Social enterprise is when commercial strategies are utilized to make improvements that will affect the well being of humans and the environment. In Indonesia there are social business schemes that revolve around the idea of social enterprise. The plan is to have industries get there seeds from small farmers in turn helping small farms get new technology so that in a few years the small farmers can become sustainable farmers. The main plan is to get large companies to use sustainable practices to manufacture their goods. Companies control a large chunk of the palm oil industry, making them the prime target for decreasing the use of palm oil and minimizing the crisis. I can get involved in my issue through social enterprise is to join the groups that are speaking out to large companies and striving to prove the benefits of sustainable products. The major challenge is that most large companies are not headquartered near me and it can be hard to get companies to listen to people and find a reason to change what in their eyes is not a pressing issue. The most important thing to consider about the palm oil crisis through the social enterprise lens is that these companies need to feel that change is worth investing in and that people will still like their products if they are manufactured differently. It can be easy to think that a single person can make the whole world change, but even social enterprise involves the collaboration of a lot of people with a common end goal.
On the personal responsible citizen level people cannot support companies that use palm oil by not purchasing their products, even if they have some products without palm oil. On the participatory citizen level people can boycott companies that use palm oil and get others involved through things such as protests. On the social-justice oriented citizen level people can meet with companies and try to convince them that they can be sustainable. The key is to get more people to be on the third level so that larger changes can be implemented.
Jason Clay has a TED talk titled How big brands can help save biodiversity which addresses the palm oil issue. He begins by simple talking about grocery stores and whether or not buyers have the right to chose between buying sustainable products versus unsustainable products or if they should all be sustainable. I am not sure there is a right answer to that dilemma. He presents the idea that getting companies to work together and invest in sustainable practices has a bigger push than producers or consumers. Working with the companies is social enterprise because it works at a commercial level to get improvements for people and the environment. Cargill funded research that showed that palm oil usage could be doubled without cutting down any more trees by sustainable growing palm oil trees in Borneo on land that is already degraded. This is only one example of a way that companies can be the leaders of change. The key takeaway of the entire TED talk is that getting companies to think differently and invest in sustainability will lead to change.
