The atmosphere was electric. Twenty thousand young people chanting in unison, desperate for their voices to be heard.
As the Palm Oil Investigations Youth Ambassador, I was at the School Strike 4 Climate (SS4C) march in Melbourne on Friday March 15. It was estimated that the SS4C march attracted more than one million students internationally, in 125 countries, attending over 2000 gatherings. We were protesting to save the environment and our future. In Melbourne, there were students from different schools all around the state, as well as adults who didn’t necessarily have kids there!
We were peacefully but firmly protesting about three main things:

1. 100% renewable energy by 2030.
2. No to the Adani coal mine in central Queensland.
3. No new coal or gas projects.

I made a banner and it had a powerful but simple message which was PALM OIL = CLIMATE CHANGE. Palm oil is one of the causes of climate change because when we cut down our beautiful forests for oil palm plantations, greenhouse gases are created which warm the earth. As I cannot vote for another seven years, my banner was a powerful way to highlight palm oil and its relationship with climate change.
I have been inspired to do this by three people: Dr Jane Goodall (the 84-year-old activist who has dedicated her life to conservation, and she is my personal mentor); Lorinda Jane (Founder of Palm Oil Investigations); and Greta Thunberg (the 16-year-old activist from Sweden). I am a very proud member of Dr Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots international program for young citizens, which aims to place the “power and responsibility for creating solutions to big challenges in the hands of the young people”. My mentor Dr Jane has always said there is hope for the environment, and through Roots and Shoots, I have learnt that the young generation are the ones who can save it. Dr Jane proudly calls herself an activist and once said “I went to that conference as a scientist … and left as an activist.”
I strongly believe that activism is an important part of learning and that even young people have a voice and the power to make change happen. My teacher, Helen Stearman from Virtual School Victoria (formerly the Distance Education Centre of Victoria), has taught me that: “The role of a teacher is to teach students how to learn and how to think, not what to learn or what to think”.
In my opinion, climate change is an extremely important environmental issue for the younger generation and I feel it is up to us to do everything we can before it is too late. We are currently living through the sixth mass extinction of plant and animal species, which is happening at a rate 100 to 1000 times faster than expected. I agree with Greta Thunberg who says “I need you to panic!”. Not enough is being done, so now the youth of today are taking matters into their own hands and demanding their voices be heard.
“The one thing we need more than hope is action. Once we start to act, hope is everywhere.” (Greta Thunberg, 2018.) 

For the last 6 years, POI have contacted thousands of brands about their ingredients and palm oil use.  During this time, every singe brand we have made contact with, or consumers have contacted, all get a response stating they are using RSPO certified palm oil.  

The RSPO accounts for 19% of global palm oil supply.  So if everyone is using certified palm oil like they say they are, who is purchasing the remaining 81%?  

We would like to share with you all how to check if claims are true, I am using The Cheesecake Shop as one example who made claim of being RSPO certified last night on Instagram. 

These types of claims are misleading & untrue.  It is important to note:  To make any type of  RSPO certified palm oil claim, the brand MUST be an RSPO member to start with. 
So lets search The Cheesecake Shop in the RSPO database. Go to  https://www.rspo.org/ Then click on the membership tab, then the sub tab Find Members.

After selecting the find members tab.  Type the company name into the  field then click search.

 Here is the result for The Cheesecake Shop. 

Is The Cheesecake shop using 100% RSPO certified palm oil as claimed?  NO THEY ARE NOT. 
As they are not RSPO members, this means they have not been audited by an approved RSPO supply chain auditor confirming chain of custody.  
We come across these false claims constantly and it's not only infuriating, but extremely misleading to consumers who ask the question, only to be told bare faced lies. 
This type of rot needs to stop and consumers deserve to be told the truth.
We ask you all to start using the RSPO database and help put an end to these false claims.

PLEASE:  Take screenshots of any claims made by brands stating they are using RSPO certified palm oil.  If the RSPO database shows no result, take a screenshot and lodge a complaint with the ACCC (Link here) or regulatory consumer body in your country.  Keep doing this with every false claim you come across until they take this seriously and take action.  

If your search returns a result and the brand are members of the RSPO.  You need to check if they are in fact using certified palm oil.  Membership is just membership, it does not mean they are using certified palm oil. 
There are various palm oil supply chains and specific claims that can, and cannot be made with each one.
Only Segregated (SG) and Identity Preserved (IP) supply chains can make claim of using certified sustainable palm oil.
The other supply chains can only make claim that the supply contributes to the production of sustainable palm oil.  The claims must NOT imply that the physical oil used in the products is certified or sustainable.
We will use Snack Brands Australia as an example of CERTIFIED palm oil.  
​As you can see below, the search returned a result.

