It has been a great few weeks for the Dorset Sustainable Palm Oil Community.  We have had three new champions sign up in the last couple of weeks (the Prince of Wales First School in Dorchester, Arts University Bournemouth and Just 1 Swap, a zero-waste shop in Boscombe), joining Bournemouth University, St Osmund’s Middle School and others!  We have also been very busy talking to more potential champions (so hopefully watch this space!). 

1. We were so delighted to see the Chester Sustainable Palm Oil City initiative as a finalist in the Earthshot Prize!  What a phenomenal achievement for all involved. I hear on the grapevine that more communities are joining including Lichfield – all good news for getting the message out to as many people as possible that sustainable palm oil is a solution to protecting and restoring nature.

2. We have a brilliant 3 page article in the Marshwood Vale, a community magazine covering West Dorset, East Devon and South Somerset.  The article can be found here.

3. Additionally, we have had a blog written about the initiative by the Dorchester BID (Business Improvement District) – read all about it here.  We are hoping that this will be taken up by other BIDs in their blogs…

4. Other plugs for the initiative have included a blog by the Center for Sustainable Palm Oil Studies, ‘Plan to Make Dorset a ‘Sustainable Palm Oil Community’ and a blog by the Dorset Chamber called ‘Can you help Dorset become the world’s first Sustainable Palm Oil Community?’

5. Leon and Lucy went to Bournemouth University Student Union’s Green Day on 10^th November – we spread the word about the project and know that we will get more champions / ambassadors from the event.

Number of the month:  32,500.  Between them, the 2 school food providers in Dorset that have joined our campaign send out over 32,500 meals a week!  That means 32,500 meals a week now using just sustainable palm oil.  If you were to join, how many more meals a week could that be?

If you have any questions about joining our campaign and becoming a Champion or an Ambassador, please email Lucy at: lucy.cullinane@efeca.com