This time of year

Sorry, its been a while since we last posted. No excuses really- we've been around, not particularly busy- just not posting!

So its 25 days until Christmas... a time of the year that I have never particularly enjoyed to be honest.
I have found it stressful, expensive and overall way too commercial. Around October, shops and malls start their advertising, lulling you into their stores to buy crap that you, and your loved ones, probably don't need.

So how do we make this time of year a more focussed, less commercial and ultimately more enjoyable time?

Well, I'm not entirely sure. But I do have some ideas.

Christmas means lots of things to different people. For us, its the celebration of the birth of Christ. Not the most important celebration of the year, but important nevertheless.
For us, it shouldn't be about the presents, the tree, the food. Not saying those things aren't great- though we don't really do a tree. (does a Kauri count? probably. It'll be the first time in years we will have decorated something).
So here are my ideas:

Less presents. Less crap. If you're buying presents, think about what they are, where they come from and whether they will actually be used/loved/needed. Try making something? Many people we know do baking for christmas- which can be good especially if its freezable.
In our family, we have started drawing a name out of a hat which means we only buy/make for one couple. So you still get presents, just less- but probably more awesome/personalised ones.
On a side note, those packaged christmas cookies are terrible. Does anyone actually like them? Cookie time cookies are yum and palm oil free.

If you don't enjoy it, don't do it. If the thought of putting up a tree gives you the cold sweats, perhaps reconsider why you do it. If it's important to your family, then maybe do it as a family, or delegate it to someone who wants to do it.

Food. Christmas food can be whatever you want it to be. We are lucky in NZ having Christmas over summer so we are more comfortable with the idea of a BBQ on Christmas day. Don't feel pressured into doing the big roast if you really don't want to. My family did an eggs benedict brunch last year and plan to do it again this year. It helps that my sister in law is a great cook and did a fantastic job, but you can do whatever works.

What helps you stay grounded at Christmas? Do you disagree with anything we've said? Please share your thoughts/arguements etc!

DIY Cleaning Products: Tips

One of the problems we have found with making out own cleaning products is that they tend to solidify over time (especially if the area they are stored in gets cold overnight). We are talking here about recipes that use soap of some kind (for us that means, dish washing liquid, hand wash, and laundry detergent). Commercial products contain ingredients to stop that happening but not when you make it yourself. Here are some tips to solve this problem:

• Make sure you use the right amount of liquid and soap when you make up the recipe 
• Always give the bottle a shake before using.
• If it gets really thick then pour the bottle into a mixing bowl, add a little boiling water at a time while mixing with an electric mixer on low or a whisk. When it looks like the right consistency pour it back into the bottle.
• Ecostore soap makes products of a better consistency than Sunlight Soap. 

Let us know if you have any other issues.

While I'm talking about this, I found yet another source of soap; Trade Aid. You can buy their soaps from Trade Aid stores or online and they only cost $3. As everything Trade Aid sells is fair trade so these are sustainably  produced (even the palm oil!) and the workers get a fair wage. More info here. I have not yet tried these soaps in a recipe but I don't see any reason they would be much different to the Ecostore soaps as they have similar ingredients.

Anybody found another good source of soap?

DIY Cleaning Products & Ecostore

Like the new blog design? I got distracted when I was meant to be writing this post!

If you are looking for an more environmentally friendly alternative to sunlight soap that doesn't cost $10 a bar then try  Ecostore bar soaps. I picked up one for about $1.80 from New World. They are a bit smaller than the average bar soap so to get the same amount as 1/2 a bar of sunlight soap (as required in this recipe) you will need almost a whole bar (60g out of a total of 80g to be exact, use scales is my advice).