You need to now check that Snack Brands and Snack Foods Limited are the same company.  Click on Snack foods Limited to view their membership and then open their ACOP file highlighted in orange.

Once the file has opened. Scroll down to page 3 and view the volume of supply and supply chain used.  In Snack Brands Australia's case you can see they are using 7,033.00 tonne of Segregated palm oil.  This is 100% certified supply.

Follow the process as per above.  Search the member then view their membership page.  Open their ACOP report.  We have used Mondelez International (owners of Cadbury) as an example.

As you can see above.  Only a small portion of the palm oil is certified segregated supply.  This means that the company cannot make any claim that the palm oil they use is sustainable or certified sustainable, because they are also using the other supply chains which are not certified.  The only claim that the company can make is that their supply supports the production of sustainable palm oil.  We have seen so many statements made by Cadbury claiming that their palm oil use is 100% certified sustainable.  This is false and untrue. 

We ask you now to please use these tools we have given you. Start checking on brands and start calling brands out on false claims. Show them that you can check their claims.  Show them that you know what they can and cannot claim.  Don't let them mislead you and pull the wool over your eyes.  Pull brands up if you see them telling other consumers that their palm oil is RSPO certified when you know it isn't.

I hope this helps you all.  It will certainly help regulate this industry if you take action and follow the instructions above.

We are very sorry that our app has not been functioning for quite some time and completely aware of the inconvenience it has caused. 

We were first notified that our POI barcode scanner crashed back in April 2018. We contacted our developer in El Paso Texas who assured us it would be fixed asap, this has not happened. 

We have put in repeated requests asking for a resolve.  During this time fix dates continued to pass leaving us not knowing the issues.  Contact with the developer has been extremely stressful to say the least, resulting in various excuses or contact completely ignored. 
It was eventually suggested that if we were unsatisfied with his service (or lack of), that he would allow us to host the app elsewhere.

Understanding that this issue has been causing problems with the end users and subsequently POI, another developer came forward offering their assistance, but even their attempted contact to the current developer has also been ignored with zero response. 

As we run on a voluntary basis and unfinanced, the scanner app has always been a financial strain on POI however we have always paid accounts sent to us by the developer and had also paid what we consider a large sum in advance for the services. 
We had also paid the developer for database setup to extend our app into the UK.  This job was never delivered.  Other projects we had allocated to the developer to make up for monies paid by us have also gone undelivered following months of waiting and frustration.  

Due to a non-functioning app being downloaded resulting in complaints and one-star reviews, we requested it be removed from the app stores.  This took 11 days for the developer to click the unpublish button which resulted in further complaints by app users to POI. 

The POI volunteers have been trying to deal with the daily onslaught of messages, emails, comments and complaints regarding the app since it crashed, resulting in countless hours of replies and stress on the team and damage to POI.  

The scanner app has consisted of at least 20 voluntary hours per week in product research, barcode and scan result loading into the back end over many years.  
We feel completely let down by the developer who has displayed total disregard for not only POI, but also our app users and ultimately the cause. 

As we now enter the next phase to resolve this issue, we wish to once again express our apologies for the inconvenience this has caused to the tens of thousands of POI app users who have relied on this barcode scanner for their shopping purchases.  

We want to thank you for your patience and loyalty at this trying time.  We are doing our utmost to get it functioning again, however it is proving to be extremely difficult at this point whilst it is in external hands. We have no access to the app coding and as the url is no longer functioning which they set up, we also have no access to the data. 

Update: Our new developers now have all the app data and are in the process of assessing the damage and what it's going to take for us to get it back up and running.  This may be a lengthy process.  We are doing our best. 

It’s been quite some time since I’ve written a blog post.  We’ve had an interesting year here at POI with some ups and downs and a lot of discussion and questions in between.

During 2017 we’ve continued to hold brands to account over their palm-oil usage.  Some have changed, some have not, so it’s super important for consumers to keep the pressure on – brands will only change when customers are unhappy.
Coles supermarkets is still refusing to shift to Audited RSPO compliant certified palm oil.  Woolworths, however, is slowly coming around.  We hope to have good news on Woolworths soon.
Aldi continues to be the front runner with most of its products having gone through the official RSPO auditing process.  We applaud Aldi for its transparency on pack, however, we’ve recently found some of its packaging making the wrong claims for the wrong supply chain, but believe this will be corrected promptly.   

We’ve worked tirelessly to find palm-oil-free ingredients for the personal care industry – not an easy task by any means, but we’ve had some success.  During this process we’ve formed some great relationships with ingredient manufacturers and have managed to help many brands completely remove palm oil from their products.  
We’ve also found a manufacturer that’s about to release canola betaine, palm-oil-free surfactant, manufactured from Australian-grown, non-GMO canola.  This is the first of its kind and is looking to be a suitable replacement for ingredients such as Cocamidopropyl betaine or coco betaine. More news to come on this in 2018.

