Another Reason Not to Eat Cereal

For those of you who haven’t gone Paleo, and are still eating cereal thinking ‘I feel fine when I eat my Frosted Flakes, Raisin Bran or Special K’ (by the way, even if you ‘feel fine’, the grains are still having their way with your guts…just sayin’…), this may be of interest to you, too.

Kellogg’s has “just launched a partnership with Wilmar International, the world’s largest palm oil trader. The palm oil industry has had a devastating impact on the forests of Southeast Asia, wiping out millions of hectares of forest and releasing hundreds of millions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere every year. And even among palm oil companies, Wilmar is especially terrible: Satellite evidence recently proved that it’s been illegally logging on protected forests for decades.  Wilmar’s record is so bad that Newsweek named it the least sustainable corporation in the world — worse than Exxon Mobil, TransCanada, and even Monsanto. We need to let Kellogg’s know that this deal is unacceptable.”

It’s all part of the same problem.   We have some very greedy companies run by some very greedy people and the cost to society in terms of our health and our planet are not as important to them as dollars; many, many dollars.

It’s easy to turn a blind eye.  After all, Kellogg’s, according to their site, has, for “more than 100 years, worked passionately to help families be their best. And it all starts with breakfast. That’s why we’re always looking to provide new ways to make a positive impact on the people we touch every morning.”

Heck, they even have a section on their home page allocated to:

• “Invest in Your Health”, sharing the latest health news and tips for a healthy tomorrow with Healthy Investments.

and

• “Share Breakfast” to help share 1 million breakfasts with kids who need them.

We want to believe it.  We want them to be a wholesome company we can trust.  Just like a close friend I recall as a child whose parents  were divorcing. She didn’t want to see it and refused to believe it for a long time.  

But she was seven.   

And Kellogg’s is, unfortunately, only one of many companies who are doing this type of business.

We really, really have to do something in a big way.  Not buying these foods is the only way that sends a message.  As long as there is demand, you can rest assured there will continue to be a gigantic supply.

I like to imagine a model where the society demands that fresh, local produce be available to everyone, that real food is easier to access and better priced than eating at McDonalds, where a family living on a very tight budget doesn’t have to resort to buying poor to zero quality food by-products which only serve to make people ill.

If we were all Paleo, such would be the case.   Every community growing their own veg, fruit and raising their own animals for proteins… it’s not impossibly, you know…

Click here to sign the petition!