Palm oil kills orangutans in Indonesia peat swamp

[rangerrebew]

Palm oil kills orangutans in Indonesia peat swamp
August 27, 2017 by Binsar Bakkara


It's been called the orangutan capital of the world, but the great apes in Indonesia's Tripa peat forest on the island of Sumatra are under threat by palm oil plantations that have gobbled up thousands of acres of land to make room for trees that produce the most consumed vegetable oil on the planet.

Palm oil is found in everything from cookies and lipstick to paint, shampoo and instant noodles, and Indonesia is the world's top producer. As demand soars, plantations are expanding. In Tripa, companies drain the swamp, releasing planet-warming carbon into the atmosphere and clear the forest of its native trees, often setting illegal fires.


Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-08-palm-oil-orangutans-indonesia-peat.html#jCp

[Oceander]

Dear author:  you lost me at "releasing an planet warming carbon".   Your obvious political agenda makes the rest of your article suspect. 

[Snarknado]

Don't the orangutans exhale "planet-warming" CO2? Seems like they should be earning carbon credits by exterminating them...

[RoosGirl]

Dear author:  you lost me at "releasing an planet warming carbon".   Your obvious political agenda makes the rest of your article suspect.

LOL.  I got to there also, had to go back and read it three times because I didn't think I could be reading what I was reading.  All of that carbon escaping into the atmosphere when water is moved!