sharaticku

There are thousands of different palm species, not all of which produce the oil palm fruit, which is the starting point for palm oil. The main palm tree species that produces oil palm fruit is Elaeis Guineensis. This species can only grow within 5-10 degrees of the equator.

There are many palm species in California, but they do not produce oil palm fruit.

Unfortunately, the situation for many people living "there" (in Malaysia and Indonesia, primarily) is that their land is taken from them by palm oil conglomerates, and then they are forced into low-wage labor on the plantations. They went from self-sufficent to conditions that look like forced labor. The AP presented extensive reporting on this 3 months ago: https://apnews.com/article/indonesia-slavery-asia-malaysia-o...

It's really hard to do this - nearly impossible to cut out palm oil just by boycotting. It's a $60 billion industry and it's found in 50% of products on supermarket shelves (soap, shampoo, Nutella, Oreos, pie crust, peanut butter, Earth Balance, (!!)).

And it can go under so many names after it's been processed by the Oleochemical industry - https://www.ran.org/the-understory/palm_oil_s_dirty_secret_t...