Posted on Tue, Jul 12, 2011 : 7:58 a.m.
Ann Arbor area Girl Scouts campaigning for cookie change expect follow-up from national leaders in August
By Paula Gardner
Two Ann Arbor area Girl Scouts hope to hear from the organization's national leaders in August as a follow-up in their quest to ban palm oil from Girl Scout Cookies like Thin Mints, according to the Detroit Free Press.
They told AnnArbor.com for a previous story that they'd been working on a public service project to bring attention to the plight of endangered orangutans in Borneo. The animals live in the rainforests that the cultivation of palm oil destroys, according to that report.
The girls met with scouting leaders in May, when they were featured on an ABC News program.
Comments
walker101
Wed, Jul 13, 2011 : 12:54 p.m.
Now the left has children spreading their ideologies through cookies for their own benefit. I am surprised they are not out in front of the local grocery stores gathering signatures for the recall of the governor.
grye
Tue, Jul 12, 2011 : 9 p.m.
Who cares.
asymptote
Wed, Jul 13, 2011 : 3:16 a.m.
Anyone reading this article
Macabre Sunset
Tue, Jul 12, 2011 : 7:37 p.m.
Ah, yes, more energy wasted on sanctimony. Perhaps the girls and the head of Girl Scouts can sit down for a cup of palm oil in the Rose Garden.
EyeHeartA2
Tue, Jul 12, 2011 : 5:16 p.m.
I'm convinced. I'm not spending a dime on GS cookies again. Thanks girls. You saved me money. Now I can get cookies from Kroger for abour 1/4 what you sell them for and feel good about saving the planet all at the same time. While I'm sure a couple of hundred extra in fees for camps and so on mean very little to a family that can afford to send their kids to Greenhills, it may make the difference for some of the less affluent in the troop. I hope it is worth it to these girls to bring the team down to prove a point.
cinnabar7071
Tue, Jul 12, 2011 : 6:25 p.m.
Too bad John missed your point Eye, but I think the girls my get what your saying.
John of Saline
Tue, Jul 12, 2011 : 5:57 p.m.
You assume there's no financial aid at Greenhills? Hint: many private school students don't pay full tuition. Many pay a LOT less.
Homeland Conspiracy
Tue, Jul 12, 2011 : 5 p.m.
PC Cookie Police! Only in A2...
Buster W.
Tue, Jul 12, 2011 : 4:37 p.m.
How about they just stop contributing to the obesity problem by selling cookies, altogether, and seek a different fundraising effort?
Buster W.
Tue, Jul 12, 2011 : 5:23 p.m.
John B., Sounds about right. It's actually pretty sad 80% goes to the manufacturer/GS Admin and only 20% to the girls. The way to beat this is to donate directly to the troop and they get 100%.
John B.
Tue, Jul 12, 2011 : 5:12 p.m.
About 50% goes to the manufacturer, IIRC. About 30% goes to the national GS organization, leaving 20% or so for the local troupe that actually sells them (about 70 cents per box, I believe). Fortunately, thin mints are addictive, though, so we can't stop buying them! I freeze mine, and eat them right out of the freezer - they are most excellent.
Bertha Venation
Tue, Jul 12, 2011 : 4:43 p.m.
Best idea yet, Buster! They're so full of artificial ingredients and expensive anyway. I've a feeling most of the $$ goes to the manufacturer and less to the GS.
Jon Tomczyk
Tue, Jul 12, 2011 : 3:10 p.m.
The Girls Scouts should give your staff writer a merit badge for spin...spin on behalf of the anti-palm oil lobby! It is well known that palm oil is grown on only 0.22% of the world's agricultural land and yet is the world's leading supplier of edible oil, supplying an incredible 30% of the world's edible oil. This fact alone should alert any objective observer that something does not jive with all the palm oil and deforestation hype. Greenpeace regularly trundles out wild and unsubstantiated claims against palm oil, but we all know that these kinds of covert operations against palm oil are well documented. For instance, In 2005, the oddly named Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) published a "report" called "Cruel Oil: How palm oil harms health, rainforest and wildlife" in which they made wild and unsubstantiated claims that palm oil cultivation was causing massive deforestation and threatening the extinction of biodiversity such as the orang utan. The report was prepared with the assistance of Aid Environment listed as partners with Hivos — a Netherlands based civil society group with direct links to campaigns in Indonesia. Hivos, in turn, is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs for up to two-thirds of its annual 100m Euro budget. A recent report by researchers Caroline Boin and Andrea Marchesetti entitled "Friends of the EU." (Vide: <a href="http://www.policynetwork.net/accountability/publication/friends-eu)showed" rel='nofollow'>http://www.policynetwork.net/accountability/publication/friends-eu)showed</a> that the EU, through its environmental ministries and commissions is involved in funding up to 70% of the operating budgets of FOE EU. The main drivers for these covert anti-palm oil campaigns are governments desperate to protect their indigenous edible oil producers who cannot compete on a level ground with the hyper yielding palm oil.. However, your staff writer has gone too far to rehash a story written by devious writers who are exploiting innocent young minds like these 2 pliable girl scouts to further their sly agenda!
PeeBee
Tue, Jul 12, 2011 : 2:38 p.m.
I think these girls should have done some research into the benefits of palm oil before they began their campaign. They seem to be victims of quick internet searches that bring up web pages put out there by NGOs that demonize palm oil. Plaster some pictures of cute primates in your website and people stop looking into the issue right there. This is sad. Palm oil is grown across the tropics and is a very important source of nutrition for indigenous peoples. Kagmi is incorrect. Palm oil is really good for you. Kagmi is citing some studies done in the U.S. on hydrogenated palm/coconut oils, which are bad for you. Here is a link on the health benefits of palm oil <a href="http://www.africanfoods.co.uk/palm-oil.html" rel='nofollow'>http://www.africanfoods.co.uk/palm-oil.html</a> Palm oils were used in the U.S. pre-1920's and were replaced by local vegetable oils that are full of Omega 6's and 9's. We get way too many of these oils and it is causing severe health problems in the U.S. We need to get back to using more health fats found in palm and coconut oils. For more reading go here <a href="http://www.westonaprice.org/" rel='nofollow'>http://www.westonaprice.org/</a> I would hope that these girls refocus their efforts into creating a "fair trade" organization governing palm oil whose goal is to certify that palm oil being sold is not from an ecologically sensitive area. A blanket "ban all palm oil" stance is unproductive and also hurts many native people's chances at earning a good wage to support their families.
Bertha Venation
Tue, Jul 12, 2011 : 1:57 p.m.
hmmm. Didn't know about the palm oil, but I hope they keep using real girl scouts.
Steve Pepple
Tue, Jul 12, 2011 : 12:59 p.m.
A typo has been fixed in the story. Thank you to the reader for pointing it out.
Kagmi
Tue, Jul 12, 2011 : 12:37 p.m.
Awesome. The whole palm oil thing is something that really needs attention. It not only destroys precious the extremely precious rainforest, it's also one of the least healthy vegetable oils you can get. I wasn't aware of it when I was selling Girl Scout cookies back in the day, it's great to hear now that they're working to change this.
asymptote
Tue, Jul 12, 2011 : 1:27 p.m.
Getting palm Oil has been shown to kill orangutans
cinnabar7071
Tue, Jul 12, 2011 : 12:15 p.m.
This story again? No new news?