Now, they do contain palm oil and I have given Ecostore a lot of flak in the past about their use of so called 'sustainable' palm oil. But recently Ecostore have been using a programme called GreenPalm. This is how their website describes the programme:

"Ecostore supports the production of sustainable palm oil through the GreenPalm programme. This means that for every tonne of palm oil/palm kernel oil we use in the production of ecostore products we have paid a voluntary premium to a palm oil producer which is operating within the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm oil’s (RSPO) strict guidelines for social and environmental responsibility." - http://www.ecostore.co.nz/about/palmoil.html

The way I understand it is that for every tonne of palm oil Ecostore buys, they send a premium directly to RSPO sustainable growers regardless as to whether Ecostore actually bought any palm oil from those growers. This is necessary because at the moment it is impossible to know which grower grew a particular shipment of palm oil or whether any of it is sustainable. This is because palm oil from different growers is mixed up when it is processed. The GreenPalm programme means that sustainable growers are rewarded despite the lack of traceability in the industry.

This is a major improvement from Ecostore's previous policy ('we're a member of RSPO so it's all ok') but it still relies on the RSPO definitions and policies on what 'sustainable' palm oil is (which are not ideal) and on their auditing system (which, from what I've read is practically non-existent). More on the RSPO here.

So as far as I see it, GreenPalm certified palm oil is a big improvement and I think it is good enough to be supported as a step in the right direction, but it should not stop there!

The Good Stuff: Cookies!

This segment highlights the good things out there. Products that by design or chance are free of all the ingredients and practices that we keep banging on about. So enjoy!


I'm not sure if we have mentioned this before but pretty much all supermarket biscuits contain (or probably contain) palm oil. We don't eat a lot of biscuits but when we do we generally make out own. But when you want a biscuit in a hurry though what are your options? 

DIY Cleaning Products ep.2

Anyone try the DIY spray cleaner and glass cleaner? If you haven't, you should it's really good. Anyway here's the next one to try. It's a bit more complex and you will need to do some specialist shopping but it is worth it. If you want to try some to see if it works as good as the store bought stuff; you can buy it ready made here, 


(This is another one from Wendyl Nissen by the way)

Fair Trade: Palm Oil?

Those of you that have been following my crusade against all thing palm over the last few months might be surprised that I have found a product containing palm oil that I'm happy to buy. Here it is:
Made by an american company, They are 100% organic and 100% fair trade. Yes they contain palm oil, see more info here. Now you might notice that the fair trade logo is not the usual one that we are used to seeing. They are certified by a fairtrade organisation called 'fair for life' check them out here. 


Why use palm oil in soap? Well one NZ soap company says "Soap without palm oil is like a cake without sugar." and it certainly seems impossible to find a natural soap without palm oil. The reason we are interested in soap of all things is we have recently become interested in making our cleaning products, inspired by Wendyl Nissen. Check out her site here and buy the cool soaps here. Look out for some posts about make your own cleaning products soon!

Roundtable On Sustainable Palm Oil launch new Logo

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) has launched a new logo, Read about it here. No idea if we will see it on products in NZ, but it raises some important issues. If you saw the logo on a product in NZ would it encourage people to buy it? Would that decision be based on sound information or simply because it sounds environmentally friendly? This blog article raises many issues, some of which I will look at here.

Lets get one thing straight, RSPO certified palm oil products are more environmentally friendly than non-certified palm oil products. The question is, are they good enough? I am a big fan of the idea that we don't need to buy ethically perfect products right now (many simply don't exist yet). What we need to do is buy the most ethical product that is available and create demand for positive change. But if palm oil free products are more ethical than RSPO certified products then staying palm oil free still the preferred option.


Whats the problem?

Auckland Zoo says "only around 4% of the world's palm oil is certifiably sustainable and this 4% cannot be traced back to the plantation that produced it... At present, being a member of the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) - an industry led group, not an independent body - is still not a 100% guarantee that palm oil is from a sustainable source"

So even if a product carries the RSPO logo this is no guarantee that all of the palm palm oil used is sustainable. The RSPO at the end of the day is a voluntary, industry led organisation and has limits as to how much change it can make at the local level.


