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May 6, 2008Greenpeace's Dove viral flies into Wall Street!
Type the word “Dove” into YouTube’s search box, and what do you find in the number one spot?
Not Unilever’s ads, that’s for sure. Produced by WPP Group’s PR agency Ogilvy & Mather, Unilever’s ads have previously scooped top prize at the annual advertising convention held in Cannes, France. But they’ve been knocked off top spot on YouTube by Greenpeace’s parody of Unilever’s “Onslaught” ad. “Onslaught(er)” was launched only two weeks ago, and produced at a fraction of the cost of the original.
Top Dove video on YouTube
Go take a look -- Search YouTube for "Dove" -- and you'll see our new video top of the list. I wonder what the marketing folk at Unilever (the company behind Dove soap) will think when they see that.
Last month we polled Greenpeace supporters around the world, in advance of the international Dove campaign we just launched. Around 30,000 people responded, and the results were extremely encouraging. Asked should corporations be held responsible for their climate impact and the impact of their suppliers, an overwhelming 97% agreed or strongly agreed. Could it be any clearer?
Greenpeace activists swung into action at Unilever's buildings yesterday. Because Dove, and other brands, are so well known though, there's lots we can all do online (without a monkey suit). More than 1 in 12 supporters polled has a blog or webpage. Links to the video are already making the rounds on Facebook and Orkut. We're only just getting warmed up.
So if you're a Greenpeace supporter, an environmentalist, an activist, know that you're in good company here. And if you say that you're a "good company" (as Unilever claims to be), then you'd better match words with deeds!
Orang-utans swing into action to stop Dove destroying rainforests for palm oil
Today, we're launching the next stage in our campaign to protect the rainforests of Indonesia from the expansion of the palm oil industry and direct actions are taking place in London, Rome and Rotterdam. Our volunteers, dressed as orang-utans, are currently climbing over the Italian, Dutch and UK headquarters of the company behind Dove, which uses palm oil as one of its ingredients. Our latest research shows that Unilever, the makers of Dove, is buying palm oil from companies that are destroying valuable rainforest and peatland areas, which is bad news not only for the millions of people who depend on them for their way of life and endangered species such as the orang-utan, but also for the global climate.
Because this Google Earth deserves a voice...
I once read that when the Apollo 8 astronauts made the first orbit of the moon, the "Earthrise" that they witnessed was such an unexpected wonder that it introduced complete chaos to their scripted-to-the-minute schedule. They forgot about radio check in, they forgot about telemetry and task lists. They just went gah-gah and snap-happy with the cameras, as they witnessed something that all their planning and training hadn't prepared them for: a sight no human had ever seen.
Only 24 human beings have seen the Earth in its totality from space. But the images that they brought back were a monumentally important event in human history -- the chance for us to see the beautiful blue marble we inhabit in all its vulnerable isolation.
For those of us who haven't been to the moon, there's Google Earth.
And thanks to Google's Outreach program, which is coaching charities and non-profits and activist groups in how to create their own layers of information and bundling them in with the application, Greenpeace now has an initial set of datapoints that draw the link between climate change and forest destruction, bundled right into the Global Awareness layer that comes with the free software.
Congrats Paulo!
Greenpeace Brazil campaigner Paulo Adário has been named one of the country's 100 most influential people by Globo's magazine Epoca. Paulo's been using that influence for years to help protect the Amazon. You can read stories about his work: in English, in Portuguese.
Palm oil blockade's end
© Greenpeace / Christian Aslund
This is actually from an email Sue sent yesterday from on board the Rainbow Warrior. I think it gives a good wrap up of their palm oil tanker blockade, and she was nice enough to let me post it:
We have now moved away from the wharf after being forced out of the way by tugs while the [palm oil tanker] Westama crept out of its berth.You would have seen the press release from this morning stating that our blockade of the Westama is now over. The Westama tried to leave last night at midnight but due to our proximity it was deemed unsafe for it to proceed. We were served with an official notice to leave and the shipping agent had kindly ordered a pilot for us - who came on board around 11pm. We kindly declined the pilot's services and sent him off happily with a "Damming Crew" T-shirt, and continued to hold position. The tugs didn't turn up.
Captain's blog - palm oil tanker blockade
That's Mike, current captain of the Rainbow Warrior, seen through the bridge window. As I write, the Warrior is still in position - blocking the palm oil tanker from leaving port. This morning activists added to the pressure by climbing on palm oil holding tanks with banners. [ Photo here. ]
We've never done this kind of action in Indonesia before so this is all pretty intense for people on the ground there. Full story here.
