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THE WITNESS
Laura is a digital communicator for Greenpeace International 
There’s a good reason even the ‘mannequins’ are walking out of Zara’s stores in protest. Zara has a toxic little secret… and it’s in the clothes. Certain clothing items have been tested in an independent labratory and been found to contain hazardous chemicals, some of which can even break down to become hormone-disrupting and cancer-causing substances when released into the environment. It’s nasty stuff. Continue reading
By: Laura Kenyon, Greenpeace International
We are edging closer to an “ecological calamity” in the Amazon rainforest and a vote in the Brazilian Senate has pushed us closer to the brink. Yesterday it voted to approve destructive changes to the laws governing forest protection – called the Forest Code – that would open up the Amazon rainforest to rampant destruction. But it is not too late. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff will have the opportunity to veto the changes – you can ask her to protect the Amazon and veto the new Forest Code.
Losing the Amazon rainforest to further deforestation would be an unimaginable loss for our planet and life on it, and the approval of this new Forest Code in Brazil would bring us one step closer to this terrible reality.
Not only is the Amazon home to one out of every ten species on the planet and important to the livelihoods of local communities, but it also functions as a carbon storage system, which can help us avoid some of the worst consequences of climate change. If deforestation and degradation of the Amazon continues increasing at the current pace the damage could actually transform the Amazon into part of the problem instead of part of the solution. The emissions from Amazon destruction contribute to a feedback cycle that will not only make climate change worse, by increasing warming trends, but cause further damage to the remaining forest, as forest fires in the region would intensify. The new Forest Code would bring us closer to this vicious cycle. Some scientists are already discussing the potential of losing the Amazon completely – imagine a world with no Amazon rainforest.
It won’t happen, because we will all keep demanding real protection for the rainforest until we get it. We know that a future free from destruction is possible, and we’ll condemn any attempts to destroy that future for the short-term profit of a few – the new Forest Code is one such attempt.
This past year the agricultural lobby pushed hard inside Brazil to weaken forest protection, many of the people pushing for these changes have been fined themselves for illegal deforestation. The result is the new Forest Code – it reduces the size of areas under protection, pardons people who deforested illegally and weakens enforcement of protection laws.
The text that has now been approved by the Senate is really bad; after the vote, Greenpeace Amazon campaign director Paulo Adario reemphasized that it opens up the rainforest to further deforestation. He also pointed out that scientists and the public prosecutors office have already said that the new Forest Code is not good for the environment and will be challenged.
There is still time to turn this situation around. You can send President Dilma an email right now and make it clear that she has a duty to protect the Amazon rainforest and veto the new Forest Code. All of us, including President Dilma, have a stake in the survival of this amazing ecosystem.
We’d like to keep you updated on this situation as it develops, so please keep in touch and make sure you are following us on Facebook and Twitter.
In the meantime if you are looking for more information, here is the new Forest Code explained in 1 minute and 30 seconds:
Everyday, the people of Japan continue to live with the consequences of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The aftermath has brought many scary realities to day-to-day life: the nuclear contamination of food supplies, the existence of radiation hotspots in public areas, children returning to schools where dangerous radiation levels have been detected.
In response, women from the Fukushima area are organizing a three-day sit-in, beginning on October 27th, in front of the Ministry of Economy in Tokyo,where they will protest against nuclear power and the threat to life it represents, not only to Japan, but to the whole planet. They are asking for your support, and you can send a message directly to the women via this e-mail address: kaori-izumi@ta3.so-net.ne.jp
Here is the message of support sent by Sarah Burton, the Programme Director here at Greenpeace International:
Dear Kaori-Izumi
Just a quick note to you and your colleagues, sisters, and allies, to let you know I am happy to support you in your anti-nuclear protest. I am very aware of the situation you face, through my colleagues in Greenpeace Japan. I am also someone who represented (as a lawyer in the UK many years ago) the women of Greenham Common who protested the placing of nuclear weapons on ‘common land’ i.e. ‘people’s land’. Those women were my heroes, and so are you. Please pass this message on.
Yours in solidarity,
Sarah Burton
Today, one of the women from Fukushima who will take part in the sit-in next week, was in Tokyo to attend an advisory committee, where the Japanese government is deciding which residents will receive compensation for the disaster. The committee was discussing the potential compensation to be provided for residents who were not part of the official government-ordered evacuation, and had asked people from Fukushima to share their experiences. At the same time this committee was meeting, a public rally was held where residents of Fukushima were invited to speak out and make clear what they expect from the Japanese government.
