Freedom of speech
Should we be hasty in criticising Iceland’s advert raising awarenes of the Orangutan?
Those of you who read my article https://bit.ly/2qWJwg2 may have also read articles and comments that dismiss and/or point out the flaws in Iceland’s marketing campaign.
However valid these points are, I believe that there is still room to congratulate Iceland for raising awareness of a very REAL issue. If we all waited until we were perfect before being allowed to use our voice and call out each other then I believe progression would grind to a halt. If Iceland complicated its message by including all the facts, very few would listen. Furthermore, Iceland still used its marketing campaign to raise awareness of the Orangutan and has started meaningful rhetoric.
If you have not already watched it then please do now – this link takes you to the @huffpost website or just google it; there is a lot of coverage! https://bitly.com/
It has taken me a while to mull over how to address the fact that Iceland's 'Christmas advert', which addresses the huge issue of deforestation and the impact on the habitat of precious Orangutans has been banned.
As this is Orangutan Caring Week and today is Orange for Orangutan Day; I considered that I cannot remain silent any longer…
In my previous role as a lawyer, I always had to be careful not to be seen in getting involved in public debates. However, one of the wonderful freedoms to not having to abide by professional conduct is that I don’t have to concern myself with worrying about any alleged ‘disrepute’ it would bring to my profession (has my freedom of speech always therefore been clipped?!).
Therefore, I have chosen to follow my heart and write of my disgust (and I don’t use that word lightly!) that such an advert has been banned. However, I really have to applaud the ‘genius’ of Iceland’s (I am assuming) strategic decision to ‘act now, apologise later’ to ensure that the message reaches as many people as possible – perhaps this is the route we need to take more often with such important social and environmental issues?!
I volunteered with the Orangutan Foundation UK in 2010 and worked in Borneo (Kalimantan) with a wonderful group of people who are determined to support local communities through education of the wonderful and unique eco-structure in Borneo and how key the rainforests and the Orangutan are to South East Asia but also the world. I was taught a lot in my short but precious time in Borneo and nothing I see in the advert by Iceland is anything other than fact! The advert, to me, cleverly sums up and educates in 92 seconds the reality of Orangutans (and all the other species of animals and flora and fauna – and humans!!), which is being dramatically impacted through illegal logging and palm oil plantations. I find the advert inspirational in its statement ‘…the future’s not yet written but I’ll make sure it is ours…’ so let’s all get behind this to change our ways and be conscious not to purchase items with palm oil in it.
This website gives some clear guidance as to which products are palm oil free! https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/palm-oil-free-list
Still need convincing…?
I saw first hand how wonderful Orangutan’s are and the beauty of their diverse environment; being one of the most diverse eco systems in the world. I was stunned to learn that many locals were surprised to see Westerners in Borneo asking why we ‘who have everything’ would want to volunteer in Borneo; they didn’t realise how unique their home was, assuming that we all had wild Orangutan back at home.
I also learned of the ongoing battle to encourage the Government to not only declare areas of the forest as protected but also to police those areas. When I was there it was left to the NGO’s like the Orangutan Foundation and Yayorin etc to educate communities and set up guard posts to protect the forest. Despite this, ‘accidental fires’ would regularly break out clearing forest to make way for more palm oil plantations to be established leaving more Orangutan displaced and in danger of murder or capture.
Did you know that the word ‘Orangutan’ translates in Malay to ‘person of the forest’? Sharing nearly 97% of the same DNA, the Orangutan is one of humankind’s closest relatives and staring into their eyes and seeing their mischievous behaviour, their frolics and their problem-solving abilities is an honour that will always stay close to my heart. One of my favourite memories is when Percy (pictured above), an adolescent Orangutan who hangs out in Camp Leaky, greeted us as we hiked to a known feeding spot with what looked like red lipstick on! He had clearly been eating berries that had stained his lips red but it looked to us, through his posing, that he had purposely dressed up for us Westerners!
