Title Slide: Feel free to add your name and to change the title of the presentation to something more

creative if it seems tting! Slide #1: Take a second to explain to your audience how you learned about this issue and why it caught your attention. If you can show your audience your passion for the topic, they will be more likely to take what you say to heart. Slide #2: The word orangutan comes from the Malay language, and roughly translates to man of the forest. Many people mistake orangutans for monkeys, but they are actually great apes. Does anyone know how to tell the difference between the two? (Take answers from the audience.) The correct answer is... monkeys have tails, while apes do not! The orangutans live in Borneo and Sumatran, two islands in Southeast Asia. They are omnivores, which means the eat plants and other animals. Orangutans have a wide variety of food sources including fruit, leaves, seeds, tree bark, owers, insects and small mammals. Their life expectancy is between 35 to 40 years in the wild, and up to 50 years in captivity. Slide #3: Unfortunately, the orangutan is critically endangered. It is difcult to get an exact count of how many are left in the wild, but their population has dropped dramatically in recent years for three main reasons: illegal logging, the illegal pet trade, and the production of palm oil. Slide #4: There is a lot of deforestation, or clearing of the rainforest, in Indonesia and Malaysia. The illegal logging industry results in a lot of loss of orangutan habitat. The logs harvested are used as pulp to make paper, or are used to make furniture and other wood products. Slide #5: Orangutan populations are also being threatened by the illegal pet trade. In some countries, owning a pet orangutan is considered a sign of status. Even though orangutans may be cute, they belong in the wild! Due to the demand for orangutans though, poachers will enter the rainforest, kill the protective mothers and then kidnap the babies. An orangutan baby can be sold for up to $60,000 on the black market. Sadly, the conditions are often harsh which means that 2 out of 3 orangutans does not survive captivity. Slide #6: However, the biggest reason that orangutans are endangered is due to the loss of their habitat for palm oil plantations. Companies are coming into the rainforest and clearing massive amounts of land to plant oil palms. The palm oil produced is then used in hundreds of products here in the United States, everything from candy bars to shampoos to baked goods. In addition to threatening species like the orangutan, palm oil production results in climate change as he clearing of rainforests releases greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. Indonesia is currently the third largest emitter of carbon dioxide, behind only the United States and China, a direct consequence of the deforestation occurring. But palm oil is not only causing environmental issues, it has also been linked to both child and slave labor.

Materials by Rhiannon Tomtishen of Project ORANGS

Slide #7: Youd be shocked to learn how many of the products you eat every single day contain this dreaded ingredient. Heres a list of brand that youre probably familiar with that use palm oil. Everything from McDonalds to Oreos to Nutella! This is a huge and complicated industry, but it is possible to create change within it. Slide #8: For example, Madi and Rhiannon led a successful campaign to urge the Girl Scouts to make Girl Scout cookies rainforest-safe. After ve years of grassroots organizing, including an online petition that gathered over 70,000 signatures, and media attention in national outlets they secured a meeting with Girl Scout executives. Six months later, the organization adopted a palm oil policy that is a huge step in the right direction! Campaigns like this are helping growers to shift to more environmentally-friendly and sociallyresponsible methods of production. Slide #9: You may be wondering how you can get involved! Next time you go to the grocery store, check the ingredients label on all of the foods you buy. You will likely be surprised how many of the products contain palm oil. Take a second to write to those companies and ask them to adopt rainforest-safe policies. If you want to go a step further, organize a campaign against a company! You can set up an online petition or ask groups in your local community to write letters. And of course, be sure to tell your friends and family about this issue so they too can take action! Slide #10: But there are more ways to protect the orangutan than just working on palm oil. For example, Allie Boyer of California has been doing incredible work fundraising to support orangutan protection and rehabilitation. She founded an organization called Purses for Primates that has raised thousands of dollars for Orangutan Outreach. Allie collects gently used purses and then sells them at parties. Slide #11: You can follow in her footsteps by donating money to adopt an orangutan or planning a fundraiser in your community to support conservation efforts! You can also raise awareness about the plight of the orangutan. Slide #12: To learn more about this issue, or to take action, please check out an incredible organization called Orangutan Outreach! Their website is www.redapes.org. Slide #13: This presentation was assembled by Oranguteens, the youth branch of Orangutan Outreach. Oranguteens always welcomes new members, so if you are interested in getting involved please talk to me or check out redapes.org to learn more.

Materials by Rhiannon Tomtishen of Project ORANGS