The Real Cost of Girl Scout Cookies
By: Shoshanna Levy
Published: May 5, 2011

Before you pick up your next package of Thin Mints think about this, for several years, environmentalists have been putting pressure on the Girl Scouts of America to stop using unsustainable palm oil in their cookies. The oil that they are using is grown and transported by big AG corporations like Cargil and is responsible for the destruction of 30,000 square miles of rain forest in Indonesia and Malaysia. Many animals are now on the brink of going extinct due to this deforestation.
As part of a social media "day of action" many concerned scouts and parents went to the GSA facebook page to ask them to stop using palm oil. Instead of addressing these concerns, the GSA PR team, erased the comments and when this caused a commotion on the Internet, they set up a new page. The Scouts made a claim that there palm oil is sustainable, when it's simply not true. Shame on the Scouts, an organization influencing young women has a responsibility to not promote censorship and environmental destruction!
Photos: The USSMAN and Mandy Jansen