Back in April, I made my way to Borneo with Orangutan Odysseys and co-hosted a tour with Leif Cocks (founder and president of the Orangutan Project).  Cruising down the Sekonyer river on the Klotok was one of the most tranquil experiences I have ever had in my life.  All of us were totally absorbed by the beauty that surrounded us.  Camera shutters were clicking at amazing speed as we spotted wildlife living happily amid the forests.  The sound of the Gibbons in the mornings and the unmistakable sound of the male orangutan long call, were enchanting. 
Watching orangutans in the forest was an amazing experience. Tree branches would crack and shake in the distance and when the cracking sound increased, the forest person would appear high up in the trees.   
Flying over the endless sea of palm plantations on our way to Ketapang was eye opening for those who travelled with us.  The clincher was visiting the IAR rescue centre where over 100 orangutans reside.  It was a life-changing experience for all who came.
We all formed fabulous friendships – it was such a great bunch of people who came along.  Thank you to Garry Sundin and Ozzy for being the glue that kept us all together and a special mention to my co-host Leif Cocks who is such an inspiration.

In early June I headed to Byron Bay and spent two full days going through the Santos Organics stock in two large stores and a warehouse, so this was a big job.  Santos is in the process of removing all non-traceable palm oil products from its shelves and replacing with palm-oil-free products. This is not an easy task and it will take some time before the desired outcome is achieved.  Massive thumps up for Santos!

POI has five volunteers, three of which work in full time employment elsewhere.  Our team is tiny and our work load is massive.  We have three in Australia, one in the UK and another in Canada.  The things we see happening to wildlife is often heartbreaking, a lot of which we don’t post to the page due to the distressing nature.  These incidents are just as hard on our volunteers as it is our followers.  Compassion fatigue hits us too and sometimes we need time out to recharge our batteries and deal with the awful images that have impacted our thoughts.  ​A massive shout out to Melissa who has been volunteering with us for almost four years – you are a gem.

For me, personally, I have had a year of highs and lows.  A few months back, my world came crashing down as I learned my adored father, who is only 20 years older than me, was diagnosed with extensive, terminal, stage four cancer.  With a massive work load on my plate I struggled to juggle POI, my exhausted volunteers and time with my family.  
Many of you may have noticed our page slowed down with posts, we also disabled the ‘posts by others’ feature and merged the UK and US pages with our main page to reduce the work load. Now you know the reason why.  

A month ago I removed all our current stock from our webstore and replaced everything with new items. I’m happy to say the new stock has been extremely popular and is selling out not long after being added.  Many items are one of a kind or extremely limited stock. We have some great things on the way to our store so keep your eye out.

We recently entered into contract with International Animal Rescue Indonesia and RAW Wildlife Encounters to offer the IAR volunteer program for 2018. It’s available to only 8 people per group and offers the opportunity to participate in a life-changing program where you contribute to one of the most outstanding orangutan projects in Indonesia, with International Animal Rescue Indonesia (YIARI).
AUD $1,550 for 11 days
AUD $2,215 for 22 days
Cost includes basic accommodation, lunch and dinner.  You have the choice of volunteering for 11 or 22 days and starts the 9th & 20th of each month.  Check out the fabulous video showing what it's like to volunteer at IAR. For more information please email: roo.lindsey@rawildlife.com.au.

POI is nearing the five year mark as totally voluntary and unfunded and we’ve struggled to get through the past 12 months.  This coming year we’re working smarter not harder, and gearing up for what is going to be a great 2018.  

Early in the New Year we will launch The POINT environmental & conservation digital press publication.  The POINT stands for POI news & trends, however, we will expand beyond the palm-oil issue to include other environmental and conservation issues around the globe, as well as eco tourism. We welcome ex-Leader editor Erica Fosbender as our chief editor as well as many writers, journalists and photographers from around the globe. We’ve had an overwhelming amount of applications, many of which we are still processing and yet to interview.  

We are also strengthening our collaboration with our friends at The Orangutan Project, to help with vital funding for the orgs on the ground in Sumatra and Borneo.  In April 2018, I’ll head to Sumatra to co-host another tour with TOP president Leif Cocks as well as Panut Hadisiswoyo, director of Orangutan Information Centre, which I’m greatly looking forward to.

In 2018 POI will be collaborating with Orangutan Alliance palm oil free certification and the brands that adopt the certification. We’ll also be an active participant in their campaigns for mandatory labelling.  

