“Say NO to Conflict Palm Oil Month" was a success . . .

. . . but according to Rainforest Action Network, there’s still a lot to do.  So I’m posting their call to action, and hope that many of you in the California area can attend the Summit.

http://www.ran.org/palm_oil_action_leaders_summit?utm_campaign=poal_bump_final&utm_medium=email&utm_source=rainforestactionnetwork

Don't Miss Out: Palm Oil Action Leaders Summit

 RAN’s Conflict Palm Oil Campaign is on the way to victory, but we’ll need committed and passionate activists to lead the charge and raise the stakes for the Snack Food 20. We're committed to bringing together a powerful team and giving you the skills and training you need to be effective and have fun.

The Palm Oil Action Team is making some of the largest companies in the world change their policies and their practices to protect the precious rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. We're winning, but there is still more work to be done. That's why I am so excited to invite you to join the Palm Oil Action Leaders Summit.

When you apply to join the Summit and become a Palm Oil Action Leader, here’s what you’ll get:

• Attend the Palm Oil Action Leaders Summit in San Francisco, CA from March 27 - 31st where you will be trained in designing and coordinating creative actions, communicating clearly to the public about campaign work, and how to incite and inspire your community to take action!
• Put your new knowledge from the Summit into practice by organizing creative actions in your community -- publicly exposing the ills of Conflict Palm Oil and holding PepsiCo and other companies that are using this controversial ingredient to account.
• Be part of an incredible team of activists from around the country from March to September 2015 (and beyond!) that collaborate and support each other as part of the Conflict Palm Oil campaign.
• In summary: Make an impact for rainforests, and the people and animals that depend on them, by gaining new organizing skills, being a part of a powerful team and having FUN!

What: Palm Oil Action Leaders Summit

When: March 27-31, 2015

Where: San Francisco and Point Reyes, California

Who can join: Whether you are brand new to RAN’s campaigns or are a seasoned activist, we encourage you to apply. We will be looking for diversity in background, geographical location and experience in applicants.

click here to apply right now!

Up Next: the now 31-member women’s cocoa farm association has become grafting champions.  THEY are helping save the rainforest in Aceh.  You can too--join them!

This February, help Rainforest Action Network stop conflict palm oil

Setting the Record Straight on PepsiCo’s Lackluster Palm Oil Commitment

Between now and the end of February, Palm Oil Activists around the world are putting PepsiCo in a Time Out until it cuts Conflict Palm Oil. Why a Time Out? PepsiCo is acting like a stubborn child - one who wants all the  toys (or profits) but none of the   responsibility. We need your help to hold PepsiCo to account.

PepsiCo is the largest globally distributed snack food company in the world and is a major user of Conflict Palm Oil. PepsiCo’s continued unwillingness to take responsibility for the consequences of the palm oil in its supply chain is shocking. The company continues to fry its chips and fill its products with palm oil sourced from controversial, unknown plantations -- products like its Quaker Oats Chewy bars that end up in lunch boxes every day.

Thanks to your hard work and consumer pressure, our campaign on PepsiCo is building momentum. But the forests are still falling and we are not there yet. Tropical rainforests, endangered wildlife and exploited laborers need PepsiCo to start taking this issue seriously and to take immediate steps to create real change. It’s our job to keep the pressure up, and demand that PepsiCo demonstrates to its customers that it can be trusted to provide products free of Conflict Palm Oil.

Here’s how you can take action right now:

STEP 1: Download and print a handful of copies of THIS card (on recycled paper, of course).

STEP 2: Ask your friends, family members, colleagues and people on the street to sign the card to demand that PepsiCo Cut Conflict Palm Oil! There are a lot of great ways to collect a ton of cards at once:

•   Grab some friends and head out to a busy spot in your town. 

•   Set up a table at a grocery store or farmers market and ask passerby’s to stop and sign a card.

•   Ask for a few minutes on the agenda of any gathering that you are a part of. You could ask everyone in your office at a staff meeting, all of your peers in a class or all of the members of your club/sports team/religious group etc. 

•   Ask a local business if they can keep a stack of cards on their counter (leave an envelope for people to leave their cards for you to mail in!)

•   Share this blog post on Facebook and Twitter to invite people in your circles to join in on the action.

STEP 3: Mail your cards! If you live in the US, PepsiCo’s mailing address is:
PepsiCo, Inc. 
700 Anderson Hill Road
Purchase, NY 10577

Indonesia's regional address:

PepsiCo Indonesia

Sudirman Plaza

Jl Jend Sudirman Kav 76-78 Sudirman Plaza

Setiabudi, Setia Budi

Jakarta Selatan 12910 DKI Jakarta

Together, we have the power to transform our broken food system, force the palm oil industry to respect the rights of workers and forest communities, and protect rainforests which are the homes of the last wild orangutans. Put PepsiCo in a Time Out by mailing your card right now!

http://www.ran.org/?utm_campaign=poat_postcard&utm_medium=email&utm_source=rainforestactionnetwork

The 28-Day Palm Oil Challenge starts in early 2015: will you be ready?

There are a lot of good websites out there that document, in very grim detail, the effect that rampant and unchecked palm oil production is having on our forests.

Usually I come away from reading these feeling like I just want to hang myself.  I mean—the problem is so huge.  I am so small.  Even JMD is tiny compared to these greedy giants camped out in Aceh Timur’s back yard (and as with all environmental catastrophe, the owners and shareholders certainly never have to visit the places they are destroying—they could care less).  So sometimes I am just so discouraged I think “What can I personally do, really?  I mean, come on—really?”

Well, the folks at Say No to Palm Oil have come up with an answer.  Small, community-based, effectively broken into tiny, manageable yet satisfying doses, its 28-Day Palm Oil Challenge http://www.saynotopalmoil.com/ gets us thinking about how we as individuals can stem the tide of this needless commodity while at the same time learning about who we should be targeting when we ask companies to support us by removing it from their products.

“The 28 Day Palm Oil Challenge will be the world’s first holistic, consumer program that will help consumers to reduce their consumption of conflict-palm oil one step at a time, and ultimately live a more ethical, sustainable and healthful lifestyle.

“The program will be broken into 4 sections, “Fridge”, “Pantry”, “Bathroom” & “Laundry”, with one installment delivered per week. Each will focus on how, as a consumer, you can make small changes in relation to your consumption of products found in these specific areas of the house. You will leave the program with a wealth of knowledge, tools and resources to help you lead a more ethical and sustainable lifestyle, and be more conscious of your impact day-to-day.”

The challenge will focus on 3 main principles:

1. Swapping: finding alternative products, or finding products that  “contain genuinely CSPO (Certified Sustainable Palm Oil) or alternative ingredients to palm oil that don’t have negative environmental and social implications.” [I’m a little suspicious of that term “genuinely" and I’m going to ask them about that, but for now we’ll give it a pass.]

2. Cut Down & DIY: reducing consumption and making products at home

 3. Pressuring Companies:  via email, telephone, etc.

The 28 Day Palm Oil Challenge will begin in early 2015. If you would like to help with the development or delivery of the challenge, please write to info@saynotopalmoil.com  

Or you can go to the web page and sign up to receive notices of the challenge. But most of all, just keep reading all you can.  You'll be an activist before the end of the year, I promise!!