Why no coconut oil in Good Karma Products Incorporated Products?
Coconut oil is a very popular ingredient in soaps and occasionally candles. However, due to environmental concerns Good Karma Products Incorporate does not currently utilize coconut oils in our products. The majority of coconut oil in the United States is produced from South East Asia. Unfortunately the same issues surrounding palm oil permeate coconut oil.
Large amounts of jungles are being clear cut in South East Asia to provide coconut oil for our insatiable demand. Below are some statistics from palm oil plantations which are equally true for coconut oil produced from the same region:
- The Indonesian government has announced plans to convert approximately 18 million more hectares of rain forests, an area the size of Missouri, into palm oil plantations by 2020.
- Deforestation causes eighty percent of Indonesia’s CO2 emissions, making the tropical nation the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
Above information from: (http://www.ran.org/palm_oil_fact_sheet)
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Up to 300 football fields of forest are cleared every HOUR to make room for veg oil plantations
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In the past 10 years, the orangutan population has decreased by 50 percent as the result of habitat loss from forest clearing for palm plantations
- There are only 6,300 Sumatran orangutans left. It is estimated that 1,000 orangutans are killed a year, a major factor in these deaths being forest clearing for palm production. In 2006, at least 1,500 orangutans were clubbed to death by palm workers
Above information from (http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/top-10-facts-you-need-to-know-about-palm-oil/)
Until a supply source can be found, for responsible coconut oil, we will continue to omit it from our products. We believe it is likely that we identify a eco-friendly source in the near term.