Here's captain Mike's account from yesterday:
Both main engines fed into the one spinning propeller. The old girl was alive with power and her anchor clear of the mud. The tide was swift - 3 knots - a spring tide. Cautiously at first - not wanting to be detected - I edged the Rainbow Warrior out of the anchorage. But once clear of the other ships I put the engines on full astern. A shudder came up through the steel deck beneath my feet. The old girl leaped backwards: two knots, three, five knots. We were abeam of the Westema, a motor tanker loading 30 000 tonnes of Palm Oil Product. We were just fifty meters off.
Forest Protection is a Climate Solution
The four biggest emitters of CO2 in the world are the USA, China, Indonesia and Brazil. We all know about the top one, the second place isn't too surprising but Indonesia and Brazil?
Well with CO2 released from deforestation making up almost a fifth (17%) of the worlds' carbon emissions nations which cut down a lot of trees end up releasing a lot of carbon. If we could stop deforestation in Indonesia and Brazil which between them account for almost half of the deforestation then around 10% of global emissions would be saved. That's a big chunk of what's needed to hold off dangerous climate change.
Learn more about how we're putting pressure on Indonesia and the global food companies fuelling the deforestation in our report 'cooking the climate'
Palm oil: Cooking the Climate
[ A forest is seen through smoke, days after being burnt down along the Kapuas
River in Indonesia. (Photographer: Natalie Behring.) ]
According to recent estimates Indonesia is the third largest greenhouse gas emitter after China and the United States, mainly due to the destruction of peatland forests. A lot of this clearing is being done to make way for palm oil plantations. Palm oil's one of those things that goes in to lots of snack products (KitKat, Pringels, that sort of thing).
The report we released today is getting quite a lot of attention all over the world - from Al Jazeera to the Washington Post, from the BBC to the Philippines Inquirer. Even food publications are picking it up. No doubt our team taking peaceful action in the forest against this destruction will be glad to hear the word is getting out.
There's also a feature story upon our site. But here are some quick factoids from our report...
Oxfam warns about biofuels
From the Oxfam website:
Biofuels may offer the potential to reduce poverty by increasing jobs and markets for small farmers, and by providing cheap renewable energy for local use, but the huge plantations emerging to supply the EU pose more threats than opportunities for poor people. The problem will only get worse as the scramble to supply intensifies unless the EU introduces safeguards to protect land rights, livelihoods, workers rights and food security. ... The UN estimates that 60 million people worldwide face clearance from their land to make way for biofuel plantations. Many end up in slums in search of work, others on the very plantations that have displaced them with poor pay, squalid conditions and no worker rights. Women workers are routinely discriminated against and often paid less then men.In Indonesia almost a third of palm oil is produced by smallholders most of whom lost their land to advancing plantations and were ‘rewarded’ with a two hectare plot. These smallholders are bonded to the palm oil companies which provide them with credit and are required to sell to them – which means they do not get the best price for their oil.
We've got a team on the ground in Indonesia documenting the situation first hand, and joining locals in direct action. Read more in the Indonesian Forest Defenders Camp blog.
Indonesia - save the peat bogs!
In Indonesia, peat swamp forests are being destoryed to make way for palm oil plantations. First the trees are cleared or burned, then the swamp is drained and the peat decomposes. Huge amounts of global warming gas are emitted in the process and the forest is lost for good.
Locals and Greenpeace activists are taking a stand. They've set up a Forest Defenders Camp on the front lines, and are damming the swamp back up.
Updates on their weblog, and newsreel video of the damming. Full story: "Indonesian forest destruction dammed", on our website.
Mayor and governor of Sao Paulo join fight for the Amazon
The state of Sao Paulo is the major industrial powerhouse of the Brazilian economy and has about one-fifth of the country's population. The city of the same name, is not only the largest city in Brazil, it's the most populous in the Southern Hemisphere.
So it was a big deal today when both the governor and the mayor (respectively) joined our call for zero Amazon deforestation within seven years.
[ Photo: Governor José Serra paints the outline of a tree trunk on the floor of our truck. ]
Today's ceremony took place on a truck that was going carry the charred remains of the tree that we took from land that had been illegally cleared and burnt and intented to tour around in Brazil. The idea is to bring the reality of the Amazon to the people using the wood.
