1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:07,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff. 2 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:09,559 Speaker 1: I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and you might not know what palm 3 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:12,880 Speaker 1: oil is, but chances are, without realizing it, you consume 4 00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:15,720 Speaker 1: it in some form or many different ones every day. 5 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:19,280 Speaker 1: It's an ingredient and about half of all packaged products 6 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:22,280 Speaker 1: sold at the supermarket, from instant noodles and ice cream 7 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:26,440 Speaker 1: to pizza and packaged bread, and it's also found in lipsticks, soap, shampoo, 8 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:29,319 Speaker 1: and detergent. In other countries, it's heavily used as a 9 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:33,320 Speaker 1: biofuel for cars and trucks. Indeed, the world consumed seventy 10 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:36,400 Speaker 1: five point eight million tons that's about sixty eight point 11 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:40,080 Speaker 1: eight million metric tons of palm oil in alone, which 12 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:42,280 Speaker 1: amounted to more than a third of all of the 13 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:46,519 Speaker 1: vegetable oils used on the planet. Palm oil's ubiquitous presence 14 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:48,800 Speaker 1: and the world's growing consumption of it has a lot 15 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 1: of environmental activists deeply worried. The Union of Concerned Scientists, 16 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 1: for example, warns that cultivation of the oil palm tree, 17 00:00:56,240 --> 00:00:58,840 Speaker 1: which produces the fruit from which palm oil is extracted, 18 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:02,280 Speaker 1: is driving the hutting down and burning of tropical rainforests 19 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:05,360 Speaker 1: in Southeast Asia, which is increasing health risks from pollution 20 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:08,960 Speaker 1: and pumping planet warming carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, as 21 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:12,280 Speaker 1: well as driving animals such as orangutans, tigers, rhinoceros, and 22 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:16,160 Speaker 1: elephants from their habitats. So what is palm oil anyway, 23 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:18,000 Speaker 1: and how did it get to be so ubiquitous in 24 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:21,680 Speaker 1: modern civilization. It wasn't always that way. Palm oil is 25 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:24,080 Speaker 1: produced from the fruit of the oil palm tree, which 26 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:26,960 Speaker 1: is native to West Africa for centuries. It's been part 27 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:29,360 Speaker 1: of the traditional diet in that region as a source 28 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:31,640 Speaker 1: of fat and other nutrients, and is utilized as a 29 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:34,760 Speaker 1: cooking oil and an ingredient in folk medicines. While the 30 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:37,680 Speaker 1: palm oil that's processed for use in products is tasteless, 31 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:40,400 Speaker 1: palm oil grown in the traditional fashion in West Africa 32 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:43,560 Speaker 1: actually has an intense taste. It's an ingredient in soups 33 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:46,559 Speaker 1: and other dishes. Farmers planted it in forests as both 34 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:50,120 Speaker 1: part of agriculture and forestry, but the oil palm didn't 35 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:53,680 Speaker 1: stay in Africa. Europeans brought the oil palm to Southeast 36 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:57,000 Speaker 1: Asia in the eighteen hundreds and tried growing it on plantations, 37 00:01:57,400 --> 00:01:59,040 Speaker 1: but it didn't start catching on in a big way 38 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:02,240 Speaker 1: until the mid nine teen sixties. One big booster was 39 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 1: the World Bank, which spent nearly one billion dollars to 40 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:08,440 Speaker 1: fund oil palm cultivation in an effort to promote economic 41 00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:11,359 Speaker 1: development and lift people in rural areas out of poverty. 42 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:13,760 Speaker 1: About half of that money went to fund a series 43 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:17,120 Speaker 1: of projects in Indonesia, which became the world's biggest producer. 44 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:20,040 Speaker 1: Between the nineteen sixties and the two thousands, the amount 45 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:23,920 Speaker 1: of land devoted to growing oil palm cultivation increased eightfold 46 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:27,360 Speaker 1: and spread to tropical areas across the globe. We spoke 47 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:30,120 Speaker 1: with Jeff Connt, director of Friends of the Earth's International 48 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:32,960 Speaker 1: Forests Program, which works to protect the rights of forest 49 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:36,840 Speaker 1: dependent people's by addressing the economic issues driving forest destruction. 50 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:40,679 Speaker 1: He explained the plant was improved and hybridized, and varieties 51 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:44,080 Speaker 1: were developed that grew very well in large monoculture plantations. 