Welcome to Forest School 101

Introducing Oranguteens!

A message from Madi Vorva & Rhiannon Tomtishen, the founding members of “Oranguteens“, the teen branch of Forest School 101.

We would like to announce that a new teen division of Forest School 101 is officially beginning! This division has been designed by us, two teens from Michigan, for teens all across the country (and even the world) to come together and work towards saving the orangutan. We have designed a wiki (http://redapes.wikispaces.com), which will be our main link of communication. Posted on the wiki are various resources and tools as well as places for teens to work together to plan fundraisers and awareness events. We want to invite any teens interested in participating in this program to contact us at saveorangutans137 @ hotmail.com.

Thanks,

Madi and Rhiannon

Forest School 101 is our group for young supporters. There are members from all around the world and they are dedicated to protecting orangutans and raising awareness of the issues surrounding palm oi and deforestation. Membership is free. If you’d like to join, please contact us.

Recent activities

Local Forest School 101 kids took part in our Mother’s Day zoo activities for the M.O.M. – Missing Orangutan Mothers Campaign ~ See photos and learn more. Especially effective were the Trillium Roots & Shoots in Oregon, which was founded by Johanna & Lainie Hampton (along with their mom Kari).

Forest School 101 Greeting Cards Sets Now Available. Check out the cards.

Lainie Hampton Takes Prestigious Conservation Champion Award at Oregon Zoo ~ Read more

 
Madison Vorva and Rhiannon Tomtishen continue their campaign to get the Girl Scouts to remove palm oil from their cookies. The girls recently created an online survey in order to show the organization what people think about palm oil and the cookies. The survey takes one minute– so you MUST help them out and take it. You can learn more about the survey here.

 

Allie Boyer doesn’t just talk the talk…

Allie Boyer recently took her passion for orangutans to her local eco-fair, where she set up an orangutan awareness table and collected donations for Orangutan Outreach.

Allie also set up a booth at her local Endangered Species Fair. (Below, with her mom Pam)

Allie also pioneered the ‘300 Letter’ campaign, in which she took it upon herself to write to (nearly) 300 companies that use palm oil in their products. Her letters managed to rub a few folks the wrong way– which is always a good sign that one has struck a nerve! One gentleman even took the time to write a series of nasty emails back to Allie and her mother in which he implied she was an idiot for not yet having studied organic chemistry. (FYI–Allie’s 11).

Here’s the text of Allie’s letter, in case some of you out there want to send your own letters:

Dear Sir or Madam,

You are receiving this letter because your product contains palm oil. This is a problem because in Indonesia where the palm oil comes from they are tearing down the rain forest to plant palm oil trees. This doesn’t just affect my favorite animal, the orangutan; it also affects other animals and the villagers as well. The burning of the rainforest causes smoke to linger in the air for such a long time it increases global warming and causes the local children in Indonesia to suffer greatly.

I really want you to ask yourself if your product needs palm oil that much. When you look at the harm it is causing why even use it? You could use American grown oil and help our economy and not take part in killing an endangered animal or hurting indigenous people. I am only 11 and I can see that is a better choice.

Thanks for listening,

Allie Boyer
President of the Chico Chapter of Forest School 101
(A division of redapes.org)

P.S The RSPO is not as strong as you think. Don’t trust “farmed palm oil”

Lainie & Johanna Hampton with BOS Founder Willie Smits
Join Forest School 101 Today!