So if you have no palm oil free options then RSPO certified products could be worth buying. Or you could decide that on balance certified palm oil is better than the alternatives as Ecostore do, but I simply do not see how it could be justifed. Ecostore says "The other alternative to palm oil is a petrochemical, but this unsustainable." True, petrochemicals are unsustainable, one day they will run out; but is this a problem? I would rather we ran out of petrochemicals than orangutans. 


I could be wrong here, I'm no expert, what do you think?

Fair Trade Fortnight: Chocolate

We have found that Fairtrade chocolate is by far the easiest Fairtrade item to get excited about! Aside from the obvious- that chocolate is amazingly great- it's also fairly easy to purchase Fairtrade chocolate.

Chocolate is the kind of product that many people claim they 'cant live without'. What used to be a luxury product which only the rich could afford is now something which kids can buy with their pocket money.

Oxfam (NZ) has estimated that  

"More than 70 per cent of the world’s cocoa is grown in tropical West Africa, where over 10 million people are dependent on cocoa farming for their income.

Historically, Chocolate- or Cacao, as the raw product is called- comes from South and Central America.
It was the Spanish that took it to Europe and consequently set up colonial plantations in Africa, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and other countries where Cacao was not traditionally grown. This was at a time when slavery was rife and acceptable. Slavery was abolished in England 1838, USA 1865, and prohibited internationally in 1926 by the slave convention. Despite this, according to the International Justice Mission (IJM) there are approximately 27 million slaves in the world today which is more than in any other time in history. Many of these slaves still work on cocoa plantations. Fairtrade isn't specifically about stopping slavery though- there are many fantastic organisations which do outstanding work in this area.
The Fairtrade association (international) do state that they are:

 "building partnerships with leading international development organizations specializing in projects on location to protect children from the worst forms of child labour. 

ICCO, which is the International Cocoa Organisation* has stated in their International Cocoa Agreement of 2010 that

"Members shall give consideration to improving the standard of living and working conditions of populations engaged in the cocoa sector, consistent with their stage of development, bearing in mind internationally  recognized principles and applicable ILO** standards. Furthermore, Members agree that labour standards shall not be used for protectionist trade purposes."

Fairtrade cocoa allows the cocoa farmer to make a good living as the fair trade standards include a minimum price. For those who love graphs, here's a good one which shows the difference between fair trade and the New York Market prices: http://www.fairtrade.net/fileadmin/user_upload/content/2009/products/Cocoa_Price_Chart_94-08.pdf "




Where to buy:
Several manufacturers in NZ produce Fairtrade chocolate. 
- All Scarborough Fair products are fair trade including their chocolate range and are available in supermarkets
- Similarly Trade Aid products are all fair trade but are mainly available in Trade Aid stores.
- Candbury's 'Dairy Milk' range is fair trade (but not their other flavours - check for the fair trade logo) 
- Whittakers 'Creamy Milk' range is fair trade (but not their other flavours - check for the fair trade logo)


The great thing about fair trade chocolate is that usually (at least in the case of Candbury and Whittakers) it does not cost any more; and as there is no fair trade palm oil, it will taste better too.


*www.icco.org ICCO is composed of both cocoa producing and cocoa consuming countries with a membership. http://www.icco.org/pdf/agree10english.pdf 
** International Labour Organisation http://www.ilo.org/ run by the UN and is an international organization responsible for drawing up and overseeing international labour standards.


References:
http://www.fairtrade.net/fileadmin/user_upload/content/2009/about_fairtrade/Factsheet_Fairtrade_Fights_Child_Labour.pdf
http://www.oxfam.org.nz/what-we-do/issues/fair-trade/about-fairtrade/fairtrade-chocolate
www.ijm.org
http://www.tearfund.org.nz/about-us/newsroom.html?articleid=265&k=slavery

Dynamo: Palm Oil Free

We got a reply from Colgate-Palmolive today, and, we quote "Dynamo does not contain any palm oil in its ingredients". So while there is probably cleaning products out there that a better for the environment, palm oil is not one of Dynamo's crimes.

