such as the orangutan and its connection to palm oil cultivation. Initiated by an entire cabal of “green” and “civil society” groups such as the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), Greenpeace, the Friends of the earth (FOE), the WWF and even zoos like the Melbourne Zoo, the Auckland Zoo and the Philly Zoo, the accusation that palm oil is responsible for massive deforestation has acquired a life of its own to the extent that the lies are being perpetuated to school kids by the venerable New York Times! Articles & Papers - Key Papers Sun, 19 Feb 2012 19:19:13 +0100 http://deforestationwatch.org/index.php/Key-Papers/Palm-oil-and-the-UNs-corny-Girl-Scout-Cookies-Awards.html In a paper entitled The United Nations In Crisis: Negative Perceptions Call for Savvy Marketing to Rebuild its Brand , Lisa Marchese and Rachel Simmons addresses the serious credibility issues confronting the UN today. (see:http://www.prophet.com/downloads/articles/rebuilding-un-brand.pdf) The UN has a credibility gap between the responsibilities associated with it by the international community and what the organization does and is actually capable of doing in practice, they wrote. With such terrible credibility issues, it is not surprising that the UN shot itself in the foot again when the United Nations Forum on Forests Secretariat (UNFFS) launched the first ever International Forest Heroes Programme and Awards. Articles & Papers - Key Papers Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:34:14 +0100 http://deforestationwatch.org/index.php/Key-Papers/Palm-Oil-and-faulty-memory-banks.html How can people who experienced the same event have radically different recollections of what happened? An Associated Press article summarized the results of dozens of studies on human memory: “Far from being an indelible recording, human memory is fragile, incomplete, malleable and highly subject to suggestion.”Memories can change with time. In some cases, people may slightly alter their version of an event with each retelling, much like a fisherman’s exaggerated account of “the one that got away.” But an objective, factual record can correct the mental wanderings to which we’re all susceptible.That’s the reason why Deforestation Watch has, for some time now, met the mental wanderings over palm oil issues of “green” and “civil society” groups such as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth (FOE), the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), the WWF and even zoos such as the Melbourne Zoo and Auckland Zoo with cold hard facts. For the mental liberties that they take concerning palm oil and deforestation and the alleged extinction of exotic wildlife like the orangutan come unstuck in the face of facts! Articles & Papers - Key Papers Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:43:36 +0100 http://deforestationwatch.org/index.php/Key-Papers/Palm-oil-EU-biofuel-discrimination-cries-grow-louder.html LATELY, the debate has grown louder over the discriminatory nature of the European Union's (EU) default values for biofuels especially on imported biofuel feedstocks like palm oil and soybean oil.The latest is Canada's former ambassador to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) John Weekes, who said the EU would likely face WTO challenges on the matter of foreign energy sources disrimination.He pointed out that the EU's default value calculations make a level playing field between the EU and non-EU producers impossible, and that its process of default value is a trade barrier deliberately designed to keep the competition out. Articles & Papers - Key Papers Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:28:40 +0100 http://deforestationwatch.org/index.php/Key-Papers/Chewing-the-cud-on-palm-oil.html I love the sight of cows lying in the field, chewing their cud. But what is cud? And why do they spend so much time chewing it?Cows first fill their stomachs with grass and other food. Then they settle down for a good long chew. They bring the food back up from their stomachs and rework what they’ve already eaten, assimilating its goodness and transforming it into rich creamy milk. Time-consuming? Yes. A waste of time? Not if they want to give good milk.In the same way,isn't it about time that the international media spend some time “chewing the cud” on the issue of the spurious palm oil campaigns launched by an entire cabal of “green” and “civil society” groups like such as the oddly named Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth (FOE), the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), the WWF and even zoos such as, wait for this… the Melbourne Zoo, the Auckland Zoo and the Philly Zoo? Articles & Papers - Key Papers Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:10:50 +0100 http://deforestationwatch.org/index.php/Key-Papers/Palm-Oil-Industry-helps-fund-Pygmy-Elephant-sanctuary.html Sabah launched, Monday, three five-year State Species Action Plans for the orang-utan, the Borneo Pygmy Elephant and the rhinoceros, respectively, that will provide a platform for better protection of the three flagship species. Articles & Papers - Key Papers Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:58:09 +0100 http://deforestationwatch.org/index.php/Key-Papers/Making-Palm-Oil-Sustainable.html THE virtues of oil from olives, sunflower seeds, canola, soybean and corn are familiar to consumers in the West and the affluent countries of the Middle East and North Africa. That's not the case with palm oil, even in those large markets for the product.That may be a vestige of the bitter attack on the palm oil industry mounted in the 1980s by the soybean lobby, complete with self-serving claims that palm oil could harm human health. Malaysian scientists, including Tan Sri Augustine S.H. Ong, then attached to the Palm Oil Research Institute of Malaysia, countered with authoritative documentation that, in addition to its numerous industrial uses, palm oil is indeed a versatile, nutritious ingredient.Now, the palm oil industry is once again confronted with new challenges, possibly more formidable and multi-faceted than the earlier one -- that of the need to be environmentally sustainable. Articles & Papers - Key Papers Thu, 05 Jan 2012 23:14:23 +0100 http://deforestationwatch.org/index.php/Key-Papers/Malaysian-Sustainable-Palm-Oil-Certification-Initiative.html THE proposed Malaysia Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification system should be implemented. In fact, it can be like the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification, except that certain issues such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and peatland development are modified according to the national laws.The MSPO should be akin to the timber industry certification framework. There is an international scheme, the Forest Stewardship Council, and there is also the national certification scheme, the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme. Both co-exist well in Malaysia and each has strong seats on the global market. Articles & Papers - Key Papers Sun, 01 Jan 2012 17:52:22 +0100