Persuasive Speech of Policy
Channel: Lauren Danczak
Date: 2015-12-03

Title:  Policy regarding sustainable palm oil harvesting
Topic:  Sustainable palm oil practices 
Specific Purpose Statement:  Palm Oil is found in many favorite cookies, candies, and beauty supplies.  Are we aware of how consumption of these products is affecting the earth’s wildlife?
Thesis Statement: Unsustainable palm oil practices have caused deforestation of millions of acres of tropical rain forests, leading to dangerously low orangutan populations and driving human trafficking and human rights violations. 
I.  ATTENTION
A.  notice some changes at the zoo.
B.  Hubbard Orangutan Forest
C.  Palm oil sign 
D.  In 2011, according to James Eng from NBC News, “Environmentalists say the illegal clearing of rainforests in Southeast Asia to make room for palm oil plantations has pushed the orangutan to the brink of extinction and threatens other native animals” (Eng, 2011).   
II. NEED
A.  baked goods and cosmetics.  
B.  Demand for palm oil has surged in the last few years, making it the most consumed vegetable oil in the world (Al-Mahmood, 2015).   It works as a preservative, a binder, helping these goods resist crumbling and spoiling (Eng, 2011).  
C.   Southeast Asia. 
D.   Charlsie Dewey of the Grand Rapids Business Journal, palm oil is a $50 Billion a year industry (Dewey, 2014).  Oil palms grow best in the climatic zones harboring moist tropical rainforests, which are the earth’s most biologically rich and terrestrial ecosystems (Smit, 2013).  
E. Burning.  Driven out wildlife and Indigenous.   According to Tunnicliffe and Webber of The Chemical Engineer journal, “Once the indigenous people are forcibly removed some go to work on the plantations for low pay, poor treatment and bad living conditons.  People not employed find themselves with nowhere to live and no source of food as they previously depended on the rainforest” (Tunnicliffe, 2012).
III.  SATISFACTION
A.  We can all help.  Palm oil doesn’t have to be bad news (Tunnicliffe, 2012).  
B. Be an educated consumer.  Kelloggs, Proctor and Gamble and Dunkin Donuts, Baskin Robbins  According to Christine Riley Miller, Senior Director of Corporate Social Responsibility for Dunkin Brands, “Sourcing even limited amounts of palm oil irresponsibly can contribute to deforestation, loss of natural habitats and other environmental and human rights concerns” (National, 2014).  
C. Use land that has already been degraded.  According to a journal written for Plos One, “In the face of increasing global scarcity of arable land an often proposed solution to reduce rain forest conversion is to focus agricultureal expansion and intensification on land that has already been degraded instead of opening up lands still covered in natural vegetation (Smit, 2013).  
IV.  VISUALIZATION
A.  Next time you and your family visit the zoo, you could have a very different experience than the B.  thanks to conservation efforts.
V.  ACTION
A.  Check labels.   
B. Look for the RSPO logo 
C. Contact representatives
D.  Buy from companies that have made commitments to use only sustainable palm oil,  Webber of TCE states that, “National commitments are an excellent way to encourage all the links in the palm oil supply chain to take responsibility for making sustainable palm oil the norm rather than the exception, and the RSPO will continue to work with the national governments to achieve their goals” (Tunnicliffe, 2012).
References
Al-Mahmood, S. Z. (2015, July 26) Palm-oil migrant workers tell of abuses on Malaysian plantations. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://www.wsj.com/articles/palm-oil-migrant-workers-tell-of-abuses-on-malaysian-plantations-1437933321
Dewey, C. (2014). Kellogg adopts new environmental commitment. Grand Rapids Business Journal, 32(12), 4.
Eng, J. (2011, September 29) Girl Scouts pledge to limit palm-oil use in cookies. NBC News. Retrieved from http://www.nbcnews.com/id/44718393/ns/world_news-world_environment/t/girl-scouts-pledge-limit-palm-oil-use-cookies/#.VhVCTVLJC9I
Morgan, J. (2014, February 10). Creating ripples for positive change. World Wildlife Fund. www.worldwildlife.org/stories/creating-ripples-for-positive-change
National Public Radio. (2014, September 16). Dunkin' brands announces commitment to 100% sustainable palm oil. PR Newswire US. 
Proctor & Gamble. (2014, July 24). P&G launches work with small farmers to ensure no deforestation in its palm oil supply chain. Business Wire (English).
Smit, H. H., Meijaard, E., van der Laan, C., Mantel, S., Budiman, A., & Verweij, P. (2013). Breaking the link between environmental degradation and oil palm expansion: A method for enabling sustainable oil palm expansion. Plos ONE, 8(9), 1. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0068610
Tunnicliffe, H, & Webber, D. (2012). Orangutans, deforestation and the problem of palm oil. TCE: The Chemical Engineer, (858/859), 24-25.