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01.11.21 Valeria López 8°

The Everyday Ingredient That Harms the Climate

(BBC News)

Palm oil is practically found everywhere, meaning that our daily-use products

contain this, foods, makeup, cooking oil, soaps, etc. This being a major driver of

deforestation, due to its popularity with manufacturing industries, which have a bad

effect on our ecosystem, considering that palm oil trees are grown at the expense of

burning forests.

When forests are turned into palm oil plantations the land dries out. The place where

palm oil trees generally grow are called peatlands. Peatlands act as a sponge that

absorbs all of the co2 that is present in the air, but when oil palm producers drain the

peatlands and burn the place to establish these trees, the effect is the opposite, leading

to the release of all of that carbon back into the atmosphere. It is a huge threat to the

local wildlife, pushes animals away and makes them vulnerable, especially in

Indonesia where this product is mainly grown. Colombia happens to be the fourth

biggest producer of this vegetable oil that some consider as the best alternative to

other edible oils. It’s mostly grown in Southeast Asia, despite this being a non native

plant that originates from West Africa.

Basically, palm oil plantations lead to a major air pollution that later contributes to

climate change and the loss of the world’s natural ecosystems. This affects my life in a

certain way because we are all aware of the bad consequences that climate change

brings along. Not only is the temperature getting higher, but the sea level is rising due
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to the melting of glaciers that usually put small populations near the coast at risk by

increasing the chance of flooding. Flooding can lead to an increase of mosquito

population, taking into account that they lay their eggs in areas that are flooded, which

can turn into an increase of dengue disease. People with allergy issues could also be

affected due to the increasing amount of air pollutants. Deforestation puts local

wildlife at risk too, till the point that the local species go extinct which is really sad

because each animal plays an essential role in our ecosystem. Due to the rising

temperature, wildfire rates are increasing, leading to even more pollution, and locals

are also put in danger. The sea temperature average has risen, marine animals have

chosen to migrate to cooler zones affecting their natural distribution. Coral reefs that

play a part in protecting coastlines are badly affected by warm waters and its

acidification, causing many to die. As individuals, we can't really do something about

it, for the simple reason that these products will keep being manufactured at high

rates. It doesn't matter whether we stop consuming these products or not. The result

will be the same. The best thing we can do is to wait until there is a better alternative.