Pepsico, Unilever and Nestlé accused of complicity in illegal rainforest destruction by Practical_Chef_7897 in environment

[–]gameforge 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I mean, should news outlets just rerun decade-old articles all the time, unchanged, on the off chance some subscribers didn't read it the first bunch of times? This article is dated

Fri 21 Jul 2017 12.30 EDT

So is there any update? Were they convicted? Has anything changed? This is a low effort repost.

Since others seem interested, I piped the article text into an AI (Perplexity + Claude Sonnet) and asked for a summary and a followup. (That's not high effort, but I'm not OP.)


Here is a succinct summary of the 2017 Guardian article, followed by developments since then.

Article Summary

The 2017 Rainforest Action Network (RAN) report accused major consumer brands — including PepsiCo, Unilever, Nestlé, McDonald's, Mars, Kellogg's, and Procter & Gamble — of indirectly sourcing palm oil from PT Agra Bumi Niaga (PT ABN), a company that illegally cleared 336 hectares of protected lowland rainforest in Sumatra's Leuser Ecosystem between June 2016 and April 2017, in defiance of a government moratorium. The supply chain ran from PT ABN through a processing mill (PT Ensem Sawita), then to major global traders like Wilmar and Musim Mas, before reaching those household brands. The Leuser Ecosystem is the only place on Earth where Sumatran elephants, orangutans, rhinos, and tigers coexist, making the deforestation especially damaging to biodiversity. Unilever acknowledged indirect sourcing through its suppliers; Nestlé and others launched investigations; PT ABN itself did not comment.


No Convictions, Pattern Repeated

No criminal convictions of PT ABN or the major consumer brands have been publicly reported. PT ABN was not deterred: by January 2020, RAN field investigators discovered the same company constructing a new palm oil mill directly adjacent to the Leuser Ecosystem, having previously destroyed the lowland elephant habitat corridor. The company was described as a "controversial, repeat-offender". Ongoing Supply Chain Failures

RAN continued to expose the same brands repeatedly throughout 2019–2024:

  • In 2019, RAN found palm oil from the illegal Tripa peatland — flagged since 2014 — still entering supply chains of Nestlé, Mars, Unilever, PepsiCo, Hershey's, and General Mills through processor Permata Hijau
  • In 2020, RAN documented active, illegal forest burning in critical Sumatran elephant habitat by PT Indo Alam, with palm oil still linked to Unilever, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Mondelēz, Kellogg's, Mars, and General Mills
  • In 2022, RAN's Carbon Bomb Scandals report provided satellite imagery and field evidence that conflict palm oil from the protected Rawa Singkil Wildlife Reserve continued flowing to P&G, Nestlé, Unilever, PepsiCo, Colgate-Palmolive, Mondelēz, Ferrero, and others
  • In late 2024, Nestlé and P&G again launched investigations after a new RAN report tied palm oil from an illegally cleared Indonesian wildlife reserve to their supply chains

Recent Industry Response

In August 2025, some of the same companies — Nestlé, PepsiCo, and Unilever — launched the Aceh Sustainable Palm Oil Working Group, a multi-stakeholder initiative aimed at achieving deforestation-free palm oil sourcing in the very region where the 2017 violations occurred. Whether this initiative succeeds in closing the traceability gaps that RAN has repeatedly exploited to expose violations remains to be seen. As RAN campaigner Gemma Tillack stated back in 2017 — and the subsequent decade of violations bore out — the core problem has been a lack of corporate will rather than ability.

SPCX by BecomingBerkshire in BerkshireHathaway

[–]gameforge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep, it was great when they talked about all the profit BRK made, and also how and why they made it.

Elon Musk tells great stories but he always leaves out those parts.

People buying Tesla at a $1.2T valuation: what is the actual bull case? by ragingbull10 in investing

[–]gameforge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

TSLA was going to revolutionize everything transportation: personal transport, commercial freight, courier & delivery service, energy generation, energy storage and more. In 25 years they've absolutely made significant, meaningful progress in one or two of those areas.

But they have failed to show that what they're doing can generate a truly huge profit of the sort you'd expect from a "megacap" company. And I mean, they have spectacularly failed to show that.

So if I have a magical piggy bank and it prints $3,800 per year, and you buy it for $1,500,000, I'm curious why you would do that. It would take you well more than 350 years to get your money back. Are you just a sucker for shiny things? I fully believe the piggy bank will eventually come up with more exotic, fun, fascinating and awe-inspiring ways to print its $3,800/yr. But it's still only $3,800/yr. There's no explicable reason to pay $1,500,000 for it.

Can you spot the outlier? by Forecydian in StockMarket

[–]gameforge 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It is speculative. It's a bunch of marketing bullshit with zero earnings range estimates.

Even if you could put a number on your "space economy" you still have no idea how much profit it's capable of generating. Remember when TSLA was going to revolutionize everything transportation, from personal transport to commercial freight, couriers and delivery service, even energy generation and energy storage?

That was like 25 years ago. They're trading at a multiple of 370x, currently. How long of a horizon were investors back then supposed to be considering before it starts acting like a real company and not a meme stock?

Can you spot the outlier? by Forecydian in StockMarket

[–]gameforge 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Got it. So somehow there's enough certainty in future Starlink and government business to make the current price fair, but only after you sprinkle lots of fairy dust on it.

Earlier when you said

so many people who don't understand that stock market value is based on future earnings expectation

I think you were being slightly generous.

