Girl Scouts petition cookie maker to ban orangutan habitat destroying palm oil ingredient
Their project was raising awareness of the threat to orangutans from destruction of tropical rainforest habitat to make way for palm oil plantations. Then Vorva and Tomtishen, who were in seventh grade at the time, realized that the cookies sold to raise funds for Girl Scouts were part of the problem. Thin Mints, Trefoils and the nine other varieties of Girl Scout cookies contain palm oil. Determined to make a difference, the girls started Project ORANGS, a national campaign to make Girl Scout cookies rainforest-safe. They’ve inspired people to send more than 70,000 emails to the CEO of Girl Scouts USA (GSUSA), circulated a petition signed by the likes of Jane Goodall, and collaborated on the creation of a “Rainforest Heroes” badge.
Vorva and Tomtishen earned a partial victory in late September when GSUSA announced plans to move to a sustainable source of palm oil by 2015.
Jen Horton, "Girl Scouts Take Aim at their Own Cookie Ingredients," YES! Magazine, Winter 2012. http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/the-yes-breakthrough-15/girl-scouts-ta...
[verified 4/17/14]