For related articles and more information, please visit OCA’s Politics and Democracy page, and our Environment and Climate Resource page.

When Kellogg’s announced this week that it is moving to limit the deforestation caused by the palm oil it uses to make Frosted Flakes, Keebler cookies, Rice Krispies, and Girl Scout cookies, it represented an enormous achievement for two 15-year-old girls from Michigan.

You may remember Madison Vorva and Rhiannon Tomtishen from my article two weeks ago, “Are Girl Scout cookies killing orangutans?” They’ve been working for several years to get Girl Scouts USA to switch from palm oil to more planet-friendly and healthier alternatives like canola or olive oil.

Their campaign started as an orangutan research project to earn their Girl Scouts Bronze Award. In their investigation, they discovered that the main threat to the orangutans’ survival, as well as other endangered wildlife like Sumatran tigers, Sumatran rhinoceroses, and pygmy elephants, was the clearing and burning of Southeast Asia’s rainforests for palm oil, an additive in cookies, crackers, and cosmetics. So imagine their surprise when they found out that their beloved Girl Scouts were selling palm oil.

“We started by raising awareness about the orangutan within our community. But then we learned that Girl Scout cookies themselves contain palm oil. We were especially shocked to learn that because this was something we learned about through Girl Scouts,” said Rhiannon.