The Orangutan Project

On Sunday 2nd I walked with some of my friends and some representatives from The Orangutan Project to help them raise money.  We all wore orange to show our support, and managed to raise $1,030 all up to help the orangutans.  If you would like to donate some more, the donations stay open for a little while longer, here (until October 14th 2012).

The Orangutan Project is a not-for-profit organisation that supports "orangutan conservation, rainforest protection, local community partnerships and the rehabilitation and reintroduction of displaced orangutans back to the wild, in order to save the two orangutan species from extinction".

One of the biggest reasons that orangutans are under threat is due to the use of palm oil in the food industries.  The clearance of rainforest causes the displacement (and sometimes intentional slaughter) of orangutans.  You can help by avoiding products that contain palm oil, emailing companies that use palm oil, and asking for stricter labelling laws so that you know which products that contain palm oil (it can be labelled as vegetable oil).

I had a great day just cruising along and talking with my friends.  We even found a pro-vegan sign to take a photo of!  It was so cool to come across a sign like that in amongst all the car, music, bank and other advertising.

Keep an eye out next year as we'll be raising money for Farm Animal Rescue!  Hopefully soon I'll also put up a post about palm oil.