Dear Friends,
October 12-18 is World Rainforest Week!
As tropical forests around the world continue to be endangered by unsustainable logging practices, global warming and the expansion of agribusiness, now is a critical time to stand up for the world's rainforests! Please plan to join our celebration of the forests by taking action to support these global treasures and to ensure that future generations will benefit from the clean air, biodiversity and climate control that rainforests provide.
Click here for some ideas on ways to celebrate World Rainforest Week and add your own!
September's been a busy month at RAN! Check out these highlights:
Banner Over Niagra Falls
 RAN activists dropped a huge banner at the iconic Niagara falls on the US-Canada border just a day before the first official meeting between President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Harper to send a message to that the U.S. doesn't want Canada's dirty tar sands oil.
Don't Bag Indonesia's Rainforests
Two weeks ago at a New York fashion party, we officially launched the "Don't Bag Indonesia's Rainforests" campaign targeting fashion and luxury product companies who are buying their shopping bags from Pak 2000, which is an affiliate of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), the biggest driver of Indonesian rainforest destruction for paper. Several companies, including Billabong, H&M, OKA, and Osborne & Little, have already committed to stop buying from Pak 2000 since learning about their ties to APP Indonesian rainforest destruction. After cancellations and calls from a number of companies, Pak 2000 temporarily took down its website.
Rainforest Agribusiness
The Agribusiness team was in Boston at the Natural Products Expo East for joint events with Seventh Generation and Whole Foods Market to raise awareness about the problems with palm oil, and what companies should do to reduce their impact on the world's rainforests, communities and the climate. Then they traveled with Matilda Pilacapio, a human rights advocate from Papua New Guinea (PNG), to Minneapolis, the hometown of agribusiness giant Cargill, for a series of speaking engagements and a meeting with Cargill officials. Matilda demanded that Cargill stop expansion of palm oil plantations into forests, stop polluting the rivers and coral reefs in PNG and respect land rights and worker's rights. Until Cargill increases transparency in their palm oil supply chain, starts to support a palm oil moratorium, and adopts a global forest policy, RAN and our supporters are committed to elevating our pressure.
Bangkok Climate Talks
The UN Climate Negotiations are going on this month in Bangkok and RAN is both inside working to influence the negotiations as well as organizing outside with activists from all over the world. Tropical forest destruction is responsible for one-fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions. Protecting rainforests is critical to stabilizing the climate, an issue that the UN is grappling with and hopes to finalize in a post-Kyoto treaty in Copenhagen in December. However, if the focus is on profit rather than forest protection, the UN forest deal could provoke a massive land grab, evicting Indigenous peoples from their traditional territories, and subsidizing further loss of rainforests. Check out RAN staff reports and photos of youth-led actions in Bangkok! Stay tuned for more updates from the road to Copenhagen!
Stop Mountaintop Removal
Great news for mountaintop removal activists: EPA determines all pending MTR permits will undergo further review! And check out Branden and Debra's reports from the front lines in Appalachia.
You Can Protect Rainforests and Support Human Rights Every Month! Monthly giving allows us to spend more time running campaigns and less time fundraising. Your regularly scheduled contributions will provide us with the steady, reliable support we so urgently need to fight for healthy ecosystems and social justice. | |
Check out the latest posts from RAN's blog, The Understory:
On the grounds of Ecuador: Chevron's Toxic Mess
RAN Toronto Visits RBC's New Headquarters
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