52 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:47,560 Speaker 1: Palm oil became a lucrative crop to grow. It's efficient 53 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:50,640 Speaker 1: in terms of crop yield per acre of land. Additionally, 54 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:54,119 Speaker 1: new uses were developed. Cotton said it's good for replacing 55 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:56,320 Speaker 1: margarine in that it's got a high melting point and 56 00:02:56,360 --> 00:02:58,920 Speaker 1: when it's refined, it has no flavor that makes it 57 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:01,640 Speaker 1: good for baking. In the mid two thousands, after the 58 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:04,720 Speaker 1: US Food and Drug Administration started requiring the listing of 59 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:07,080 Speaker 1: trans fats on nutrition labels because they were linked to 60 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:10,520 Speaker 1: heart disease, processed food manufacturers began looking to palm oil 61 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:14,720 Speaker 1: as a trans fat free alternative. Then, around the same time, 62 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:18,960 Speaker 1: the US and other Western nations drafted environmental laws encouraging 63 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:21,080 Speaker 1: the use of vegetable oils such as palm oil is 64 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:23,920 Speaker 1: fuel as a way to reduce carbon dioxide output and 65 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:28,080 Speaker 1: slow global warming. But that well intentioned move backfired because 66 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:30,960 Speaker 1: the clearing and burning of forests for palm oil cultivation 67 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:33,600 Speaker 1: actually led to the release of massive amounts of carbon 68 00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:36,000 Speaker 1: that had been stored in the peat on forest floors. 69 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:40,600 Speaker 1: Conna explained, oil palm trees often grow best in places 70 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 1: where rainforests were It's definitely a factor in deforestation. Oil 71 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:49,560 Speaker 1: palm cultivation brought other problems as well. Monoculture cultivation is 72 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:51,960 Speaker 1: needed to produce a profit, and that wears out the 73 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:54,880 Speaker 1: soil after twenty five or thirty years, Content said, leaving 74 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:58,680 Speaker 1: the land unusable without intense and expensive effort. And while 75 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:01,440 Speaker 1: the palm oil industry provide employment for millions of people. 76 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:04,480 Speaker 1: It's also been plagued by accusations of human rights abuses, 77 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:08,200 Speaker 1: including the use of child workers. December eighteen article in 78 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:12,240 Speaker 1: Sierra Magazine, for example, describes Guatemalans working sixteen hour days 79 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:15,120 Speaker 1: on oil palm plantations and suggests the use of oil 80 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:18,279 Speaker 1: palm cultivation contributes to food scarcity because it's taking up 81 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 1: land where local farmers otherwise could be growing corn, beans, rice, 82 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:25,799 Speaker 1: and other subsistence crops. In response to the growing criticism 83 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:30,160 Speaker 1: of palm oil, various stakeholders, agricultural producers, manufacturers who use 84 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:34,080 Speaker 1: palm oil and products, banks and investors, and some environmental organizations, 85 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:37,720 Speaker 1: among others, has started a movement to promote sustainable palm oil. 86 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:41,760 Speaker 1: The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, founded in two thousand four, 87 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 1: has established a set of principles which includes avoiding use 88 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:48,240 Speaker 1: of forests that provide habitat to endangered species, reduction in 89 00:04:48,279 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 1: the use of pesticides and burning to clear land, fair 90 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:54,320 Speaker 1: treatment of workers according to local and international labor standards, 91 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:57,960 Speaker 1: and consulting with local communities before new plantations are developed. 92 00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:02,600 Speaker 1: According to the RSPO website, nine of global palm oil 93 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:06,680 Speaker 1: production is now certified as sustainable, but in addition to 94 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:09,760 Speaker 1: promoting sustainability, it's crucial to stop the growth of oil 95 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:12,719 Speaker 1: palm cultivation and reduce the amount of land devoted to it. 96 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:17,120 Speaker 1: Consumers can help drive such change. Knat said, because most 97 00:05:17,160 --> 00:05:19,320 Speaker 1: palm oil in the US is found in junk food 98 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:21,719 Speaker 1: and cosmetics, the best way to avoid it is to 99 00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:29,279 Speaker 1: not eat junk food. Today's episode was written by Patrick 100 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:31,800 Speaker 1: Jake Tiger and produced by Tyler Clang. Check out our 101 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:34,279 Speaker 1: online shop at public dot com slash brainstuff, and for 102 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:36,560 Speaker 1: more on this and lots of other sustainable topics, visit 103 00:05:36,560 --> 00:05:50,000 Speaker 1: our home planet, how stuff works dot com.