Recently, I’ve been taking the time to come up with ideas and plans for the future of The Orangutan Gang. One of these plans is the Zoo Project. One of the most communal places to learn about an environmental issue is the zoo, and since palm oil fueled deforestation is a significant concern of this category, The Orangutan Gang has plans to administer an outreach known as The Orangutan Gang Zoo Project. The Zoo Project’s goal is first to supply zoos across the country with information, posters and/or flyers to be displayed in primate houses, orangutan enclosures, or rainforest exhibits. The second objective is to discourage unsustainable palm oil use and/or offer palm oil free and sustainable options at zoo eateries. For this project to arise, I’ll first have to contact a large group of zoos about the issue and convince them to become a part of my project. Then I will research commercial and sustainable food suppliers such as Nestle and Endangered Species Chocolate, two members of the RSPO. Finally, I will need to write up information and/or flyers online to send to the zoos. If the Zoo Project succeeds, millions of people will learn about the palm oil issue and what they can do to help, ultimately creating an undeniable opportunity to spread the word.

Another project on the horizon is the Tutelage Project. The goal of the Tutelage Project is to teach middle school students about the palm oil issue by writing and providing lesson plans to science teachers across the country. When pupils take home their knowledge, thousands of households will respond to this grave issue and spread the word throughout their communities, escalating the attentive population many times over. To initiate the Tutelage Project, I’ll first need some guidance from an advisor and a teacher collaborator about writing and sharing lesson plans. Then I’ll have to find a way to make the lesson plan accessible and even enjoyable to middle school students and science teachers. Considering the modern student-to-teacher ratio in the target population of middle school science classes, I’ll spread the word to an astonishing number of households through this project.

I’ll also be working on several smaller projects, such as fundraising (through both merchandise and donations), contacting companies that use palm oil and spreading the word through more public appearances. Thanks for your help- I couldn’t do any of this without you! I really appreciate your conservationist efforts to improve our world and save the Earth’s most valuable rainforests.

~The Orangutan Gang