Great to see such political heavy weights these two taking a stand for the Amazon. Sao Paulo state is the largest Brazilian consumer of Amazon timber - so the policies these guys are enforcing have a direct impact. Today the governor announced that more than 300 tons of illegal Amazon timber has already been sized.
World Bank aiding destruction
A long time World Bank adviser, Robert Goodland, has published a brutal critique of the direction it's taken, focusing especially on the Amazon. From his Guardian op-ed:
The Bank Group is stimulating hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of cattle ranching in Amazonia, an activity I campaigned against strongly. These ranching investments violate applicable standards for both deforestation and slavery. ... A quarter of the Amazon forest has already been destroyed, aided and encouraged by the bank. Amazonia suffered its most devastating drought yet in 2005. The 2007 drought and fire seasons look like being even more shattering. This loss of forest is intensifying climate change, and there are reports of impending reductions in rainfall and farm yields in the rest of Brazil. While Brazil is possibly crossing the threshold into free fall, plans are being drawn for massive dam, cattle ranching and highway projects.
Whistle blowers like this are incredibly important. They give us an honest view from the inside, bring accountability and speak out when it would be much easier to stay quiet.
Camping at the edge of destruction...........
Up to one-fifth of the world's CO2 emissions come from deforestation and Indonesia has the highest rates of deforestation on the planet. Over the past weeks Greenpeace has been setting up the Forest Defenders Camp, in Sumatra, Indonesia, as part of our international effort to protect the world's remaining forests and global climate prior to December's negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol.
Over the next month our volunteers at the camp will be blogging about their experiences - the first is from Hayden....
This morning we got up early and took a walk into the concession area to do a 'show and tell' to the new campaigners that just arrived. They toured the forest destruction caused by conversion of forests to palm oil plantations. We took a walk through the wasteland of the charred remnants of trees and saw the network of canals that have been dug to drain the peatland. Yifang and Frode, from our China and Nordic offices had many questions, and the tour, not surprisingly, was sobering. The image above gives you some idea of what it looks like out there.
Loggers besiege Greenpeace in Amazon; get to keep log
From the Guardian:
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) - Hundreds of loggers and angry residents have surrounded eight Greenpeace members who tried to leave an Amazon town with a scorched tree trunk for an exhibit on global warming, the environmental group said Wednesday.The activists are holed up in the makeshift headquarters of the federal environmental agency in the town of Castelo dos Sonhos, Greenpeace campaigner Andre Muggiati said. "They are still surrounded and the situation is tense,'' he said by telephone.
The region in the Amazon state of Para is part of the so-called "arc of destruction,'' the southern edge of the rain forest that has been devastated by loggers. In 2005, American missionary Dorothy Stang was shot dead in the region during a land dispute.
On Tuesday, the Greenpeace activists tried to haul away a badly burned fallen tree trunk for an exhibit on global warming in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Muggiati said.
He said the federal environmental agency Ibama gave Greenpeace the OK to transport the tree trunk, but the permission was suspended in the wake of the standoff.
Thankfully, our team managed to get out of there in one piece. This isn't the first time we've had to deal with this kind of intimidation in Brazil, but our work there is making a real difference.
Internal report slams World Bank for Congo deforestation
We've posted on this blog before about the World Bank and the Congo, last April we published an extensive report on how the World Bank is contributing to Congo deforestation, and Greenpeace activists have taken direct action to try and stem the flood of timber out of the country. Now, according to the Guardian, the World Bank's own internal report also accuses the bank of razing Congo forests:
The World Bank encouraged foreign companies to destructively log the world's second largest forest, endangering the lives of thousands of Congolese Pygmies, according to a report on an internal investigation by senior bank staff and outside experts. The report by the independent inspection panel, seen by the Guardian, also accuses the bank of misleading Congo's government about the value of its forests and of breaking its own rules.Congo's rainforests are the second largest in the world after the Amazon, locking nearly 8% of the planet's carbon and having some of its richest biodiversity. Nearly 40 million people depend on the forests for medicines, shelter, timber and food.
