Palm oil, even though plant based, must be considered equally harmful as meat, eggs and dairy from a vegan standpoint.

Ugh, is coconut oil also terrible for the local environment then, like palm oil? What a shame.

Palms are usually hard and slow to grow due to how fast the soil nutrients get depleted by them, they also alter the soil a lot. I can't read the article but I guess the reason has something to do with it.

Being part Japanese, soybeans are a significant part of my diet. But looking into this a bit, it seems most of the surge in production from places like Brazil is going towards animal feed (particularly for poultry and pork). Bottom line is animal protein is expensive and environmentally impactful. Best go for the bowl of miso over the yakitori I guess?