We are also developing a new platform for consumers and have engaged our tech team in Texas for the build.  This is a super exciting project for us, but I can’t disclose too much at this point.  Keep your eye out mid 2018 for what is going to be a fabulous platform. 

POI was a late comer to Instagram and has only been constantly active this past year, but we’re loving it. Give us a follow  @palmoilinvestigations

We are now winding down for Christmas, our last day will be Wednesday December 20 and we’ll return Monday January 15.  Only one volunteer will be working during this period, so until we return we are disabling messages on our page and will enable when we return.  We’ll be firing up our first day back with a fabulous giveaway from our friends at The Smoothie Bombs and Urthly Organics. I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  

Be kind to each other and take care on the roads if travelling.  

Finally.  Many of you may have noticed the Nourished Life posts on our page during the past two months. POI entered into a short-term, promotional contract agreement with the company.  Nourished Life is an eco-friendly shopping site, which we owe a huge thank you to.  Without this agreement we wouldn’t have been able to continue into 2018 and it would’ve been the end of the road for us. 
So please take a few seconds to become a Nourished Life member. It’s free to join and there are a mountain of perks.  They’ve helped us greatly so please show your appreciation in return.  
NOURISHED LIFE FREE CLUB MEMBERSHIP LINK  

Thank you all and will see you in 2018.
Regards
Lorinda Jane
​Founder POI

By Erica Fosbender
I recently had the pleasure of accompanying a group of fantastic people into the Borneon jungle. The objective was to learn about and see orangutans in their natural habitat as well as experiencing something well out of my comfort zone.
The result was new friendships forged and a greater understanding of and appreciation for what NGOs, charities and not for profits are doing to help save the last vestiges of these equatorial ecosystems.
I'd been captivated by the plight of the orangutan since learning of the scourge of dirty palm oil and its effect on the planet. Of how pristine rainforests are being cleared at an alarming rate leaving the animals, communities and ecosystems reliant on them floundering. And for what? A creamy filling in a chocolate bar? A nice lather in your shampoo? You get the picture.
The palm oil can of worms made me wave my fists with rage and spout all manner of expletives... so I thought I needed to be more productive in my approach and gather more information in the process.
When this trip popped up on my facebook newsfeed, I felt it was the perfect opportunity to put my money where my mouth was and really get a proper understanding of the situation.
We were lucky enough to be joined by Leif Cocks of The Orangutan Project and Lorinda Jane of Palm Oil investigations, which really kicked the education component up to the next level.
The trip was organised by the charismatic Garry Sundin of Orangutan Odysseys, who was the consummate tour leader. He’s been working in the eco-tourism industry for about seven years and has so far raised about $800,000 for orangutan conservation. His right-hand-man Ozzy and local guides Ivend, Kris and Purwadi helped make the trip truly memorable.
Our group was a great mix of backgrounds and life experiences and we all had the common goal of wanting to help the orangutans in whatever way we could.
As an added bonus there were some keen photographers in the group, so our pooled photo album is really something to marvel at.
A component of the trip was to each raise $1000, which went directly to The Orangutan Project and, as a group we raised more than $16,000. We also donated veterinary supplies to International Animal Rescue and stationery for schools they work with.
But to really get an understanding of this trip, it’s best to read my travel diary, because we all know reading someone’s diary is the best way to get behind the curtain... so here it is. Enjoy!

Welcome to the Jungle
Bali to Borneo, Wednesday April 5
Today a series of three flights got us to Borneo. Security checks, transfers, baggage counts, passports in, passports out... All the while we’re getting to know each other better.
A three-hour wait at stop number two allowed us to hear the first of a series of talks from Leif.
He gave an eloquent introduction to orangutans and their plight, which barely scratched the surface of what is an enormous can of worms.
You see to save the orangutan you must save the forest, but to save the forest you must save the orangutan, and to do this you need money.
TOP works with other NGOs to buy up parcels of land and secure leases to ensure the forest remains intact, and with it everything beneath the canopy. This is an enormous task and one that requires a lot of diplomacy and money.
Leif would go on to give us several more talks during the trip on topics such as: the orangutan in the wild and their conservation, primate evolution, and evolution of consciousness and the theory of mind. Whoa!
We arrived in Pangkalan Bun, in Central Borneo, and went straight to the docks. Our driver was predictably insane. Note to self: stop sitting in the front seat!
We boarded the klotok and started chugging up the Sekonyer River, which is, astonishingly, given the level of pollution, home to marine life including crocodiles and dolphins.
Huge concrete bunkers that house enormous flocks of swifts line the river banks. They’re lured by the sound of their own song – that’s played on loop, loudly, 24/7 – to make nests so people can enjoy soup.
We veered to enter the Tanjung Puting National Park, on the left is private land, owned by palm oil companies, and to the right is national park. Both look the same at this point – nipah palms and brown water.
We began to see probosics monkeys and various birds and, eventually, a wild orangutan! Success!
That night we stayed at the extremely charming Rimba Lodge – a series of quaint huts connected by boardwalks and encased by the jungle.
After a dinner of delicate local flavours, Leif and Lorinda gave us a talk. Lorinda introduced herself and POI and explained how POI was born out of one horrific image of a burned orangutan. Lorinda’s reaction was first outrage and then action, lots of action. She embarked on a crash course of conservation education, learning about the complicated, convoluted and many-tiered beast that is palm oil and how its tentacles stretched from the plantations along the equator to shopping trolleys across the globe.
Leif explained that educating yourself on these issues is the most important thing you can do for conservation. Because a little bit of information is dangerous, but getting all the facts allows you to properly understand the situation and, hopefully, pass this on to others.
At this point I’ve realised just how little I know...

