Join the Social Media Day of Action to Make Girl Scout Cookies Rainforest-Safe

Thin Mints, Tagalongs, and Samoas may taste sugary, but the Girl Scout cookies' environmental reputation is seriously sour. The treats are responsible for threatening the survival of endangered species like orangutans and destroying pristine rainforest in Indonesia.

There is a way to make these cookies as sweet as the Girl Scouts that sell them, though. You can push Girl Scouts USA to greenify their cookies, and all it takes is a Facebook and/or Twitter account.

But first, here's the backstory on the the desserts' deforestation dilemma. Girl Scout cookies contain palm oil, one of the most unsustainable ingredients around. Most palm oil plantation operators clear-cut pristine rainforest and bulldoze peatlands in order to plant row upon row of oil palm trees. Not only does this deforestation contribute to climate change (Indonesia is the third-largest global emitter of greenhouse gases, largely because of the country's deforestation), it threatens species like orangutans, Sumatran tigers, and rhinos that call these regions home.

That's why two Girl Scouts, Madison Vorva and Rhiannon Tomtishen, launched a campaign with Rainforest Action Network asking the Girl Scouts' CEO, Kathy Cloninger, to ditch palm oil from cookies. More than 56,000 Change.org members have petitioned Cloninger so far, and while the CEO has acknowledged the request, she and Girl Scouts USA still haven't given in.

Which brings us to your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Change.org and Rainforest Action Network are teaming up to launch a social media day of action today. We need your help to put more pressure on Cloninger and push her to protect Indonesia's rainforests.

We're tweeting at the Girl Scouts and at famous Girl Scouts alums like Taylor Swift, Venus Williams, Martha Stewart, Katie Couric, and Sheryl Crow, asking these celebs to promote Rainforest Action Network's palm oil campaign and push Cloninger into action. If you want to help, please tweet at famous Girl Scout alums or at the Girl Scouts. You can use some of the following messages:

• #Rainforest destruction doesn't belong in your cookies @GirlScouts http://chn.ge/ip3omJ via @RAN RT!
• As a @GirlScouts alum, can you help make GS cookies #rainforest safe by RT'ing this? http://chn.ge/g5YKTZ @taylorswift13 @MarthaStewart
• As a @GirlScouts alum, can you help make GS cookies #rainforest safe by RT'ing this? http://chn.ge/g5YKTZ @katiecouric @venuseswilliams
• As a @GirlScouts alum, can you help make GS cookies #rainforest safe by RT'ing this? http://chn.ge/g5YKTZ @SherylCrow @taylorswift13

You can also use Facebook to help get palm oil out of Girl Scout cookies. Follow these steps to send Girl Scouts USA a message that consumers want their cookies without a side of deforestation:

1) Go to the Girl Scouts Facebook fan page and click "Like" at the top. Here is the link: http://www.facebook.com/GirlScoutsUSA

2) Post this message on the Girl Scouts' wall and as your status:

Will Girl Scouts get rainforest-destroying palm oil out of their cookies? Girl Scouts of the USA claims they “have little say if not no say in the recipes used by the bakers.” We don't buy it. Sign this petition telling CEO Kathy Cloninger that the power to save rainforests is in her hands. http://chn.ge/g5YKTZ

UDPATE:
After the Girl Scouts of the USA Facebook Page was flooded this morning with comments by Girl Scouts, troop leaders, alumnae, parents and Facebook users concerned about the rainforest, Girl Scouts USA panicked and removed all the individual comments from their page. GSUSA also disabled the Facebook function that allows you to share a link on that page. Therefore, instead of commenting on the Girl Scouts of the USA Facebook Page, you can do it on the Girl Scout Cookies Facebook page.

Instead: Go to the Girl Scout Cookies page and click "Like" and leave a comment: http://www.facebook.com/GirlScoutCookies

From the Girl Scouts USA's responses so far, we know that Cloninger is feeling the pressure of our campaign. All it's going to take to achieve palm oil-free Girl Scout cookies is just a little more momentum.

So let's take the Twitter and Facebook worlds by storm. Tweet, Facebook, and social media it up, and be sure to sign Rainforest Action Network's petition asking Kathy Cloninger to make Girl Scout cookies without rainforest-destroying palm oil.

Photo credit: Collin Anderson via Flickr