Palm Oil

Exploring the shift from whale oil to palm oil and its impacts on orangutans

By: Andreea Barbu, SFU Student On October 23, Akamine Jun, a professor at the Graduate School of Social Sciences, Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, presented findings from his research at a lecture in the SFU David Lam Centre. His research interests focus on maritime Asian studies and ethnography of food. Professor Jun’s presentation aimed to show how the end of whaling for whale oil in the 1960s indirectly resulted in the death of orangutans.  Jun began by recalling a visit he took to the Singapore Zoo many years ago, which had over 40 orangutans at that time. Singapore is located between…

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