Environment

About doing our bit for the environment...

Aug 2015:

I am still carrying on with my support to The Orangutan Project for the 3rd year in a row, still sponsoring the little Rahayu. Trying to raise awareness as much as possible, converting friends and family slowly but surely. I'm still surprised how many people don't know about this issue, and how many don't actually care enough to change their habits to make a difference...
On a good note though, there has been a good amount of coverage on TV so hopefully it will start changing the way people buy their products... Got to be positive!


Jan 2014 update.

It now takes me 2-3 times longer to do my shopping, scanning the ingredients and compositions of each product I intend to buy and I gave up on many delicious treats. But I don't miss anything and there is enough suitable replacements on the market. You just need to look a little deeper. I also make it a point to email the manufacturers of the products I am unsure about and bring to their attention the issue and concerns I have.
For the things I have trouble replacing, well I find some recipes and make my own.
It's not as hard as it seems, it becomes part of the routine and mostly... it feels good. No actually, it feels right.

Aug 2013:

A few months ago, I somehow stumbled onto the issue of Palm Oil and the environmental & biodiversity disaster that its global scale production has engendered. 

The forests of Sumatra and Borneo are being wiped out to make room for more and more and more plantations - in the process taking over the habitat of many endangered species including our very close relatives, the orangutans. Around 90% of their natural habitat has already been destroyed over the last 20 years... I keep reading about it and keep bawling my eyes out watching videos showing the total destruction of the forest, the cruelty of the big corporations burning, killing, destroying whatever is in their way and witnessing the helplessness of the orangutans who have lost their homes.

Palm oil is everywhere - in your food, your shampoo, your detergent, your toothpaste, face cream, makeup...etc... and most of the time it is labelled under some obscure name... but otherwise in food it is mostly known as vegetable oil (if there is vegetable oil in the ingredients, it's pretty safe to assume it is palm oil). 

I won't write a whole essay about it and if you feel like you'd like to know more about it, you can start with this website for information Palm Oil Investigation (they also have a list of Palm Oil free products here) and to know more about the disaster and see how you can help: Say No to Palm Oil     

So there will be no eye candy on this post... although... Rahayu is a bit cute. 

Rahayu is a baby orphan Orangutan who lives in a rehabilitation center in Ketapang, West Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo in Indonesia. She arrived at the center in 2011 sick with malaria which had affected her neurological system. But it seems that she is a real fighter and has recovered extremely well since. Her full story here via The Orangutan Project's website.

Although I feel this is a drop in the ocean I decided to adopt this little fighter and consider her a new member of anaca studio.

So Welcome Rahayu! xx