I just recently got an email from someone on Etsy who is a member of the Palm Oil Action Team, asking if I wanted to donate my mini rhino painting. I had no idea of a Palm Oil problem that's been going on. Apparently, people are chopping down the rainforest to plant farms of palm trees. Palm oil is a type of edible vegetable oil that is derived from the palm fruit, grown on the African oil palm tree. According to the World Wildlife Fund, an area the equivalent size of 300 football fields of rainforest is cleared each hour to make way for palm oil production. This large-scale deforestation is pushing many species to extinction, and findings show that if nothing changes, species like the orangutan could become extinct in the wild within the next 5-10 years, Sumatran tigers even less, closer to 3 years. Over 90% of orangutan habitat has been destroyed in the last 20 years, and over 50,000 orangutans have already died as a result of deforestation due to palm oil in the last two decades.
The woman who wrote me, is the founder of the Boston Branch of the Palm Oil Action Team. They are paired with the Rainforest Action Network, and they are hosting a palm oil awareness day to educate people. It's going to be a big event, and they wanted to work with me to have my Rhino painting as one of the prizes for the wheel of fortune. The Sumatran Rhinos are being driven out to extinction because of this problem.
It's very eye opening to learn about different problems that are happening in other countries, that most people are completely unaware of. To learn more about the palm oil problem, you can view their website here-
