The response to Jenni's letter to the Board of Directors of the Girl Scouts has been all we could have hoped for and more. Thank you to all of you who took the time to read, comment, ponder, or share our letter.

In particular, we are humbled and inspired by the open-mindedness of commenters who have daughters in Girl Scouts or are troop leaders. The strength of this organization lies in is members, and we love to encounter fellow Girl Scout supporters who believe that wherever a service organization with a declared interest in environmental conservation can do better in that area, they should.

To all those who supported your local troops by buying Girl Scout cookies, good for you! We welcome you to take the next step and join us in calling for the Girl Scouts to embrace the changes necessary to be on the right side of this issue.

We're working on an in-depth post that delves more deeply into what the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is, and why their solution is no solution at all -- not for the Girl Scouts, or for the planet. In the meantime, here's some quick info that might answer some reader questions.

What Girl Scouts can do

Madison and Rhiannon, the two amazing Girl Scouts we discussed in the letter, posted a comment to let readers know that Girl Scouts can earn a Rainforest Hero badge for helping out with the movement. Z and I have been working away on the requirements so she can get her badge. If you have a Girl Scout in your life, work quickly -- only 300 badges are available. Above is one of the elements for Z's badge, a photo of us with a poster she made.

What Girl Scout supporters (and potential supporters) can do

If you aren't a Girl Scout, you can go to the Rainforest Action Network's website and send a letter to Girl Scout CEO Kathy Cloniger urging her to remove the palm oil from Girl Scout cookies. You can also like RAN's mission on Facebook: Project ORANGS.

Orangutan Outreach is the organization we went through to contribute to the rehabilitation of rescued orangutans in Indonesia. (There's a show on Animal Planet, Orangutan Island, that we highly recommend.) You can "adopt" an orangutan for a year for $120 and receive periodic updates on your favorite orang. Here's our latest update on Luna, the young orangutan we adopted.



DeforestAction is a new reforestation and orangutan rescue project that is recruiting 10 "young people" (under 35) from around the world to lead teams in efforts to combat the rapid deforestation of Indonesia. Well worth checking out, and an ambitious project that is bringing a lot of interesting parties together.

In the next few days we'll be posting a more in-depth look at RSPO and the truth about "sustainable" palm oil. We appreciate you sharing our posts on this topic with anyone you feel might be receptive to the issue and call on the Girl Scouts to change their policies.

If you haven't already "Liked" Z Recommends on Facebook, we'd love to stay in touch! We sometimes post other articles we find interesting and have great conversations with readers there.