Friday 23 April 2010

Palm Oil in Nestlé chocolate

I'm sure many of you will be aware by now that most british chocolate uses Palm Oil. I came across an article on my local Greenpeace website this morning on Palm Oil in Nestlé chocolate. Recent evidence has been found to show that Nestlé who are the makers of Kit Kats are using palm oil. Palm oil exists in areas of the rainforest where the orang-utans’ rainforests once grew. The Indonesian forests are being torn down to grow palm oil which is the vegetable fat of choice for companies worldwide’. Unilever and Kraft are making efforts to disassociate themselves from the palm oil industry, Nestlé has not done this. Nestlé’s supplier: Sinar Mar, is responsible for a big part of this carnage, they’re known to have a bad reputation for environmental and social practices.

This is what the Sinar Mar companies are up to http://eyesontheforest.or.id/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=285&Itemid=1

Recent evidence that has been collected http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/files/pdfs/forests/red-handed.pdf shows how Sinar Mar is destroying carbon-rich peatlands as well as clearing forests.

I came across this video this morning and it's horrific:

http://vimeo.com/10236827

I feel very strongely about palm oil in British chocolate, I have begun taking action, I am no longer buying Cadburys, Nestle or Galaxy chocolate because I strongely believe what these people are doing is very wrong. If you feel the same please spread the word of what these organisations are doing. Please feel free to copy the links onto your blogs.

Thursday 22 April 2010

Birdlife Malta

After receiving my monthly subscription of Bird Watching through the post this morning, I came across an article from Chris Packham entitled "The Bloody Isle", in which the article talks about the hunting in Malta. Chris's anger on the matter is perfectly understandable, there's a key fact that sticks out to me when reading his article: Mizieb, in the Maltese Islands is a strong hold for migrants, the Birdlife Malta Raptor Camp members along with the Committee Against Bird Slaughter went and investigated the site after gun shots were heard, and the remains of 200 protected species were found along the site.

There's only a limited amout that can be done without getting out there. It's incredibly distressing and very annoying to hear of such dispicable behaviour of some people. Volunteers for Birdlife Malta aim to conserve the habitats and the birds within Malta. The Maltese Islands lie on one of main flyways for bird migration. Unfortunately most hunters and trappers get away with this unjustly behaviour, but the locals are forced to live with the restrictions imposed on land.

Recent events of volunteers recording bird migration and illegal hunting has resulted in these volunteers suffering several violent attacks sometimes on a daily basis. http://birdlifemalta.org/view.aspx?id=244

These volunteers are trying to help stop these horrific attacks on the wild birds, and in doing so they're getting verbally and physically assulted, how is this right? I would be very interested to know your views on the matter.

Here is a link to the website: http://birdlifemalta.org/index.aspx

One final thing for you to look at: http://birdlifemalta.org/photogallery/videos/?sectionid=10. This could be a little distressing for some viewers.