Palm oil is an inescapable part of everyday life. As the new research from the Independent shows, it is now virtually impossible to avoid buying products that contain palm oil in every supermarket, chemist and sweet shop in Britain. Considering the fact that this commodity is now one of the most environmentally damaging on earth, this can seem like a gloomy prospect - but there are a few reasons for hope.
The guilty secrets of palm oil: Are you unwittingly contributing to the devastation of the rain forests? Palm oil in Brtain's top brands Big brands: Palm oil policy How Britons fuel destruction of the rainforest Lone Droscher-Nielsen: The destruction of the rainforests amounts to orangutan genocide Leading article: An oil shock we cannot ignore
In Indonesia, the picture is extremely worrying. In the last two decades, millions of hectares of rainforest have been destroyed to make way for new plantations. Peat forests and swamps which have stood for ...