Half of all packaged products in the supermarket contain an ingredient called palm oil. It’s cheap and versatile, but the environmental consequences of the booming industry are huge.
Millions of acres of rainforest, particularly in Indonesia and Malaysia, have been destroyed to make way for oil palm plantations. Forest species are being pushed to the brink of extinction, and fires have created a blanket of smog that’s smashing air pollution records.
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Palm oil production has more than tripled since 2000 — but Norway may have the found a solution to limit the massive deforestation that is being caused by the booming industry — a viral consumer boycott.
Between 2011 and 2012, Norway’s consumption of palm oil dropped by more than 60 percent after a campaign urged consumers to stop “eating the rainforest”.
“Today, all Norwegian food products are produced without palm oil or extremely negligible amounts of it,” said Lars Løvold, Executive Director of the Rainforest Foundation.
This segment originally aired December 22, 2017, on VICE News Tonight on HBO.