Here is an excerpt from a speech given by one of the women of Fukushima:
“This is about how we live. We need to imagine the world existing on the other side of the outlet that we casually insert our plug into. Think about how our convenience and prosperity are built on discrimination and sacrifice. Nuclear power plants exist on the other side. Humans are just one species. Is there any other species that robs their own kind’s future? I want to live decently in harmony with this beautiful planet earth. While carefully conserving energy, I want to pursue a rich, creative life. How can we create a world completely different from one with nuclear power?” (- MUTO Ruiko’s Speech at Anti-Nuclear Demonstration by 60,000 Citizens, Tokyo, 19 September 2011)
You can read the rest of Muto Ruiko’s beautiful and moving speech here. Next week the women of Fukushima will make their voices heard in peaceful protest. They have two simple demands:
1. Evacuate children in Fukushima to a safer place
2. Do not restart nuclear power plants that are currently shut off
After their three-day sit-in they invite women everywhere to join them, to show that the threat of nuclear power is not just a disaster for the women of Fukushima, but for women, families and people all over the world.
Above: On the three-month anniversary of the East Japan earthquake disaster and the start of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis an “Energy Shift Parade” marched through Tokyo calling on the Japanese government to follow the lead set by Germany and Switzerland, and abandon nuclear energy to focus on clean, renewable technology. Image: Jan Beranek
Mattel’s new packaging policy means they won’t buy from Asia Pulp and Paper, a company destroying Sumatran tiger habitat for paper products.
We all know that break ups are hard. Especially when they involve secrets – like the shameful secret that broke up Barbie and Ken back in June: she had destroyed rainforest in her toy packaging. Her manufacturer Mattel was using products from Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), a pulp and paper company notorious for destroying Indonesian rainforests, including the habitat of the endangered Sumatran tiger. Ken was understandably distraught.
It wasn’t pretty. But all the drama that followed: Ken’s shocking interview, a public Twitter feud between the former couple, inappropriate photos of Barbie with a chainsaw, over 500,000 emails sent by you to Mattel – all of it has a silver lining. It helped bring the continuing destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests for pulp and paper out into the open and forced action.
Mattel recognized it couldn’t allow its supply chains to include products coming from deforestation and that toy packaging shouldn’t come at the costs of rainforests and tiger habitat. That was made very clear by the strong response from people all over the world to the revelation that Barbie was wrapped up in rainforest destruction. Today Mattel has brought closure to the couple’s drama by dropping deforestation.
As the largest toy company in the world, their new policy sends a message to other companies that to be a responsible business you must be vigilant about keeping deforestation out of your products. As part of its new commitments, Mattel has instructed its suppliers to avoid wood fiber from controversial sources, including companies “that are known to be involved in deforestation”. Their policy also aims to increase the amount of recycled paper used in their business, as well as to boost the use of wood products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
Now that you know Mattel and Barbie have committed to dropping deforestation – you probably have only one thing on your mind. Will Barbie and Ken get back together? We don’t want to speculate – but couldn’t help but notice that hostilities between the couple have ceased.
Here’s how the Ken and Barbie breakup drama happened:
[View the story "Ken & Barbie break up over deforestation" on Storify]
As you can imagine, the public airing of Barbie’s dirty deforestation laundry was so traumatic that everyone involved probably needs some time to heal. Hopefully in time Barbie and Ken will be able to look back and appreciate that their painful breakup was a necessary trauma. It has led to Mattel taking action against deforestation, adding to the pressure from other companies – among them Nestlé, Unilever and Carrefour, who are also taking action on these issues. These companies are committing to removing deforestation from their supply chains and from their products. And that is worth some tears.
What does Mattel’s commitment mean for the rainforests and the habitat of the Sumatran tiger? It means that APP is paying a heavy price for continuing to rely on destroying rainforests for pulp and paper by losing another high profile customer. People don’t want to buy products that come from deforestation, and right now companies that want to be deforestation-free can’t use APP products. Asia Pulp and Paper has to face these realities and change. APP’s sister company, palm oil supplier Golden Agri Resources, has already shown that this change is possible by making strong commitments to stop deforestation.