Pulp freighter blockade in Canada
( More photos. )
From the press release:
Greenpeace Canada has begun a blockade of the freighter Jaeger Arrow from their ship, the Arctic Sunrise, in Quebec's Saguenay River near Chicoutimi. Three Greenpeace activists are hanging from the ship's mooring lines while two other activists block the freighter in a zodiac boat to prevent its departure. "Save the Boreal Forest" has been painted on the hull of the freighter.The 170-metre long ship is being loaded with pulp manufactured by SFK Pulp. The pulp is destined for processing at paper giant Stora Enso's paper mills in Germany and France. Stora Enso manufactures paper for many of Europe's major publishing houses.
"This blockade is a peaceful protest against destructive logging of the Boreal Forest and those companies who purchase unsustainable forest products," said Melissa Filion, a Greenpeace Canada forest campaigner onboard the Arctic Sunrise.
You can follow the story on the Greenpeace Canada website.
Activist and indigenous people in danger in the Amazon
This video is a little long, but it is an amazing view of the dangers faced by activists working in places like this.
From the Guardian's website:
Paulo Adário, the coordinator of Greenpeace's Amazonia campaign, who led the mission subsequently complained that 'We heard from the Mayor and all of the others that the Constitution does not exist in Juína, there is no right to go and see, no freedom of the press. It is completely unacceptable that ranchers, with the support of the local authorities, can violate our freedom of movement and freedom of expression in this way.'Unfortunately such threats are both very real and very common in Brazil today. Over the past 30 years, 1,237 rural workers, union leaders and activist have been killed in Brazilian land disputes and only a tiny handful people have ever been convicted as a result.
I have huge respect for journalists and activist who put their lives on the line to get the truth out. But as Paulo reminded me by email:
We could leave the region with our plane and - that Tuesday - remove the two Opan guys. But the Enawene will stay there forever, and Opan needs to come back to help them. They are under threat, not us.
He's right. They've asked for our help, and brave people like that deserve it. One way we can help to keep them safe is to spread the word. So please forward this video around.
Survival International is also calling on people to write emails and letters (read mine here if you want an example). Also see the OPAN website.
Threats and intimidation down Amazon way
As the narrator of this startling video states, "working in the Amazon forest is not for the faint of heart." In the past, people from campaigning organisations have been bullied by land owners and workers, facing intimidation, violence, death threats and even murder. The most recent example, documented in the video from Greenpeace Brazil, happened just last week and seeing footage of a situation verging on outright violence, I've found a new level of respect for the men and women who put themselves in the firing line.
Good legal ruling in Amazon case
From the Independent last week:
An eight-month investigation by Greenpeace into the land scam, revealed that the Brazilian land reform agency, INCRA, had set up large settlements in rainforest areas instead of placing them in already deforested areas, and settling urban families who promptly sold logging rights to major timber companies."Instead of helping, the official efforts are putting in place mechanisms to ensure the supply of timber to loggers. This opens the door to further forest destruction and climate change," says Greenpeace's André Muggiati.
A prosecutor took up the case, but of course the government said we were off the mark. Now a federal judge has ruled the case has merit. The judge also ruled that INCRA was operating improperly, without regard for environmental laws, and that no further settlements are allowed without the approval of the Brazil's federal environmental agency.
Link: Amazon forest carved up in resettlement scam
Signs of hope in the Amazon
Aerial view in the rainforest, Para State, Amazon. The forest is being burned by the US based Cargill corporation to clear land for soya plantations.One year ago yesterday the Amazon was thrown a much needed lifeline. A deal to halt deforestation from the planting of soya was agreed by soya traders in the Amazon after pressure from Greenpeace and food retailers, most notably McDonald's.
Our 'Eating up the Amazon' report which showed the devastating effect of soya expansion in the Amazon was the catalyst for action by McDonald's. The report made sombre reading with not only the forest being devastated but local communities being forced off their land and some people even forced into slavery.
Congo timber ship blocked
For the past couple of days, a group of Greenpeace climbers have been perched on top of a set of cranes in the port of La Rochelle on the French Atlantic coast. As well as admiring a no-doubt magnificent view, they're also preventing a ship unloading its cargo of timber which has come from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The company logging the timber, Lebanese-owned Trans-M (another snappy corporate name!), has been given titles spanning 746,000 hectares of the DRC forest but this is in breach of the logging moratorium set up in 2002. Supposedly, no new contracts are to be issued and existing ones aren't to be renewed or extended, but somehow Trans-M have managed to set up shop and ship rainforest timber back to Europe.