Like all great apes, Orangutans have large brains, are self-aware beings, capable of reasoning. In the wild, orangutans use tools such as sticks to extract insects and honey to eat. When it rains they cover their heads with leaves, which act like an umbrella; something I witnessed with my own eyes on more than one occasion during my time in Borneo!
I am also convinced that Orangutan’s feel love and heartbreak in the same way as us having seen one female Orangutan swoon over the dominant male, Tom, whilst he remained seemingly unaware of her existence! Desperate, she turned to food for comfort leaving her a little podgy around the waistline!
In May 2017 it was estimated that there are only 57,000 Bornean orangutans, 13,000 Sumatran orangutans and 800 Tapanuli orangutan left in the wild, according to the recent Population and Habitat Viability Assessment (PHVA). This means that Orangutans are categorised as ‘critically endangered’ and WWF analysis shows that by 2020, only a few separate populations of Orangutans will exist, too small to guarantee the long-term existence of this loveable species.
If the Orangutans don’t motivate you to take action following Iceland’s message, perhaps think about the other animals (Borneo and Sumatra are the only places on Earth where tigers, rhinos, orangutans, and elephants live together in addition to other amazing animals such as sun bears) or the 15,000 known plants (400 of which have been identified since 1995) and the environment generally…
Borneo is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia and its rainforest is estimated to be around 140 million years old, making it one of the oldest rainforests in the world.
Only half of Borneo's forest cover remains today, down from 75 per cent in the mid-1980s. According to WWF the current deforestation rate is 1.3 million hectares per year. To put that into context, one hectare comprises between 1.2 and 1.6 football pitches so 1.6 football pitches x 1.3 million hectares = 2,080,000 football pitches per year, which is nearly 6,000 football pitches worth of rainforest A DAY that are being removed permanently from Borneo…WWF have projected that by 2020 the remaining forest cover will be only 24 per cent!
The main reason that Iceland speaks of palm oil in its advert and why it has made a stand against using it is because palm oil coming from Borneo and Sumatra accounts for more than half of all palm oil produced in the world. As palm oil is the most important tropical vegetable oil in the global oils and fats industry, it is the main driver of deforestation in Borneo. In Indonesia alone, palm oil production expanded from 600,000 hectares in 1985 to over 6 million hectares by 2007 (over 2,600 football pitches a day!).
You may ask, why should I care what happens to forest so far away from me but think about it… what do you need to keep you alive? Right, oxygen! Rainforests are apparently responsible for 28% of the world's oxygen turnover, processing it through photosynthesis from carbon dioxide and consuming it through respiration. A research report published in the Journal of Ecology found that Borneo soaks up, tree for tree, more carbon from the atmosphere than the Amazon rain forest! If this is the case, then any loss of those trees is likely to accelerate global warming.
If we are agreed that humans need the rainforests then please be aware that the rainforests in South East Asia need Orangutans; as their contribution to the environment is key by helping the forest to naturally regenerate. As Orangutan’s travel through the forest, they disperse seeds from the fruits that they eat (I’m sure you get my drift with how they do this….!) but, not only that, they open up the forest canopy by breaking off branches and creating gaps, which allows light to reach the forest floor, which helps the forest to regenerate naturally.
So what can we do? I agree with Iceland and the stance they are taking on having zero tolerance to palm oil in their products so let’s also take a minute to look at our products and only buy those free from palm oil. This website appears to be helpful in giving guidance: https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/palm-oil-free-list
With the support of fantastic people in my life and being pushed to ‘just do it’ via my participation in the Evolutionary Fast-track Qualification, I have recently raised £675 for the Orangutan Foundation UK by delivering a workshop ‘Challenging Leadership Mindsets’. If you would like to donate then please do so via the Orangutan Foundation UK web page: https://www.orangutan.org.uk/ and please send to me a copy of your donation so that I can thank you.
(Thanks to Wikipedea, WWF and OFUK for me to check my facts before posting this article!)