Tyson Foods, INC.

2200 Don Tyson Parkway

Springdale, Arkansas 72762

Mr. Tom P. Hayes

President, CEO & Director,Tyson Foods, Inc.

Dear Mr. Tom Hayes,

We are a group of students at the University of North Carolina Charlotte who are currently tak-
ing a Liberal studies course in an attempt expand our knowledge of the world. In our particular
course, we have been reviewing and focusing on indigenous cultures, their ways of life and their
interaction with the modern world. In contrast with modern society, most of these cultures
strongly depend on their environment and the resources around them for survival. The modern
world however, does not have the same direct level of interaction with their environment and its
resources. Despite being heavily dependent upon the use of a plethora of natural resources, the
level of concern and respect the use of these products in developed countries is next to none.
With the massive rate of depletion of these resources, there can be devastating repercussions to
these actions.

Specifically relevant to your company, is the use of palm oil products. Like many resources used
today, palm oil is an extremely cheap and remarkably easy product to produce. These particular
qualities make it a product that has a high potential for abuse, and in fact have left many of the
forests throughout the world devastated including the forests in places such as in Indonesia, the
Congo, the Amazon, and many other equatorial locations. With the production of products that
use resources coming from a finite source, the potential to overuse the resource occurs. When
this happens, in particular with products like palm oil, or other products that are dependent upon
the natural wildlife of an area, the wildlife and nature surrounding the area can be destroyed.
When an area has been subject to mass deforestation and destruction of wildlife, the entire area is
impacted. Without the ability to depend on the environment around them, indigenous populations
can suffer from lack of food and water. The area is subject to massive deforestation and soil ero-
sion, destruction of wildlife, and is left with a massive ecological footprint combined with the
pollution of production that is left behind.

Possible consequences of the continued use of these products and the overuse of the natural re-
sources used to produce them include an even larger impact on our environment. The level of
pollution and wildlife destruction leaves many families subject to hunger, has the possibility to
eradicate a species in that area and with the deforestation of approximately 300 football fields
worth of land use every hour, these effects are on a far greater magnitude than any one individual
or indigenous group could accomplish. With the ability to produce a better product using an al-
ternative that has a far less destructive impact on the environment, there seems to be no reason at
all to not switch to a better method of production for your products. If your company does indeed
have any respect for the environment, the world you live in, the indigenous communities af-
fected, the decertification of our planets rain forests, and the possible eradication of endangered
species, I would highly encourage you to make a change.
Thank you for your time,

Tom Fisher, Malia Gaddy, Nicholas Dellinger, Kailey Humphries, Jamie Haas