As we went though this process we realised that even so called 'green' companies use palm oil. Ecostore, for example, freely admit as much on their website (http://www.ecostore.co.nz/about/palmoil.html). It seems odd that a 'green' specialist company uses palm oil when a mainstream manufacturer does not, but it is because ecostore are not only 'green' but 'natural'. Dynamo is almost certainly petrochemical based, and ecostore is plant based. The debate about petrochemicals is for a different day, but beware because 'natural' and 'green' are not aways compatible.


We would be remiss not to mention that ecostore are members of the roundtable on sustainable palm oil (www.rspo.org) but ecostore admit that this does not mean that all the palm oil they use is sustainable.

Ingredients lists

We'd be fools to not start with the list on the back of the products... which we nearly didn't do!

As mentioned in the previous post, the Auckland Zoo website has a great 'shopping guide' to help you find non palm oil products. At the very end of the list they have a section designed to help you look at ingredients lists on products to find what is palm oil by a different name:

"Palm oil kernel, anything containing the words “Palmitate” or “Palmate”, Elaeis gunieensis (taxonomic name for palm oil), Hydrated Palm Gylcerides, Hexadecanoic or Palmitic Acid."

 They also list ingredients which might be palm oil:

"Vegetable oil, Anything containing the words “stearate, stearyl”, Anything containing the words “cetyl, cetearyl”, Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS), Sodium Laureth Sulphate, Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate (SDS or NaDS), Sodium or Calcium Stearoyl Lactylate, Steareth -2 and Steareth -20, Emulsifier 422, 430-36, 465-67, 470-8, 481-483, 493-5, 570"

To be honest, its a little scary reading the back of these products. They seem more like a chemistry textbook than something you'd put in your hair (Pantene), wash your clothes with (Dynamo) or even scarier, wipe your babies bum with (Huggies). We realise that these are mostly just fancy names for some pretty standard ingredients, but still!

Pantene: Ammonium laureth sulfate can be derived from coconut oil or palm oil, so we will be writing to the manufacturer to clarify which one.

Huggies wipes: It looks like Huggies wipes are palm oil free, Potassium Laureth Phosphate could be a problem but to be sure we will email the company.

Dynamo: New Zealand's labelling laws mean that if a product isn't used on the body or consumed, a company does not legally need to list the ingredients on the bottle. We did find this online though, thanks to the website listed on the bottle itself! Here is the link for your reference: http://www.colgate.com.au/app/Colgate/AU/HC/Product-Ingredients/Dynamo.cvsp nothing seems to contain palm oil, but we will write to the manufacturer to be sure. Good on Colgate-Palmolive PTY LTD. for providing more information than legally required to.

We will email these three companies and let you all know how we get on. If there are any products which anyone wants us to look into, please let us know and we'll do our very best!

Cheers

Welcome and Palm Oil

Hi and welcome to our blog. Join us in finding better ways to live.


Recently we have become concerned about the use of palm oil in food and other products. Palm oil is responsible for massive deforestation in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia, forests which are home to some of the worlds most endangered species such as Sumatran Tigers, Asian rhinos, Asian elephants and Orangutans. The problem is that palm oil is found in 10% of all grocery products and does not have to be labeled (In NZ at least). More in formation about palm oil can be found at Auckland Zoo's website: http://www.aucklandzoo.co.nz/conservation/buy-palm-oil-free/palm-oil-facts.aspx 
The first step to eliminating palm oil from our household is buying products from Auckland Zoo's palm oil free shopping guide: http://www.aucklandzoo.co.nz/media/701178/palm_oil_free_shopping_list.pdf
So here is a list of 'suspect' products that we buy. Join us in investigating these products for palm oil:
Dynamo laundry detergent 
Huggies unscented baby wipes
Pantene shampoo and conditioner


Buy Palm Oil Free NZ Facebook  page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Buy-Palm-Oil-Free/105046979577360