You’re passionate about wildlife, right?

That’s why I’m excited to tell you about this one simple thing about your Halloween candy purchase that will help solve one of the biggest threats to wildlife we face today.

This is such a simple, feel good way to take action, that each and everyone of us can make a huge difference with this small step.

You have probably heard that Palm Oil is destroying the rain forest and the orangutans that live there. But you may not know that it’s not just Indonesia forests and it’s wildlife that suffer from the destruction of Palm Oil plantations.

Palm Oil is now alongside poaching as the biggest threats to the extinction of Africa’s iconic wildlife species. From 1990 – 2007 Africa’s Ivory Coast lost 90%, yes 90%, of its wild chimpanzees because of deforestation due in large part to Palm Oil.

It is so serious that within the next 10 – 25 years there will be no wild chimpanzees, gorillas or bonobos (let alone orangutans) if the Palm Oil industry continues on its current forest cutting trajectory.

It’s not only the Great Apes that the loss of forest habitat effects.

Palm Oil companies cut down everything in their path to make way for the plantations. We loose an entire ecosystem and all the biodiversity of the area as well.

The shocking thing is that Palm oil is not a necessary ingredient for anything. It could easily be substituted with other kinds of oil.

The Good News is, as Jane Goodall always says, “Each of us can Make a Difference” to change the horrible Palm Oil destruction.

How?

Consumers – you and me – have used our buying power to create fat-free and gluten-free foods. Now, we can do the same with ‘Palm oil-free’ foods while saving the great apes and the biodiversity of the forests they live in at the same time.

Here’s 1 simple thing to do Right Now:

Candy is among the many products that use liberal amounts of Palm Oil. And in America we are entering candy season. With your Halloween, Christmas (and Valentines) candy purchases you can make a huge difference by letting candy manufactures know we won’t tolerate the use of palm oil any longer. Speak with your purchases.

I have made it easy for you.

All you have to do is avoid buying candy that lists Palm or Palm Kernel oil as an ingredient, and Spread the word about this by sending this information out Now to all the teachers, mothers, fathers and friends you have before they make their holiday candy purchases.

To make it easy for you to help wildlife by purchasing candy without Palm Oil, I went to the sweets section and checked the ingredients of the different popular candies.

Here is what I found:

Candy that does not list Palm Oil in its ingredients —OK to Buy



Also good are Pops, Jolly Ranchers and Werthers Caramels.

Halloween Candy that Has Palm Oil —- Avoid these candies

Other candies that contain Palm Kernel Oil are Kit Kat, Milk Duds, Tootsie Rolls, Twizzlers, Milky Way and Baby Ruth Bars.

By the way, Palm Kernel Oil is one of the worst types of oils for your health, says health guru, Dr. Weil , “the oil must be extracted from the pit with a gasoline-like hydrocarbon solvent. In short, palm kernel oil is a cheap, unhealthy fat, and I recommend avoiding food products containing it…”.

You will be saving yourself as well as the planet by looking at labels and avoiding the toxic stuff.

When I was scoping out Palm Oil ingredients I found something that shocked me.

Are you a fan of ‘Kind’ Nut Bars. You know the ones that make you feel good about your purchase with the statement on each wrapper that says…”Do the Kind thing for your Body, your Taste Buds, and the Planet.“

Don’t Be Fooled.

Well, what do you imagine I found when looking at the Kind bar Yogurt flavor ingredient list?

Yep. Palm Kernel Oil!

If you really want to be Kind to the Planet, and help wildlife, turns out you need to avoid Kind Bars. Apparently their product and feel good packaging are bad for our bodies and the planet, and is just a marketing gimmick. (A SavingWild reader of this post contacted Kind 3 years ago when I originally posted about Kind Bars and the company said they were working to remove it. Three years later, guess what? Palm Oil is STILL in many of their bars.)

Please take the easy action to help wildlife this Holiday Season to buy only Halloween Candy without palm oil.

And spread this post so that we as consumers can make a sweet difference for wildlife and the earth this holiday season.

My list of candies was short (and sweet) to give you quick options.

I hope you will add any brands or favorite Halloween candy you find with or without Palm Oil to our comments below so we can all continue to be informed.