Palm Oil and Neil Armstrong's lock of hair

View PDF | Print View
by: Palm Hugger
Total views: 18
Word Count: 903
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2011 Time: 12:17 PM
0 comments

After his return from the moon and the first moonwalk by man, Neil Armstrong was often plagued by the media. Seeking greater privacy, he moved his family to a small town. However, anonymity could not be found even there. Armstrong's barber found that people would pay good money to get and keep a lock of his hair. So after giving the space hero several haircuts, he sold the clippings to a buyer for US$3,000. Armstrong was shocked at his barber's avarice and rapacity!

If we examine the actions of green groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth (FoE) against palm oil, it is sad and hard not to notice the same degree of avarice and rapacity amongst these green groups for the funding that would come their way if they were to do the bidding of their paymasters.

Says James M. Roberts, a Research Fellow for Economic Freedom and Growth in The Heritage Foundation's Center for International Trade and Economics: "In fact, one of the factors motivating the opposition to palm oil production is protectionism: These groups are opposing imports of lower-cost, higher-quality palm oil because it threatens the market share of oil produced from rapeseed grown in European Union countries."

"Many of the NGO opponents of palm oil production are recipients of some of the millions of euros in annual grants from EU environment ministries and the European Commission, advanced by European companies and labor unions in an effort to protect their domestic rapeseed oil production (which is itself subsidized through the EU's Common Agricultural Policy)."

If not for the painstaking and thorough research of 2 very diligent and meticulous researchers, Caroline Boin and Andrea Marchesetti none of this would have come to light! Ms Boin and Marchesetti wrote the report entitled "Friends of the EU" (see: http://www.policynetwork.net/accountability/publication/friends-eu) which finally revealed that the EU, via its environmental ministries and commissions, had actively funded up to 70% of the operating budgets of environmental NGOs - many of which were mostly the same groups viciously campaigning against palm oil imports into the EU. Among the major recipients are The Friends of The Earth.

Indonesia and Malaysia have maintained high palm oil production while protecting more than 25 percent and 50 percent of their forest cover respectively.

The palm oil industry also employs more than 570,000 Malaysians and more than three million Indonesians.

The crop is vital to meeting global demand for healthy cooking oil as the world's population increases and standards of living rise.

Palm oil is also an efficient and sustainable crop.

It consumes less energy in production, uses less land, requires less input of fertilizers or pesticides and generates more oil per hectare than other leading vegetable oils, such as European rapeseed or soybean oil. Palm oil is so productive that 0ne hectare of palm oil can yield 4-5 metric tons per hectare, which is close to ten times the productivity of competing oil seeds, palm oil has the added advantage of a relatively amazing productive lifespan of 20-30 years. Compare this with its competitors like rapeseed, soy and sunflower which are regularly planted and rooted each year at harvest time.

Why does Greenpeace shut its eyes to the fact that for every acre of palm oil they condemn, they are indirectly supporting 16 or more acres dedicated to rapeseed, soy and sunflower as they all produce about the same amount of edible oil. Similarly, to substitute the palm oil production that will potentially be curtailed if their anti-palm oil campaigns were they to succeed, they need an exponetial factor of that number of acres of palm oil to get from their beloved soy, sunflower, rapeseed or any other edible oilseed.

Dr Paul Nelson, from the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, has been studying the palm oil industry in Papua New Guinea for more than 10 years.

Dr Nelson says whether we like it or not, palm oil is one of the most important crops for people living in the humid tropics and one of the main land uses of choice after rainforest clearing.

Without palm oil, inevitably companies would turn to soy bean oil, which was far more destructive for rainforests, he said.

"The closest contender to palm oil in terms of what we can produce per hectare is soy bean and you need seven times as much area," Dr Nelson said. "Soy bean needs to be cultivated each year so you get things like soil erosion."

In comparison, palms can grow for several years without needing cultivation and the trees require less fertiliser and pesticides.

"It's a really good crop for small farmers because they get a regular income and they can go away and they're still producing - it's not a finicky crop," Dr Nelson said.

In the view of Palmhugger.org, it is time for Greenpeace and FOE to turn away from the policies of confrontation and destruction and plot a path towards engagement with the palm oil industry. Only then will an outcome that is fair and balanced to all, taking into account the legitimate concerns of both parties - palm oil cultivating countries and their need for development on the one hand and environmental conservation on the other. THE END

About the Author

Palm Hugger is a palm oil advocacy site that makes no apologies for exposing the lies, untruths and equivocations on palm oil spewed by a coterie of environmental morons against the world's most sustainable edible oil and biofuel feedstock. We are part of a collective group of palm oil sympathizers that have grown tired of the blatant untruths, spin, lies and unfair trade bloc promoting activities of green NGOs like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth (FOE) against palm oil.