Most vegans use Earth Balance. If you don’t know about palm oil, and all the products that contain it, or even if you do know about palm oil issues, PLEASE watch the silent film, GREEN; a documentary created with much love by Patrick Rouxel. It’s sort of a moot point to continue reading the blog in a way, without watching the very brief film.

Vegans are using Earth Balance. It’s called “vegan” margarine. Vegans also make loads and buy loads of cookies, cakes, pies, cupcakes, chocolate bars, PEANUT BUTTERS, and all sorts of products with palm oil. However, I am going to focus on the “Fat Crack” that people don’t seem to be able to give up, or feel the need to defend. I’m gonna tell it to you straight dawg, it downright makes me puke that *instead of demanding proof of sustainability from a company, there are some people who are instead asking vegans for proof of non sustainability on the part of companies. What do I look like, the corporation defender?* The proof of sustainability for many is often a letter that corporate legal has created stating that their company uses sustainable palm oil with a company letter head. No, that is not proof. We want sources named, but these companies state that is not information they can give out. There is absolutely NO regulation when it comes to palm oil, although there is such a thing as a “green palm oil certificate”, but it’s a complete joke, and the people who came up with that great idea were the governments selling the palm oil, and they didn’t want to be affected by decreased demand, hence, GREENWASHING. There is absolutely no protection for the land and the animals, humans animals included, who are being screwed over by big corporate greed, and frankly, I find it hard to believe that vegans are buying into these lies, and am sick of excuses. It’s time to lead the way by example.

This LINK by VeganJoy IS AMAZING. It’s all spelled out for you RIGHT HERE.

Every single, bloody recipe out there calls for earth imbalanace. No, Earth Balance Peanut Butter is NOT healthy either. Why do you need palm oil in your peanut butter? Grind up some peanuts if you can at your local market, and bring your own glass jar, have them take the tare, or the weight, and then grind away! Reuse jar when done and washed.

Right now, I am looking for caramel recipes. Every, single, candy, cookie, pastry, baked good, and more have earth imbalance on their list of ingredients. This company has it’s nasty little hands in everything. Every time I eat out, which is rare, I can be sure that if I go to a vegan restaurant or cafe, they WILL have used earth imbalance.

1) Earth Balance is unhealthy.

2) It uses palm oil, which is absolutely not a sustainable crop, nor will it EVER be. I and others have written the company, they respond that their palm oil is sustainable, but they refuse to give the sources of their palm oil, as do many other companies, who again, protect sources.

3) You do not need Earth Balance. You want it. Your taste buds want it. Let it go. Raw Coconut oil provides you with many great nutrients, and can be used in many different ways. You can bake with it. You can saute with it. You can make your own spread with it. See Futter on the home page. Click here for vegan butter recipe. Here is my baby holding the delicious, and healthy vegan butter that you too can make. It’s easy!

This PDF put out by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) discusses every aspect of palm oil, leaving the reader much the wiser.

Did you know that coconut oil is a medium chain triglyceride? (MCT) Another name for this is medium chain fatty acid. (MCFA) These are very heatlhy fats. Watch for yourself HERE (the wonders of coconut oil) and then take a gander at some of the products below containing cheap, hydrogenated oils as preservatives to keep their shelf life at maximum length of time. This collage of products containing palm oil is by no means inclusive.

PALM OIL FACT SHEET

GUERILLAS FOR THE ORANGUTANS – Interview with Hardi Baktiantoro – Hardi is particularly suspicious of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), an industry-led initiative to improve the appearance to consumers about the industry’s “concern” of the environmental impact of palm oil production through a certification scheme. If it’s led by the industry, you can BET that it is all a bunch of greenwashing.

“palm oil is in roughly 50% of all packaged goods, from cookies, peanut butter, and breakfast cereal to cleaning products, laundry detergent, lipstick, and body lotion.

Are you wondering how that’s possible, because you don’t see the words “palm oil” on many of the ingredient labels in your pantry?

Here’s the scoop: Palm oil is often disguised, hidden behind many different ingredient names you probably don’t recognize when you go to your pantry or bathroom to check. To make things even more confusing for you as a consumer, sometimes companies will only disclose ingredients like “vegetable oil,” and though that vegetable oil blend likely contains palm oil, it’s not always a labeling requirement.