This blockade is only the latest action our continental offices have taken to prevent Congolese timber coming into the EU. Over the past few weeks, imports of DRC timber were stopped in by volunteers in both Antwerp in Belgium (the link isn't in English, but there is a subtitled video and a great slideshow) and Salerno in Italy - it's demand for tropical timber in Europe and around the world drive the destruction of the forest in Africa.
As for those climbers, they managed 45 hours on top of the crane before being forced down. I'm not sure if it's a record, but it's a pretty impressive stint.
Choose the right biofuel or the orang-utan gets it
Last month in the UK, we launched a campaign with several other organisations for rigorous controls on biofuels. Governments across the EU are trying to force fuel companies to supply more biofuels and so cut carbon dioxide emissions, but while biofuels could make a small contribution in the battle against climate change, they could in fact do more harm than good.
If rainforests are cut down to make way to grow 'green fuels', it will not only destroy homes for animals like orang-utans, it will also be catastrophic for the climate by releasing more greenhouse gases by destroying forests than we will save using biofuels. The link between deforestation has been well documented so clearing forests to grow biofuel crops makes absolutely no sense.
Anyway, the campaign launched with a cheeky press ad (here's a PDF version) warning of the perils of biofuels, which has now been made into a short, sharp shock of a film which is playing above. Enjoy.
Caterpillars and contracts: first-hand reports from the Congo rainforest
On Thursday, I found myself at Portcullis House, an imposing edifice that sits across the road from the main Houses of Parliament building in London. The occasion was a panel discussion hosted by Greenpeace and (deep breath) the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on the Great Lakes Region of Africa, to discuss the crisis in the Congo rainforest. As the name suggests, it's a collective of MPs from all parties with a special interest in that part of the world who try to make sure issues affecting the region remain on the political agenda.
The special guest stars were representatives from two Congolese organisations that work to protect the forest and the people who live there, so it was an excellent chance for MPs, civil servants and UK campaigners (including me) to hear first-hand reports about the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and how the World Bank's policies are affecting both the forest and the people. Through working on this campaign over the past few months, I've learnt a lot about what's happening in the Congo rainforest, but listening to these guys really brought home how things are hanging in the balance.
Dutch government and companies ignore illegal timber
On Monday Eoin and I took part in Greenpeace actions in the Netherlands for our Forest campaign and we've taken a little time out of our busy week to write about it especially for you!
Logging in parts of Asia is now entirely out of control, due to the insatiable appetite of timber industries, a lack of governance, and corruption at all levels of administration. A staggering 80% of the world’s ancient forests have already been destroyed or degraded and what remains is mostly under threat from illegal and destructive logging.
EU member states play a key role in fuelling the international demand for illegal and destructive timber and they must legislate to ensure that it is not sold in Europe's DIY stores, furniture shops and wood yards.
Time is ticking for the African rainforests
In recent years, we've put a lot of effort into highlighting the threats facing what remains of the world's forests in North America, South America, and South East Asia. But there's one major area we haven't touched on for some time now: Africa. That's all about to change, however, and you'll be hearing more about what we've been up to in the coming weeks and months.
But first let's set the scene. The forest of the Congo basin stretches across central Africa, about two-thirds of which lies within the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) but also covers parts of Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo. And it's huge: only the Amazon rainforest is bigger. Millions of people depend on it for their survival, including semi-nomadic pygmy communities, and it's another biodiversity hotspot: forest elephants and three of the great ape species - gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos - all form part of a rich ecosystem.
It's a story familiar from other areas of our forest work, but all this is being threatened by our old friend, industrial logging. Huge tracts of the forest are being opened up by logging companies with hunters and miners following in their wake into previously inaccessible areas.
Let it out for forest destruction
It's an absolute gift when companies who are being less than kind to the environment have an advertising campaign that, with a few tweaks, can be subverted to expose their dodgy deeds. Such a treat came in the form of the Kleenex 'Let It Out' adverts that have been showing in various countries (here's an example for those who haven't seen it) and the guys in the US and Canada running the Kleercut campaign jumped on it.
Kimberly-Clark, the makers of Kleenex, Andrex and other big name tissue brands, are chewing their way through the Boreal Forests of North America, all to make the stuff we wipe our nether regions on and flush down the toilet. Is that a sensible use of natural resources? Of course not, so in the latest action a crack team of activists were dispatched to New York City where a camera crew were filming material for a new Kleenex advert.
Thanks to Shedwa for sharing this video of what happened...