Up the river, Thursday April 6
Back on the boat and off to the first feeding station. Bananas were put on to the platform and park rangers called out to alert the orangutans. We stood quietly and patiently, scanning the canopy for signs of life. Then the jungle started to move and a hairy, orange being swung into view. It was almost indescribable the feeling of seeing such a majestic creature in its environment for the first time. The orangutan swung with ease, defying gravity at every turn, then made his way to the platform to grab some bananas. He quickly jammed six bananas into his mouth then rocketed up the tree to enjoy his loot.
Note: while I was not sure of this orangutan’s gender, to call him an ‘it’ seemed wrong. This was something Leif reiterated repeatedly with the group, the notion of personhood, which easily applied to these sentient beings.
Back to the boat, lunch, then on to Camp Leakey and more orangutans. Camp Leakey was established in 1971 by Dr Birute Galdikas as an orangutan research station. As such, there was plenty of information available about the local orangutans, but also more tourists vying for positions to view them.
We hit the primate jackpot here with about a dozen orangutans visiting the feeding platform. However, it was easy to see they were more familiar with humans as they had no problem walking through the crowd to get to the goodies. There were mothers and babies, adolescents and a handsome devil called Tom. With his characteristic facial pads and looming presence, Tom dominated the platform and ensured no other male would dare consider coming close.
Then enter stage left, a wild boar, which was part of the clean-up crew, hoovering up banana peels and loving every minute. 
While this was entertaining, Leif reminded us this was not how truly wild oranguatans would behave. Indeed, while we were walking back to the boat we saw an adult oranguatan hanging out with the park rangers in their quarters, just like one of the group enjoying a tea break.
A note about the boardwalks: they were slippery, rotten and generally treacherous – pretty much the dodgy swing bridge out of every adventure movie ever.

Still up the river, Friday April 7
Onwards to Pesalat Plantation to lend our hands to the massive tree-planting effort that one man had basically taken on himself.
It’s quite the undertaking with intense heat, weed proportions of scrubby fern and rock-hard ground. He’s raising thousands of seedlings of all varieties with the strategy of first planting the fast-growing edibles to knock back the fern, then adding the slow-growing varieties such as ironbark. Ironbark in particular had been heavily logged or incinerated along with everything else in forest fires. I planted a sandalwood that I hope makes it.
That evening would be our last on the river and we marked it with fireflies... but only a few. Garry explained they used to light up the river but overuse of pesticides by the palm oil plantations meant their numbers had dwindled to a handful of lights. Hopefully this wasn’t prophetic of the plight of the rainforest and its inhabitants.

On dry land, Saturday April 8
Today we flew to Ketapang in West Kalimatan and, sadly, had to say goodbye to our wonderful guides.
From the vantage point of my window seat, the horror of deforestation was plain to see – like a disease spreading across the landscape. Where once there was forest was now palm, carved into uniform parcels with brown rivers snaking in between.
Dinner, which can’t go unmentioned, was at a local Italian restaurant with service that defied logic. Garry, sorry about losing my cool, but hanger is a powerful emotion.
​
Change of plans, Sunday April 9
Today we were meant to go on a trek through newly protected areas of the jungle. However, like many best laid plans, this one went awry. It turned out we weren’t allowed access because a memorandum of understanding between International Animal Rescue and the local indigenous community hadn’t been reached. But Garry, like a true champion, switched to plan B, which was to visit a palm oil plantation, or at least the entrance of one.
It was a rocky ride getting there, but well worth the whiplash. Lorinda gave us a quick talk about how palm oil is produced and its effect on the landscape.
In short it’s produced by backbreaking manual labour, which makes the palm oil companies the major employer in many local communities. Once harvested, the fruit has 24 hours to get to the mill for production before it starts to spoil. For this reason the mills must be located within 50km of the plantations.
It only grows along the equatorial belt, which is occupied by developing countries with little regard for their natural heritage.
As an ingredient it ticks a lot of boxes – versatile, solid at room temperature, relatively tasteless and odourless, and able to be processed into a myriad of other derivatives. Hence the demand is off the charts. But with demand comes dodgy practices such as slash and burn land clearing and encroachment, which is barely dealt with by the government or the toothless tiger known as the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil.

