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Winners! Two Girl Scouts Convince Kelloggs to Use Only Deforestation-Free Palm Oil

Thanks to a seven-year-long campaign by two teenage Mighty Girls, Rhiannon Tomtishen and Madison Vorva, Girl Scouts will no longer have to choose, as Madison explains, “between selling cookies and getting to camp or choosing rainforest deforestation and orangutan extinction.” Since 2006, the 18-year-olds from Michigan have been leading a nationwide campaign calling on the Girl Scouts to remove unsustainably-harvested palm oil from their famous cookies and, this week, their efforts paid off. Kellogg’s, one of the primary producers of Girl Scout cookies, announced that it will switch to deforestation-free palm oil.Inspired by the work of primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall, Rhiannon and Madison decided to start a public service project in 2006 to raise awareness of the endangered orangutans of Borneo and Sumatra for their Girl Scout Bronze Award. The then 10-year-old girls soon discovered that palm oil production is one of the biggest largest drivers of deforestation in Southeast Asia and threatens the habitat of, among other animals, endangered orangutans and tigers. When Girl Scout cookie season arrived, they were dismayed to learn that the cookies they sold each year contained palm oil as a prominent ingredient.“We were so shocked,” Rhiannon explained, “The Girl Scout mission statement is to make the world a better place. We were surprised the values didn’t line up.” She added that “We thought it would be an easy fix,” and that they could just ask the Girl Scouts to remove the ingredient. They started Project ORANGS (Orangutans Really Appreciate and Need Girl Scouts) to help get their message out.

Ultimately, it would take seven years of campaigning, including running a petition drive in conjunction with Rainforest Action Network, a letter-writing campaign, and many media and publicity events, to achieve their long-sought after goal. In this week’s announcement, Kellogg announced that it will only use sustainable palm oil and, under the commitment, Kellogg’s suppliers will have to meet specific sustainable sourcing criteria by the end of 2015. Approximately 200 million boxes of Girl Scout cookies are sold every year in the US.

And, this agreement could have far-reaching effects on the industry. As Sharon Smith of the Union of Concerned Scientists, which is campaigning to clean up the palm oil industry, stated, “This is a gold star day for Kellogg’s. Their efforts to source sustainable deforestation-free palm oil will help pull the industry towards palm oil that is deforestation-free.”

For their part, Rhiannon and Madison are thrilled that their efforts have paid off and have learned a tremendous amount during their seven-year-long campaign. Madison explained, “Something I’ve learned from this is that businesses have a huge responsibility and a huge amount of power. Corporate responsibility is something I’m really interested in.”

Along this long journey, Rhiannon and Madison have been widely recognized for their hard work and impressive determination to save endangered wildlife and protect the rainforests. The pair received the distinguished Brower Youth Awards in 2011 and, last year, were honored at the United Nations with the first ever UN Forest Heroes Award.

Congratulations to Rhiannon and Madison on their long-awaited victory! We look forward to learning about your next campaign!

To read more on Mongabay, visit http://bit.ly/1gLa9so. To check out these Mighty Girls’ ORANGS website, visit http://projectorangs.org/

If you’d like to encourage your Mighty Girl’s interest in exploring and protecting the natural world, check out our new blog post, “Mighty Careers: I Want To Be A Wildlife Biologist!”, filled with our recommendations for girl-empowering books, toys, and clothing at http://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=6004

For many books for young readers about Jane Goodall, visit A Mighty Girl’s “Jane Goodall Collection” at http://www.amightygirl.com/character-collection/historical-characters-2?cat=662

For Mighty Girl stories that teach about the importance of environmental conservation, visit our special collection of the “Top Children’s Books about the Environment” at http://www.amightygirl.com/mighty-girl-picks/top-children-s-books-on-the-environment

And, for more stories for both children and teens of inspiring girls and women who worked to change the world, visit our “Activist” section in Biographies at http://www.amightygirl.com/books/history-biography/biography?cat=207

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