This hasn’t happened yet with APP. We saw the tragic costs of how APP operates when we reported on the death of a Sumatran tiger on the border of an APP owned concession. In the last 2 weeks the Greenpeace tiger eye tour has been documenting continued forest destruction by APP.
Our activists have exposed APP’s persistent attempts to greenwash its image and pass itself off as a company that cares and acts responsibly towards the environment. As long as APP continues to put its efforts into marketing campaigns that cover up the truth, rather than changing its practices – we’ll continue to expose the truth. And we know you’ll be there with us. Your support is important to keeping attention on the plight of Indonesia’s rainforests – the habitat of endangered animals like the Sumatran tiger – thank you.
Warning: this blog contains images and video footage that may upset you.
Recently, word came to our Greenpeace office in Indonesia that a Sumatran tiger was stuck in an animal trap in an area being logged by Asia Pulp and Paper (APP). It was trapped for six days in total without food or water. After a week of suffering, forest officers arrived to evacuate the tiger – but it was too late. The tiger died during the rescue attempt.
Zamzami, a Greenpeace media campaigner, traveled to the area with the rescue team as an observer and was present for the tiger’s last few hours. He describes the scene that met him: despite its ordea, the “tiger still emitted a strong wild aura” and “greeted me with an angry roar.” Everyone present stood stunned and silent to see the “King of the jungle lying low, trapped and suffering in his own home.”
The spot where the tiger became trapped was on the border of PT Arara Abadi, an APP acacia plantation in the province of Riau. Video footage reveals that nearby the spot where the tiger wandered into the trap, and later died, there was a large area of recently destroyed forest where active clearing was ongoing. That means a lot of disruptive activity was happening: trees were being felled and heavy machinery, like excavators, were busy clearing the rainforest. Only 13 kilometres away from where the excavators were at work is the spot where this animal spent its last days trapped, injured and starving.
Unfortunately, more tragic moments like this are the future that is in store for this majestic animal. The Sumatran tiger is already endangered, there are only around 400 remaining in the wild and – now we know – even one less than that.
Yet APP operations in Indonesia continue to clear rainforest that includes tiger habitat, destroying the home and hunting grounds of the Sumatran tiger in order to feed APP’s pulp and paper operations. From there, what was once rainforest ends up in all sorts of things – like throw-away toy packaging. Some of this packaging has been used by toy companies such as Hasbro, Disney and Mattel. And the future doesn’t look any better. APP has ambitious expansion plans and the areas of rainforest it plans to expand into includes more tiger habitat.
Someone once told me that roads in a forest are like veins – once opened, they can end up draining the forest of life. When APP builds a concession in tiger habitat, it not only destroys the forest the tiger would normally roam, sleep and hunt in – the roads it builds to carry away the timber also let in all kinds of other disruptions. People come and lay traps to hunt other animals, and even if they don’t mean to interfere with the tiger, they do. When their traditional habitat is destroyed, tigers must roam even further for food and shelter, which often brings them closer to forest communities and causes more conflict.
APP must stop relying on further clearance of rainforest for its business. Destruction of rainforests in Indonesia must stop to protect animals like the Sumatran tiger, minimize the negative consequences for forest communities, and for Indonesia to be able to cut its carbon emissions contributing to climate change, most of which come from deforestation.
This pulp and paper company adds insult to injury by portraying itself as a sustainable, responsible business – which acts to protect biodiversity and animals like the Sumatran tiger. It runs ads on television and in print all over the world presenting itself almost as if it is an NGO, rather than a pulp and paper business. These ads often use the tagline ‘APP Cares’ next to an image like the imprint of a tiger paw, giving the impression that APP cares about tigers. In reality, its operations destroy tiger habitat for profit – pushing these animals to the brink of extinction.
The image that APP projects of being a caring company, committed to sustainability and conservation efforts, is revealed as a lie as soon as it is compared with images of the reality of APP operations on the ground. In addition to removing APP products from their supply chain, toy companies like Mattel, Hasbro and Disney must put in place new policies to cover all their purchases of pulp and paper products. This is the only way to ensure they will not be complicit in forest destruction in the future. The last moments of this one Sumatran tiger are just the latest example of the terrible costs of the ongoing destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests – if APP continues to operate this way, there will be more.