The Amazon became an alternative classroom during the pandemic. Now, the educational forest in Batraja, Bolivia, lives on to teach children and adults the value of nature.
Forests
Doughnuts contribute to deforestation
A study conducted by the Forest Heroes association accuses the major American companies to contribute to deforestation through the use of non-certified palm oil.
On 6th June Americans celebrated the National Donut day, one of their traditional snacks. On this occasion the environmentalists of the Forest Heroes association called attention to the permanent damages the leading doughnut companies caused to rainforests when importing palm oil.
Irresponsible palm oil cultivation is one of the major causes of deforestation: it is driving orangutans and Sumatran tigers to extinction and replacing indigenous people’s lands with industrial intensive productions. Cutting down rainforests has also catastrophic effects on the environment: deforestation releases massive amounts of carbon dioxide. Indonesia is one of the most polluting countries because of deforestation. According to “Deforestation Doughnuts”, a study conducted by a team of researchers at Yale and Stanford, emissions from expansion of Indonesia’s palm oil industry on the island of Borneo could top 558 million tons of carbon dioxide by 2020.
«American major doughnut companies don’t bother where the palm oil they purchase is sourced – Deborah Lapidus, the Forest Heoroes campaign manager, claims – our report found that Krispy Kreme, Dunkin’ Donuts and Tim Hortons, three doughnuts mega-chains, use non-certified palm oil that contributes to the deforestation of rainforests».
None of the three companies made an effort to reduce their impact and use sustainable palm oil, even if they could easily turn to responsible oil suppliers. According to the study, Krispy Kreme refused to move toward responsible, non-deforestation doughnuts while Dunkin ‘Donuts declared that by 2020 it will use certified palm oil. Who knows if, by then, orangutans and Sumatran tigers will still exist.
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