Life Among the Palms
The Protector of the Forest
By: Gianni Pompili, Marcos Ramirez, Spencer Goryl,
Josh Epstein, Jertell Hathorn
Deforestation in Malaysia is possibly one of the harshest crimes ever committed
against the environment. Already 65% of Malaysia’s tropical forests have been
depleted, but luckily there are a few people like Thomas King who are courageous enough to combat big
corporations (King). King is a relatively new activist looking into the palm oil crisis and trying to save forests
and animals in Sumatra and Borneo. He started to get interested in palm oil when he saw an ad on TV of a
dying orangutan dragging itself along a landscape of endless forest destruction (King). After watching the
video he realized that everyone around him in his hometown of Melbourne, Australia was contributing to the
deforestation and animalist. He decided he needed to take a stand, so he created a website to educate people,
he works with humanitarian companies and environmentalists, and spreads awareness about the impact of
palm oil with the people of Malaysia (King).
Thomas King’s website is called SayNoToPalmOil.com. Its goal is to bring awareness to consumers to put an
end to the social and environmental impacts of palm oil. The website started out small and had few visitors,
but it now receives half a million views each year from over 180 countries (King). His website says that
avoiding all palm oil is not the answer. The oil itself is not harmful and can even have positive aspects, but the
way it is obtained is awful (King). The website preaches the benefits of avoiding palm oil such as showing
what will happen to rainforests if palm oil production continues, and introduces the stunning hard facts about
the destruction of the forests. The production of palm oil has already destroyed 80% of Malaysia’s noble
rainforests. Using sustainable