Plymouth Teen Choice Award Winner's Activism Started with a Girl Scout Cookie

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A Plymouth teen honored earlier this month with a Teen Choice Award for environmental activism has been sounding the alarm about the threat of palm oil to wild orangutan habitat since she was an 11-year-old Girl Scout selling cookies.

Madison Vorva, a junior majoring in public policy with a concentration in environmental economics at Pomona College in Claremont, CA, lobbied the Scouting organization to commit to using deforestation-free palm oil in its cookies, according to the school’s website.

“I’m so grateful for the chance to share the stage with Rachel Platten and other girls who are changing the world,’’ Vorva said. “I hope teen girls who watch the show are inspired because of Teen Choice’s bold decision to honor girls just like them.”

As young Girl Scouts, Vorva and Rhiannon Tomtishen won the backing of famed primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall, and while still in high school, were designated a United Nations Forest Heros by the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Vast sections of rainforest on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo, the only places on Earth where wild orangutans are found, have been clear-cut to make way for oil palm plantations. The Orangutan Conservancy estimates only 40,000 wild orangutans remain in Indonesia, down from 60,000 as recently as a decade ago.

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Forest Heroes Chairman Glenn Hurowitz credits Vorva and Tomtishen with helping to trigger a transformation in U.S. palm oil use, according to the Pomona College story. More than 20 companies, including Dunkin’ Donuts, Krispy Kreme, Mars and Colgate-Palmolive, have since committed to sourcing deforestation-free palm oil.

“Even former rogue actors in the palm oil industry are getting on board,” Hurowitz said. “And it all started with Madi, Rhiannon and a box of Girl Scout cookies.”

As a result of her efforts, Vorva was named a youth leader for Goodall’s Roots&Shoots movement. She spoke at Goodall’s 80th birthday bash in California’s Bay Area, detailing how she had been inspired by the primatologist and how Goodall’s agenda shaped her own.

Vorva traveled with Pomona’s Pacific Basin Institute to Cambodia last summer to film Mu Sochua, a democratic opposition leader and voice for women and land-grab victims. Later that year, she was chosen from 5,000 applicants as the U.S. youth delegate to the United Nations’ Education for Sustainable Development Conference in Japan, where she collaborated with 48 other countries’ representatives to draft the youth statement and recommendations.

In January, she was named to State Farm’s Youth Advisory Board, which doles out $5 million in grants a year to youth-led service learning projects.

“I am passionate about helping other youth find their voices as advocates,” Vorva said in the Pomona College story. “It has been my mission to help young people connect the local problems in their communities with the greater global environmental and social trends.”

Vorva said she is still sorting out her career path, but wants to be “an influencer” who brings attention to women’s rights and environmental sustainability.

“I hope to continue to inspire others to get involved,” she said.