Why Are Rainforests So Important and How *You* Can Help Slow Deforestation

June 22nd is World Rainforest Day. If you’ve been a Peet Brothers fan for long, you’ll know that we started the brand to stop the deforestation caused by palm oil harvesting for personal care products – so World Rainforest Day is kind of a big deal for us. Many people still aren’t aware of just how important Earth’s rainforests are, and how terrible deforestation is for the environment.

Why are rainforests so important?

• Half of the worlds plants and animals live in rainforests (some scientists estimate that 2/3rds of the world’s plants are held in rainforests).
• Rainforests produce, store and filter water which helps protect against floods, drought and soil erosion.
• Many medicines are made from rainforests plants – anti-cancer drugs, HIV medicines and many others used in both ancient medicine and modern western medicine are derived from rainforest plants.
• Rainforest trees absorb and store carbon which is vital to slow down climate change.
• Many endangered and protected species call rainforests home.

Beyond the importance of protecting rainforests, deforestation actually causes harm beyond just reducing plants, animals and the overall size of rainforests.

What is the impact of Deforestation?

• Deforestation is caused primarily by burning sections of the rainforest, which releases huge amounts of carbon.
• Deforestation releases as much carbon as the global transportation sector each year.
• Nearly 70,000 acres of tropical rainforest are lost every day – that’s the size of two San Franciscos burning each day.

What is Peet Brothers doing about it?

• We are proudly palm oil free, and will never use palm oil in our products.
• We’ve donate 1% of our annual sales to Rainforest Trust.
• We use sustainable packaging as often as we can and are always looking for new ways to reduce our carbon footprint. 

How can you take action?

• Reduce palm oil consumption in your household. Check food labels, personal care items and cleaning products for palm oil and try to replace those items with more sustainable ingredients.
• Support organizations like Rainforest Trust through additional donations and sharing their message.
• Reduce your daily carbon footprint.