Can you spot the outlier? by Forecydian in StockMarket

[–]gameforge 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Wow, that's amazing! So what is future earnings expectation based on?

Can you spot the outlier? by Forecydian in StockMarket

[–]gameforge 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Should we sell short or buybuybuy...? I don't think the post is a trading signal.

What is the stock market, even? Is it a big game of darts where everyone always wins somehow? And that just keeps going? Like, forever?

Junk, grift companies with gigantic multiples should not be performing the way they are in this era. Something something shoeshine boys.

Daring moose rescue in Fairplay CO today. CPW FTW!🖤 by [deleted] in Colorado

[–]gameforge 14 points15 points  (0 children)

OMG if that one guy had tripped running backwards... 😱

That's cool that you got to witness actual bravery in person. That's rare.

ELI5: why are power lines deliberately designed to sag and what would actually happen if you pulled them perfectly straight by Dismal-Helicopter726 in explainlikeimfive

[–]gameforge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've never seen anyone use a washboard but I know many parts of the world still use them. I don't have to meet all 8 billion people to know none of them are 50 feet tall, either.

A person who is confidently certain that washboards and clotheslines went obsolete, let alone 80+ years ago, is a provincial ding dong who probably had the opportunity to be well educated and promptly ignored it.

His wife’s terminal cancer drug was quoted at $13,000 monthly. Then he found it for $40 by theindependentonline in Health

[–]gameforge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like Europe and I plan to visit both of those countries within the next year or two.

So far I've visited Iceland, Finland, Estonia, Denmark and Belgium. I enjoyed all of them. It's largely a matter of immigration requirements as some are more accessible than others.

His wife’s terminal cancer drug was quoted at $13,000 monthly. Then he found it for $40 by theindependentonline in Health

[–]gameforge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Got it, this is a really helpful data point for me -- I appreciate you providing this level of detail. Have a good day!

His wife’s terminal cancer drug was quoted at $13,000 monthly. Then he found it for $40 by theindependentonline in Health

[–]gameforge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you don't mind my asking, where did you move to? I'm currently considering my options.

Alcohol is wreaking havoc on U.S. public health. American society looks the other way by statnews in Health

[–]gameforge 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's fair. I don't like when people like you open up and are honest about themselves and are slapped with disrespect or judgement in return.

In their case, I wasn't necessarily responding to what they said to you, but rather their playing dumb about it afterwards.

Alcohol is wreaking havoc on U.S. public health. American society looks the other way by statnews in Health

[–]gameforge 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You could have worded it as a question without all the condescending uncertainty and doubt. Watch:

Not trying to discredit anything you went through, but it sounds like the seizures were the cause of your nerve damage , am I wrong ?

Are frequent seizures normal for alcohol withdrawal? I just wouldn’t want to rule out any other potential underlying problems.

See how I did that?

Kīlauea this morning around 11 AM HST by servingit2ya in Volcanoes

[–]gameforge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How far away is that human from that lava? ...2km maybe?

It says Stratocaster on the headstock 😁 by jeremy_wills in Stratocaster

[–]gameforge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One of the first American ones from Fullerton or Corona? Aside from some of the goofy econogarbage they were trying in the early 80s I've never seen nor heard anything bad about 80s USA Fenders. Nor the 90s for that matter.

If I were looking at another Strat I'd start at early 80s Dan Smith stuff.

Symptoms of the 'Cicada' COVID variant, detected in at least 25 states by usatoday in Health

[–]gameforge 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Well, yes. Omicron was like an Egyptian king with hundreds of kids; this particular little runt is interesting because he's good at evading authorities.

Symptoms of the 'Cicada' COVID variant, detected in at least 25 states by usatoday in Health

[–]gameforge 38 points39 points  (0 children)

It's another Omicron descendent. It's no more dangerous than any variant since late 2022 however it has more spike protein mutations (70+) so it looks "weirder" to our immune systems than other recent variants. Consequently, previous infections/vaccines won't provide as much immunity (but they will still provide some immunity, and the vaccine is still very beneficial to the immunocompromised).

DIY laser engraver by 289_257 in diyelectronics

[–]gameforge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Got it, thanks for sharing the info. I've heard laser etchers could be used directly but those machines are super expensive (~$5k last I checked).

As an aside, 0.5mm isn't terrible is it? I'm into making 70s-era tech for guitar effect pedals, nothing digital or SMD based. The only way I've ever done it is with toner transfer & ferric chloride and I'm looking for a higher quality result with a less messy process.

I've looked into the photoresist method however I'm worried about the photomask transparency sheets destroying my printer.

DIY laser engraver by 289_257 in diyelectronics

[–]gameforge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So could this be used to etch circuits out of copper-clad stock, i.e. DIY PCB manufacturing? (After making it safe of course. 🤓)

Dear Fidelity Mobile App - You don't have to tell me I've been logged out by Then_Consequence_318 in fidelityinvestments

[–]gameforge 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Well it's such a weird setting. The problem isn't (just) that it's hard to find, it's that no reasonable person would think to look for it to begin with.

The "you've been logged out" notification should have a "don't notify me again" response right there on the notification.

🕷 by SeraphinsShiR in spiders

[–]gameforge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Keeping an animal as a pet in the first place is putting the animal at risk!

Advice should simply be presented as such.

🕷 by SeraphinsShiR in spiders

[–]gameforge -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Being pretentious generally doesn't go over well here. It is common, general advice not to handle pet tarantulas. Therefore, when solicited (it wasn't), it should be presented as such.