commentaries

Seriously? Blaming Cargill? In reality if they exit the market the Chinese walk right in, and if you don't know anything about how the Chinese business model try finding a fish on a reef in the Marshall Islands, a tiger in Burma or a rain forest in Central Africa.

I call palm oil "rainforest death" and I will not purchase any product that contains it

Cargill is destroying cultures and environments all over the world through organizations like the World Bank and the IMF. They are expert at using the IMF to bring industrial agriculture to 3rd World countries, displacing sustainable food production systems with export driven agriculture. In the process cultures are destroyed, land is exploited that can't sustain the intense cultivation and environments that have existed for millenia are destroyed. Cargill is symbolic of everything that is wrong with modern industrialized food production.

Can we get a list of products that make up the largest volume of palm oil consumption ? When we have that we can speak to Cargill in a language they can understand. Lower sales and lost profits. And "budgrant 00"...even the Chinese will understand that. Get me the list and I'll stop buying those products.

Palm oil is very high in saturated fats. It does not containing cholesterol but consuming saturated fats leads to higher levels of both HDL and LDL in a person's blood. For this reason I avoid purchasing products with palm oil. Knowing that destruction of rain forest habitat is being done to increase palm oil production gives me yet another reason to avoid such products.

Typical environmental hatchet job: find a big American corporate target, blame them for something endemic to our complex growing world community, produce little to no evidence tying said corporate target to selected icon, pump up the emotional quotient, and then get donations/kudos from shallow thinkers. What could be better?

Commercial pressure works to save the environment. Organizations have had huge success in applying pressure to prove sustainable fishing practices. Putting pressure on the commercial channels for palm oil can have the same positive impact. Once in place, the forces of capitalism will find the best way to get product without continued damage to the environment.

Cargill is proud to be the first company developing a 100-percent-sustainable supply chain for palm oil. Our plantation, where we welcomed the Rainforest Action Network as visitors, was among the first to be certified sustainable. We've actually been supplying sustainable palm oil since 2010 and encourage all suppliers to do so. We also work with local communities and respected environmental groups to conserve forest and the creatures that live there. For everyone passionate about saving rainforests, you can help by supporting the World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International and Flora & Fauna International. Regards, Mark Murphy, Asst. VP for Corporate Responsibility, Cargill

Mr. Murphy, I'm glad Cargill has one sustainable palm oil plantation. However, are we supposed to believe this is the only one in operation?

To reduce the acceleration of global environmental destruction and the loss of sustainable habitat for millions of species is the most important action that the global agricultural economy can incorporate into it's modus operandi. To do otherwise will eventually in the near term lead to an irrevocable loss of the carrying capacity of the planet's ecosystems that is the cradle of all human endeavors that generate capital and profits.