International Animal Rescue, Monday April 10
Visiting the IAR centre was a sobering experience. This is where orphaned orangutans come to find refuge, if they’re lucky. It’s staffed by a dedicated team who, despite the horror they must’ve seen regularly, were so welcoming of us and extremely positive in their communication of how things run.
The centre is currently home to more than 100 orangutans of all ages that are mostly victims of the illegal pet trade. The end game is to release them back into the wild. However, this is both time consuming and labour intensive.  It requires a massive co-ordinated effort to get one orangutan back into the wild, and they’re still not sure if those released will go on to successfully breed and raise their young. 
When they’re not rescuing, rehabilitating, releasing and monitoring orangutans, the IAR is busy engaging with community groups, schools, mosques, indigenous communities, the government and, yes, palm oil companies. Because it’s educating and changing people’s perceptions that will ultimately stem the flow of orphans.
Hearing IAR 2IC and primatologist Gail Campbell-Smith speak about the centre’s function was inspiring. They are the definition of an essential service.
The centre is also home to some rescued slow lorises – also victims of the pet trade. Thanks to a Youtube video of one being tickled, they became one of the most heavily poached animals on the planet.  They’re about the size of a possum and have the sweetest little faces, but because of their toxic bite their teeth are removed with pliers, which generally leads to abscesses and death but ensures they don’t bite their new ‘owners’. Because these rescued lorises were missing their canines, they could never be returned to the wild, so would be rehomed in a sanctuary. 
After our guided tour of the centre we rolled up our sleeves to make some ‘enrichment’ for the baby orangutans. This involved pushing sunflower seeds into the soft centre of a banana tree trunk to simulate digging out termites, and sewing small bags together with a leaf, honey and sesame seed filling. It’s fair to say we enriched the bejesus out of those banana trunks and bags.
The final act was seeing the babies return from jungle school, which was by wheelbarrow of course. These tiny beings are simply gorgeous and, as Gail made a point of saying, they are also really cheeky. Much like human babies, they grasp on to everything and make a lot of noise, which made getting them back into their cages a challenge but excellent viewing. It was great to see those little hands make light work of the enrichment we’d made earlier.
For an orangutan to become a pet, its mother must be killed, because there’s no way she would let go of her baby. That barrow of little faces was certainly cute, but hid the grim reality of dead mothers and the dead babies that didn’t make it.
By the end of the trip, my mind was officially blown but I left feeling somewhat hopeful there was something that I, a keyboard warrior from the burbs, could do to help.
You see during the lead up to the trip I was asked on many occasions what prompted me to sign up. In truth, I wasn’t entirely sure, but I knew I wanted to turn my anger and inertia into something resembling action and I was hoping this trip would provide the journey.
I wanted to know how you could help orangutans and the environment without a background in conservation or zoology, or any ‘ology’ for that matter.
Thanks to the organised talks and many impromptu chats I may have found my answer.
I learned we all have a skill to contribute, whether it be raising funds, raising awareness, volunteering on the ground or from your computer. There is something that everyone can do - you just need to figure it out.
 Would I do this again? Absolutely! And I’d encourage anyone with the that flicker of wanting to help to do the same. Yes it was hot, at times uncomfortable and rice for breakfast was too much rice for me... but but what an experience it was.
Thank you to everyone involved - I am truly inspired.

For more information and to donate visit
www.theoranguatanproject.org,
www.palmoilinvestigations.org or
www.internationalanimalrescue.org.
And make sure you check out www.orangutanodysseys.com if you’re keen for an adventure of your own.

This month, POI hit the 4-year mark.  We are also about to hit the 200,000 likes milestone.  Quite an achievement, yes?  Thank you all for your support on our journey thus far!

However, as we hit this milestone, some serious questions need to be asked.

If POI were to fold, what would the impact be? 

Not only for the cause, awareness, brands and consumers. But what would it mean for the conservation and rescue teams on the ground?  What impact would it have on them and the animals?

We know that during the last 4 years, substantial funds have been raised via our Facebook page for other organisations.  These funds have made possible countless initiatives, including: building a new orangutan sanctuary; purchasing much needed equipment such as drones, PPE gear, medical and firefighting equipment; numerous orangutan rescues; funding of illegal pet trade raids; restoring habitat; removal of jungle snare traps and orangutan adoptions.  