Russian forestry agency launches investigation into illegal logging
We have some good news from Russia or, at least, the potential for good news.
Back in September, our Partners in Crime report revealed how Finland is importing vast quantities of timber logged illegally in neighbouring Russia. According to federal law, all forestry management plans must undergo an Environmental Impact Assessment - in the republic of Karelia these assessments are not being done yet the local government continues to hand out logging permits.
However, this week the Head of the Federal Forestry Agency in Russia has ordered an immediate investigation into the problem, appointing a commission to report back next month. This is a huge step forward and acknowledges the scale of the problem - of all the timber felled in Karelia, the majority is illegal.
Kleenex boxes come with Kleercut message
Great activism story from the Washington Post:
"Wiping away ancient forests," warned a note found inside a box bought recently at a drug store in New York by a stuffy-nosed reporter. "Here's a little secret that Kimberly-Clark, the largest tissue maker in the world and parent company of Kleenex, does not want you to know."
Which prompted a typical response from Kleenex:
"We take any and all comments about any foreign materials in products extremely seriously," said David Dickson, a spokesman for Kimberly-Clark. He then called corporate security.
Never mind those ancient forests, someone's tampering with our tissues!!!!
The activists obviously have a sense of humour, unlike Mr Dickson:
Dickson said the company has received a handful of calls about the leaflets. None of the leaflet incidents could be confirmed, he said. In one case, a caller complained about the leaflets but left a telephone number that led to a Greenpeace office.
Of course we'd never ever dream of sanctioning such subversive activities but the article does say how it can be done:
A reporter was able to slide a folded piece of paper underneath the perforated cardboard of an unopened box of Kleenex. With a little manipulating, it may be possible to insert the paper so that it lies on top of the tissues.
More on Kimberly Clark destroying ancient forests to make tissues at Kleercut.net
Alaskan Wildlife Refuge to get permanent protection?
Some in the new Democrat run congress in the US want to permanently ban drilling in the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge, and designate it a protected wilderness area. From Forbes:
Opponents of oil drilling in an Alaskan wildlife refuge are going on the offense after playing defense for a quarter of a century. They want the new Democratic Congress to make an oft-challenged drilling ban permanent.
I've read that the US has less than 3 percent of the world's oil reserves. So increased production isn't much of a solution to our reliance on oil. It would take 10 years for the new oil production to really get under way, and even then it wouldn't make a dent in our energy needs.
Bush has pushed aggressively to get the refuge open for drilling, and at one point the Senate even backed drilling. Let's hope this new congress will challenge him on it.
The Sierra Club has more info, a petition you can sign and a Google Earth map.
Amazon soya campaign wins BBC food gong
Usually, winning a campaign is good enough in itself but winning an award on top of that has to be the cherry on the cake. Or, in this case, the sesame seeds on top of a squishy white bun.
We were nominated by the good listeners of BBC Radio 4's The Food Programme here in the UK as part of their annual Food and Farming Awards for our Amazon soya campaign, of which the giant chickens running around McDonald's were a part. The judges agreed and at a swish awards dinner in Birmingham last Friday, we won the Derek Cooper Award for "a great model of how to research food issues across continents".
Pat Venditti, our UK senior forests campaigner, was there to collect the gong but was unusually coy when the presenter asked if tracking soya imports into the UK meant a lot of hanging about in lay-bys. And the food? Apparently, it was "not bad".
Kimberly-Clark in Torino: Stop flushing ancient forests down the toilet
© Greenpeace/Andrea Guermani
"Stop flushing ancient forests down the toilet" - that's what that banner says, hanging from the rooftop of the European headquarters of the world's largest paper tissue manufacturer, Kimberly-Clark. Also - note the nifty toilets bowls planted with trees being flushed down them, as a metaphor for the the Kimberly-Clark's destruction of ancient Canadian Boreal forests just to make loo paper and other tissue products for the European market.
Massive national park created in Canada
Photo by Peter Essick/Aurora/Getty Images (via National Neographic site)
Some good news is always nice to hear and having just read that 13,000 square miles of land in Canada has just been declared a national park I thought I'd share the love a little. The unamed park is a pristine wilderness that is almost 4 times as big as Yellowstone National park in the U.S! It is an area that connects boreal forest to northern tundra and includes the world's 10th largest lake.
