on wed. I got blasted with over 1600 emails sent out by rainforest action network supporters condemning our use of palm oil in our soap and actually threatening to sticker our products with warning labels in stores! EXCUUUUSE ME? we've been using sustainable certified organic palm oil from s. america grown on reclaimed land that was clear cut 30-40 years ago in our soap for several years now and before that, we were using NO palm oil in our formulas for that very reason! they were preachin to the choir and boy was I hot!2 days later, after numerous emails, several blog posts, a couple of restless nights and one not so nice phone call, I was finally removed from that list. i shudder to think about the damage it's done to our business. hopefully, something good will still come of it. they're planning a new campaign to highlight businesses like ours that DO use sustainable palm oil. (and hey, I got a highly targeted email list that no amount of money could ever buy! hehehe)
so I made amends with the R.A.N. today (after all, we both want the same thing right, and they were wrong and they apologized) and as I lick my wounds...I encourage everyone to read and learn about the major devastation and destruction that conventional palm oil plantations are doing to the rainforest, the people that live there, to the orangutans, and ultimately to all of us. the problem with palm oil is real.
4 comments:
Hey Maggie, great post about palm oil. I love your passion on the topic. I wonder, if everyone wanted to switch to the type of palm oil you use, would there be enough of it to go around? Do you happen to know whether there's enough of that kind of palm oil being produced to replace all of the non-eco-friendly type? I guess if there was enough demand, the answer to this question would be a resounding "yes." You are so right that we can't just sit around thinking that the problems will resolve themselves. Kudos to you for taking a stand. What's the price difference between the two palm oils? Perhaps that may be a reason why some people don't switch? Although my guess is some just don't know where they can get palm oil produced on reclaimed land, or even that it's availble. Can you share that? I'd love to spread the word to others about where they can get responsibly produced palm oil.
Insipired by the great things you are doing in Texas,
Donna Maria
Hi. While I support thier efforts and yours to highlight this problem, I honestly believe the nasty, abusive and threatening manner they went about it was very, very wrong. They could have just as easily sent you 1 or 2 emails asking you about it and given you a few days to reply; to tell them what you so eloquently did as witnessed in your blog. I also suspect what they did may also be highly illegal, as there are various laws out now about mass emailings like that. It could have been construed as an attempt to cripple your (or your isp or web hosting) email servers. What if that had happened and your host or isp got pissy about it? What they did is considered cyber-terrorisim. Organizations that do things like that turn a lot of people off, people who might otherwise support the effort. Organizations who resort to attacks like that, -and even worse, without even bothering to find out what you use- most likely have have very few if any ethics and probably no regard for anyone who has even a slight difference of opinion. If they did, they would have done the soft approach and tapped you gently on the shoulder, not beat you over the head with a 2x4! Also, the threat of defacing your products in stores- and that is exactly what they were doing...WTF is up with that? That is very wrong. If someone told that to me, I would be on the phone or in the offices of the FBI and the Attorney General of my state AND on the phone with the AG of the state where the Org. was based. This kind of thing is now considered Domestic Terrorisim. And it is. I feel that when you threaten to cripple someone's business, with the mass spam or emails and threaten to deface someones products in the stores, that is terrorisim. I sincerely hope you report this. It is starting to get ridiculous and very dangerous that various "Save XXX" orgs. are now thinking it's okay to threaten, harm or ruin other peoples property or livelyhood just because they don't agree with what is your legal right to use or not use in your business endevors. Their message is "Do as WE say and maybe we'll leave you alone". How much different is that from the ones who say "Worship and live as WE say or else..." This is all JMHO, but if you do a bit of quick research on what's now being called "eco-terrorism", you'll see what I'm talking about. Homes, farm and vehicles being set on fire. Stores and offices and rmedical research facilities being vandalized, etc. All because they are not doing what someone else thinks is the right thing. And threatening someone is NOT the way to go about it. Best regards and Yours in Soaping, Sandy
thanks dM. as you suspected, organic sustainable palm oil is more expensive and there wouldn't be enough to go around if everybody switched to using it anyway. we've also been unable to get independent 3rd party verification from our supplier since all this came up (who is quite reputable btw), which is unsettling. so, until the situation improves, we've just about decided to phase out palm oil all together for now. when the barrels we have left are gone, we'll readdress the situation.
hey thanks for writing sandy! it was a pleasure seeing you again at our TSA convention. i hope you'll come back some day. i couldn't agree with you more that what they did (and threatened to do) was just plain wrong and i spoke at length with one of the organizers to tell her just that. but i guess i'm a little ashamed to say that after i finally got them to take us off "the list" i had spent so much time and energy on the whole darned thing, i just sorta had to move on for my own sanity. high blood pressure kills ya know! ;o)
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