Looking more closely beyond the extent of the actual campaigns we post directly to our page, how many of you have, due to POI recommendations:

Liked other organisations' Facebook pages?

Donated to the causes of these other organisations?

Purchased from their webstores? 

Supported their campaigns?

In addition, how many of you have:

Googled palm oil, ways to help and orangutan adoptions after learning about the issue from our page?

Changed purchasing habits?

Used our app to scan products?

Gained product information?

Signed petitions?

Joined external campaigns?

POI’s existence should not be taken for granted.  A world without POI would make life so much harder for the groups we support on the ground and the animals that rely on them!

It would be easy to assume that a page like ours, with such a huge following and reach, would find it easy to raise funds for ourselves.  Think about it. 200,000 followers!

WRONG! 

Asking for funds for the rescue of an animal in distress is easy, everyone digs deep.  It is huge satisfaction to know that you have saved the life of an animal.  It satisfies us when we know that we have helped too.  

But is that same satisfaction felt when it comes to donating to us? Of course not!  We would be kidding ourselves to think otherwise. This is where it is extremely difficult for us.

There are very few organisations out there who are completely run on a 100% voluntary basis with no paid staff. However, POI is one of those organisations.  

When I started POI 4 years ago, it was in many respects an accident.  It started out as a page where I would share products and educate what I thought would be a small audience of people.  I placed the social media, digital strategy and marketing skills I had, into a cause.  For me, it was meant to be something I could do an hour a day to help a crisis.  
Little did I know that it would turn into what it has.  A page that rapidly went viral where likes clicked over at an alarming rate.  The intended one hour per day, a few days a week SNOWBALLED into a minimum of 15 hours per day, 7 days per week for me.   I couldn’t turn my back on it even if I wanted to.  I had started something that obviously filled a gap, and it was out of control.  A page that consumers, brands, NGO’s and industry flocked to.     

Roll forward to 2017.....

POI is a not-for-profit organisation, registered with Consumer Affairs Victoria, and governed by a voluntary committee. We have 8 volunteers in Australia, 3 in the UK and 2 in the USA. 

We are predominantly self-funded from webstore sales and a small amount of donations.  In our 4 years of existence, we have never had any paid staff, only a very small team of dedicated volunteers who work long unpaid hours to bring you information about palm oil, products that contain the oil, the certification status and lobby brands using oil palm. Plus, extensive research to maintain the app database of over 160,000 products. Not an easy task by any means and that’s only a small portion of what we do.   

Financially, we barely get by month to month.  

So where do we go from here?  We are faced with some serious questions.  Do we throw in the towel?  That seems like the most sensible thing to do.  On a personal level, it would remove so much stress and pressure, as many of our volunteers have made considerable personal sacrifices to keep POI afloat.  But do we have it in our hearts to take that route?  It’s certainly not our preferred option. 

When it comes to funding, POI must remain true and unconflicted.  This is difficult in an industry where oil palm is rife in products, knocking out many funding opportunities from companies. Funding must come from ethical sources.  Finding those ethical companies that would be willing to dig deep to help us, is the hard part.  But we know they are out there, somewhere.   

Why don’t we just get a grant?  It’s not that simple.  Grants are allocated to specific projects for charities.  POI isn’t a charity, we are a not-for-profit without deductible gift recipient (DGR) status. Most grants are won by large charities with DGR, who have paid staff, some of whom specialise in grant writing applications. 

For me personally.  I am counting the days.  How much longer I can keep doing this? I am a single mum with a teenage child.  What would it mean for POI if I were to take on a full-time position somewhere else so I can put food on the table?  What would it mean if we shut shop? What would
it mean for all the other organisations and groups that have benefited from our page?  So many questions, so few easy answers.    

What I do know is, we have reached that crossroad.  We don’t want to fold, and we don’t want to be put in a position where we must.  These are the constant challenges we are faced with.

Understanding the impact POI has, and how far our influence has spread, do donors now see us as a worthy cause?  Will they now feel that satisfaction of putting their money into something worthwhile?  We can’t help other orgs if we are not here.

We have some huge projects in the pipeline, so we need to keep pushing forward.
 
With a new website under construction. POI will also be opening up membership, with exclusive deals and opportunities for our members.  Something for our followers to look forward to.  

POI is also opening up sponsorship opportunities for small and large business enterprises.  With a reach of between 1 million and up to 5 million, our POI Facebook page offers excellent marketing potential.​

In the meantime, here are some ways you can help us directly and indirectly:

Continue to follow us and share our posts.

