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Saturday, April 2, 2011

Save the rainforest and the animals!

We went to see Born to be Wild this morning.  It was all about orphaned orangutans and elephants and the people who help raise them and release them into the wild. 

After the movie, we were talking about why these animals are orphans and how humans play such a big part in these animals lives and the situations that they are in.  It led to a  discussion on what we can do to help.  They briefly showed a palm oil plantation in the movie and we talked a little bit about how the producers of palm oil are tearing down the rain forest and taking over the orangutans' home (you can read more about it here).  I asked the kids what they thought we could do to help.  they suggested we stop buying products with palm oil in them, donate money to these organizations, and do our part to help the earth.  Then Carter, my little activist decided that making signs was the appropriate way to spread the word.  In a compromise to keep him and Samantha from posting these signs all over the neighborhood, we decided to post this here.   So, from Carter and Samantha:

Don’t buy anything with Palm Oil!

 SmileSad smileSmile

carter

The red and orange are warning colors, of course. 

We did go through our pantry to see what we would be giving up (nutella – ouch!), and the kids said they would do it.  It turns out that most things with palm oil in them aren’t that great for you anyways.  I can guarantee we won’t be perfect, but we are going to make a conscious effort to avoid buying palm oil.  It’s my way of teaching my kids that we’re a part of something bigger I guess. 

And honestly, it makes my little hippie heart happy. 

1 comments:

Kristi said...

Aw, way to go you little hippie! Well, maybe I won't buy Nutella then. I'd been thinking about it, but that just made up my mind!