This is the first step of many needed from the Canadian federal government to protect priceless land throughout the Territories. For a decade, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society has been working with communities, other conservation groups and governments to identify important ecological and cultural lands so they can be protected before large scale industrial activities get underway.
Looks like their hard work is beginning to pay off!
Read more here on National Geographic
Finland wins the Golden Chainsaw Award
This one slipped by me, despite my having been at last year's Forest Rescue Station in Finland. Finland, you see, has managed to win the Golden Chainsaw Award, which we reserve for the worst forest crime offenders.
Between the the 1950s and 1970s, birch trees were considered 'flora non grata' by foresters as they didn't have any commercial value. So, they were cut down and poisoned to reduce their numbers. In some areas, were sprayed with the deadly defoliant Agent Orange - yes, the nasty stuff from the Vietnam war.
Forest Fertiliser "Time Bomb"
The Sunday Times and Friends of the Irish Environment (FOIE) have revealed that the Irish government and the state forestry company, Coillte are sitting on a ticking time bomb. It's been discovered that phosphorous and nitrate silt leaked into an Irish river, causing an algae bloom that asphyxiated most of the pearl mussels downstream. Pearl mussels are a protected species under European law, and Ireland has the largest remaining population. This has caused a moratorium on logging in areas near the species, and public exposure of just how much artificial fertiliser is used in growing Sitka spruce trees in bogland.
Cyberactivists help save Amazon Rainforest
After a lot of pressure from Greenpeace supporters who sent e.mails and letters, McDonald's has decided not use to chickens that have been fed on soy grown in the deforested areas of the Amazon rainforest. Well this is really great news! Now don't get me wrong, I'm not the kind of environmentalist to go all soft on a corporation like McDonald's just because they did something good for a change. The factory farming industry is one big environmental crime and McDonald's isn't likely to start selling organic burgers anytime soon. So I'm not rushing into my nearest McDonald's to place my order (and that has nothing to do with the fact that it is over 650 miles away!).
KFC = Klearing Forest for Chickens
As we revealed in early April, McDonald's have been implicated in the clearance of the Amazon rainforest to grow soya for animal feed and, thanks to the thousands of emails and letters you sent, they're talking to us about how they can get out of the Amazon.
KFC, however, are a different story. Using a secret recipe of illegal deforestation, land clearing and slavery, KFC continue to buy chickens from their suppliers that have been fed on soya from the Amazon.
KFC = Klearing Forest for Chickens
Papua New Guinea: Activists harrassed
Greenpeace Forest Campaigner Sam Moko talks to Rimbunan Hijau security guards while attempting to deliver Rimbunan Hijau with the Golden Chainsaw Award.
True to form, Asia's biggest logging company, Rimbunan Hijau (RH), intimidated and detained six of our activists who attempted to present them with a ‘Golden Chainsaw’ award for forest destruction.
The activists were harassed inside RH’s Port Moresby compound and had to lock themselves into their vehicles for their own safety. A cameraman was assaulted while attempts were made to seize his film and his camera was broken.
More: Activists intimidated as logging company reacts violently to peaceful approach
Amazonia is burning for our food
© Greenpeace / Andreas Varnhorn
28 May 2006, Frankfurt, Germany "Amazonia is burning for our food". 300 Greenpeace activists covering 2000 trees with flame posters to demonstrate against destructive logging for soya plantations in the Brazilian Amazon area.
Don't play with the Amazon!
© Greenpeace / Kurt Prinz
At the opening of the EU - Latin America Summit in Vienna, a Greenpeace activist dressed in the Brazilian football team's uniform, waves a banner reading 'Don't play around with the Amazon!'. We're calling on the Brazilian
President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva taking part of the meeting, to stop the destruction of the Amazon rainforest.
Amazon Parachute
© Greenpeace / Daniel Beltra
Greenpeace activist parachutes over a deforested area in Belterra, in the west region of Para state, with the message "100% Crime", to protest against the soy expansion which is leading illegal deforestation, land grabbing and violence against local communities in the region.
1/3 of Great Bear Rainforest now protected!
Great news - the provincial government of British Columbia in Canada has announced the protection of 2 million hectares of ancient forest, and strict ecological management for the rest. A massive 33 per cent of the rainforest will be permanently protected, an area twice the size of America's Yellowstone National Park. By 2009, the remainder will only be open to loggers who maintain a strict ecosystem-based management system, making exploitation of the forest's natural resources totally sustainable.
Phew.
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