Maybe you know of, or own a company or business that would be interested in sponsoring us on an ongoing basis.  Contact info@palmoilinvestigations.org

Set up and host a fundraising event for us. 

Donate spare stock to our webstore. (Please do not send skin or hair care items).
Our postal address is:
Palm Oil Investigations
PO Box 112
Eaglehawk VIC 3556

Donate $5 a month to keep our free barcode scanner app going. This will help pay for our monthly server fees. http://www.palmoilinvestigations.org/poi-scanner-app.html 

Purchase from our webstore. http://www.palmoilinvestigations.org/store/c1/Featured_Products.html 

Donate directly to Palm Oil Investigations.  Micro monthly or yearly donations are welcome via PayPal.  Go to our home page on our website and click on the donate button. http://www.palmoilinvestigations.org/  
Or donate directly to our bank account: 
Palm Oil Investigations Incorporated
BSB, 633000 
Acc Number 150761179

​An interesting debate occurred on our Facebook page after we removed a petition post, which contained a very graphic image of a slaughtered orangutan.
Prior to its removal, we noticed many comments from upset people over the image.  
We had also received many notifications that the post had been reported to Facebook. 
The debate became a damned if you do, damned if you don’t scenario.  People were upset because it had been posted.  People were upset because it was removed. 

So, this has inspired me to write our first blog. 

When is an image too upsetting to post?

We always assess an image prior to posting.  There have been many times over the years where the decision has been made to not share something to our page due to the distressing content.  
We are sensitive individuals ourselves and use this to assess a post before sharing to our page. However, we are also aware that due to the extremely graphic content we see often from the NGO’s on the front line, that we have become somewhat immune.  
This recent post of an important petition to the RSPO, sat borderline with us.  It was too important to not share, so we posted it.

Many believe that graphic content must be shown to spur people into action for a cause.   Yes, that is true.  But at the same time, it can also turn people away.   I myself have un-liked many pages due to graphic images constantly posted. Sometimes it’s just too much.  The result being, I lose track of that cause.  I never forget as it is embedded in my mind, but I cease receiving updates when there is a call to action.  

Yet I am also reminded as to how and why I started POI. 
4 years ago, a distressing image of a burnt orangutan was doing the rounds on Facebook.  Every day this image would appear in my feed and every day I would hide it.  The image of this poor creature that was still alive at the time the image was taken.  Laying with his arms over his head and his skin burnt from his body.  This photo was haunting me.  All I knew was that this incident was related to palm oil.  I didn’t know how or why. In fact, I didn’t even know what palm oil was.  One of my friends posted a status, pleading her friends to please cease sharing that image into her news feed.  
It was that day, 27th March 2013 that I commented on her status.  Stating that I was going to research palm oil, find out what it was and why that orangutan had suffered so because of it.  Within an hour of my comment, I found out that palm oil was an ingredient in products that I had been buying.  I felt that I had unwillingly contributed to the suffering of that orangutan. 
I made a promise on my friend’s status that I would find a way to get the word out without having to use that image.  That is the day that POI was born.

Telling people to just scroll past an upsetting image, or hide it from feed is not the best way to deal with something that distresses people.  Nor is telling them that they have their head in the sand if they cannot cope with an image that is upsetting or graphic.  We must learn compassion for our fellow human beings and understand that many suffer depression.  To scroll past, or hide an image from your news feed means you must see it to begin with.  Once you see something, you cannot un-see it.  For many, these images can cause a downward spiral into the depths of despair, trauma and a feeling of utter helplessness.   It’s not that people don’t want to see distressing images because they don’t care.  They don’t want to see them because they do care, and seeing these things can be just too much for a person to be able to cope with.

About 3 years ago, I remember Facebook changed their settings where videos in news feed automatically played.  A friend had shared a video and just titled it cruel.  That video played as I scrolled through my feed.  I clearly remember that the video length was just over 20 mins long.  I had seen no more than 8 seconds before I scrambled for the stop button.  In panic I slammed my laptop shut.  8 seconds was all it took to totally traumatise me to the point where I took almost 2 weeks off.  I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t function.  What I had seen would not leave my mind, and the remaining footage that I had not seen started to play out in my head.  To this day, I am still traumatised by that footage.   

When it comes to photographs of upsetting images, the imagination often takes over and pieces together the scenario that led to the state of the deceased, suffering or tortured animal.  That alone can cause trauma to some people.  

Social media is a platform which is not only used by adults, but also children.  It is important for us to be mindful of what we post and share.  We know that some images are graphic in content and feel that they should be shared.  But there are others that are just too graphic for us to force into our follower’s news feed without warning.  We do our best to use our own sensitivity meter to assess what is appropriate, and what may not be.  

What works for some, doesn’t necessarily work for others.