To help you navigate these confusing waters and avoid unwittingly voting for rainforest destruction with your dollars, here is a partial list of other names for palm oil-derived ingredients:*

• PKO – Palm Kernel Oil
• PKO fractionations: Palm Kernel Stearin (PKs); Palm Kernel Olein (PKOo)
• PHPKO – Partially hydrogenated Palm Oil
• FP(K)O – Fractionated Palm Oil
• OPKO – Organic Palm Kernel Oil
• Palmitate – Vitamin A or Asorbyl Palmitate (NOTE: Vitamin A Palmitate is a very common ingredient in breakfast cereals and we have confirmed 100% of the samples we’ve investigated to be derived from palm oil)
• Palmate
• Sodium Laureth Sulphate (Can also be from coconut)
• Sodium Lauryl Sulphates (can also be from ricinus oil)
• Sodium dodecyl Sulphate (SDS or NaDS)
• Elaeis Guineensis
• Glyceryl Stearate
• Stearic Acid
• Chemicals which contain palm oil
• Steareth -2
• Steareth -20
• Sodium Lauryl Sulphate
• Sodium lauryl sulfoacetate (coconut and/or palm)
• Hydrated palm glycerides
• Sodium isostearoyl lactylaye (derived from vegetable stearic acid)
• Cetyl palmitate and octyl palmitate (names with palmitate at the end are usually derived from palm oil, but as in the case of Vitamin A Palmitate, very rarely a company will use a different vegetable oil)

*Disclaimer: Through research we’ve found that Vitamin A Palmitate can be derived from any combination of vegetable oil such as olive, coconut, canola and/or palm oil. Though in all the cases we’ve documented, companies use palm oil to make derivatives like Vitamin A Palmitate, it can be tricky to know for sure.”

Thank you to Ashley Schaeffer for the above information about labeling palm, which I nicked from her article, which you can read HERE in its entirety.

Watch the silent documentary entitled, GREEN, above. Give up unnecessary items. It’s not as hard as you make it. Just look at ingredients on labels. I do it all the time. It is very simple. Avoid soaps and other items that have the above things in them.

From The Field: Borneo’s Tanjung Puting National Park And The High Stakes Of The Palm Oil Crisis

When a company wants your money they will NOT tell you the truth if they know it will deter you from buying their product. There is nobody regulating them to make sure of their practices. I have already been informed by a few really good trusting souls online that earth balance uses sustainable palm oil. Where did they get their information? They got it from the earth balance website. Please don’t insult my intelligence by making a claim that EB uses sustainable palm oil because THEY say so. Please  don’t argue for your right to eat margarine, when it is costing the lives of non human and human animals in other, underdeveloped countries. It’s MARGARINE for crying out loud.

Here is another victim of palm oil. Meet Pony; an orangutan from a small village in Borneo, forced to become a, prostitute for HUMAN MEN. That’s right, you heard correctly.

“If companies cannot, or will not, PROVE that their palm oil is from non-destructive sources, they must be considered to be contributing to the extinction of the orangutan. Consumers are entitled to know if their weekly shop is adding to the extermination of orangutans and other wildlife in Indonesia and Malaysia. By demanding a commitment from manufacturers to purchase their palm oil only from non-destructive sources, we can all contribute to the survival of this great ape – as well as many other species.” – from Born To Be Wild

The Story of CITIZENS UNITED – WATCH WHY A CORPORATION’S ONLY INTEREST IS MONEY, AND WILL NEVER BE ANY OTHER MOTIVATION. THIS IS LIKE CORPORATIONS 101 FOR DUMMIES LIKE MYSELF

COULD RSPO (ROUNDTABLE OF SUSTAINABLE PALM OIL) HEADED BY CEOS OF CORPORATIONS REALLY CHANGE THE WAY THEY DO BUSINESS? 85% OF AMERICANS THINK THAT CORPORATIONS HAVE TOO MUCH INFLUENCE ON OUR DEMOCRACY, AND SO DO I.