Power to stop haze lies in the hands of consumers

All it took was a change in wind direction and now we are engulfed in the choking haze that our neighbours in Sumatra have been enduring.

Haze will not just go away. As long as the forest and peat fires continue to burn, we are playing a game of chance with the wind.

Do we have to suffer helplessly? The answer is no, and the solution is a collective one.

We have been breathing what we buy for far too long. Our consumption choices have been driving the demand for unsustainable palm oil — its production is responsible for forest and peat fires, habitat loss and haze pollution.

From toothpaste to lipstick, unsustainable palm oil has become the accepted ingredient in around 50 per cent of the goods on supermarket shelves. It is in high demand.

It is time for a change, but a boycott of palm oil products is not a viable option.

Palm oil is actually an efficient crop and replacing it with another oil crop would only introduce us to a new set of environmental problems.

What we must change is the way this versatile product is produced, and switch to sustainable palm oil, which does not lead to the generation of haze.

Singapore consumers have the power to insist on sustainable palm oil and WWF Singapore, People’s Movement to Stop Haze (PM.Haze) and Singapore Institute for International Affairs are providing the platform — the #XtheHaze campaign.

By pledging support online and lending one’s voice to the campaign, we can engage businesses and manufacturers, and work with them to demand clean air on behalf of the public.

As restaurants, bakeries, food manufacturers and other businesses switch to using sustainable sources, the oil palm plantation owners will respond to meet this new demand and clean up their act.

Decades of breathing haze pollution has to stop. And it can be stopped by the people of Singapore if we demand responsible sourcing and production of palm oil for the products we buy.

Join the cause now to make sustainable palm oil the norm in Singapore and rid ourselves of haze for good.