This amazing planet of ours has so many special places of great natural beauty, especially those enmeshed within a web of ecological relationships. I have been privileged to work in one such place of beauty and power: the Great Bear Rainforest. When I enter some of the intact forested areas within the Great Bear, I am awed and humbled, not just by the silent majesty of the trees but also by an almost palpable energy that is hard to put into words. If you have had the good fortune to spend time in an old-growth forest you probably understand what I mean. Continue reading →
“Ferocious jungle predators, laying in wait, stalking their fast food hawking adversaries. The scene was set–our Sumatran tigers were in place, our orangutan armed with fliers, and a banner to catch the attention of the many motorists driving down Colorado Blvd, the backbone of East Denver, Colorado traffic. Our activists were excited to talk to the masses of KFC customers, so that they could in turn engage with a brand they’re loyal to, and help encourage change through direct dialogue. “ – Event Coordinator, Andrew Pytlik
Last weekend, activists in Denver demonstrated in front of a local KFC- a sight that’s been happening across the country. Why are people taking to the streets and the storefronts of KFCs nationwide? Photographs, supply chain research and forensic testing leave no doubt: KFC is trashing rainforests for throw-away packaging like chicken buckets.
While the Rainbow Warrior sat at anchor on a wide expanse of the Amazon river, a small Greenpeace team set off in inflatable boats towards the village of Bailique, to meet with local people who are resisting the trend towards large scale agriculture and deforestation. Continue reading →
The Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior served as center stage on wednesday for a flotilla assembly deep in the Amazon. Boats travelled, some for more than a day, to join the assembly and give testimonials of the destruction threatening their survival in the forest. The riverboats tied lines between them to create a floating platform around the Rainbow Warrior and passed a microphone between the families as they demanded implementation on the laws governing their already protected land.
This St. Patrick’s Day I was not particularly interested in wearing something green, or having holiday drinks with my friends. Instead, to be green. So, I dressed in orange and black, and stood outside of Barnes & Noble in Newport Beach, California to draw attention to the bookstore’s ties to illegal rainforest destruction in Indonesia.
Home of the endangered Sumatran tiger and orangutan, Indonesia’s Paradise forest is being destroyed at a break neck rate for products like toilet paper, packaging, and books. Greenpeace recently came out with a report, The Ramin Paper Trail,
linking the illegal logging of the protected ramin trees from Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) mills in Indonesia to American products like some books sold at Barnes & Noble. Continue reading →
It’s been a momentous 24 hours since we released the results of our investigation into Asia Pulp and Paper’s illegal timber scandal. While we in Greenpeace are best known for our direct actions, it’s our investigation work that provides the foundation to expose these environmental crimes. Our Indonesian forest campaign is no different and with APP so adamant that it has ‘zero tolerance for illegal timber’ we knew we had to go to the heart of this issue and uncover the reality.
These are the five words that say a lot but apparently mean little to a company that has made a mantra out of repeating something which is simply not true. And today, we’ve released proof that what APP says is wrong – the results of a yearlong investigation uncovering how APP is systematically violating Indonesia’s laws which protect ramin, an internationally protected tree species under CITES. Continue reading →
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:
