the handmade soap masters

It has been interesting to follow the developments of the debate on whether palm oil can be considered an “acceptable” soapmaking oil. As shown on TV, if we want orangutans to survive, we must immediately stop buying anything containing palm oil.

Apparently, some Australian TV station recently broadcast a documentary, denouncing how orangutans have become endangered due to unethical palm “farming” practices. Not owning a TV, I did not see the show, but I have been witnessing how the waves from that piece of Australian “news” are rippling through the vast international audiences of several soapmaking mailing list. Dozens of well-meaning (albeit mis-informed) Aussie soapers and supposedly eco-conscious activists have promptly reacted to the documentary by launching a (quite vicious) campaign against “those terrible soaps made by some, which contain bad palm oil, which kills those poor, lovely orangutans”. As if the consequences of “corporate farming” practices - the economically rational, multicultural, politically correct answer to global markets and increasingly rampant consumerism - stopped with the orangutans. I for one am willing to bet that the poor orangutans would have probably been wiped out altogether, by the time the documentary was watched (and exploited) in Australia in late 2006.

The question whether palm oil is indeed a more ethical option than animal fats, which it traditionally replaces in (oh so trendy) “vegetable only” soaps, is in fact several years old. More tropical forests and a larger number of orangutans could have been saved, if a sufficiently representative group of (so called) eco-conscious soapers stopped to listen and act years ago, when a few of us tried to raise awareness on the destruction of tropical forests caused by galloping demands for cheap farmland, yielding cheap raw materials for personal (as well as industry) uses.

Every year for over thirty years now, millions of hectares of jungle have been “reclaimed”, “redeveloped” and replaced by intensive farming schemes. With our support to consumerism and fast food, we have all contributed to the destruction. And those who now, by pointing the finger at palm oil users “because they kill orangutans”, insist on one small aspect of a much bigger problem, are not really doing much to reverse the destructive trend that threatens the whole world - at least as we know it.

Within the broader context of “responsible choices”, replacing palm oil is certainly a sensible step towards sustainable soapmaking. How to do it is the subject of my next article.

This entry was posted on Saturday, 20 January 2007 at 4:02 pm and is filed under soap making, sustainability. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.