[GreenYes] Fwd: “SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY” SCHEME BLASTED

[Gary Liss <gary@garyliss.com>]

>From: Alex Tapia <alex@campaignexxonmobil.org>
>
>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 19, 2001
>
>Contact:
>Daniel Hall, American Lands Alliance (503) 978 0511
>Kate Heaton, NRDC (415) 777 0220
>Danna Smith, Dogwood Alliance (828) 885 8281
>Michael Marx, Forest Ethics (503) 978 0511
>
>BIG TIMBER’S “SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY” SCHEME BLASTED
>Loggers and Conservationists Expose Deception
>
>San Francisco, CA - As executives of the world’s largest timber corporations
>strategize behind closed doors today on the roll-out this Fall of a $20
>million public relations and advertising campaign designed to boost their
>environmental credentials, a unique coalition of conservationists and
>independent saw mill owners criticized the effort as a “fleecing” of the
>American consumer.  The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) is
>holding its annual board meeting in San Francisco today.
>
>Under the guise of their “Sustainable Forestry Initiative,” or SFI, the
>timber industry trade association is trying to convince consumers that they
>are taking care of America’s forests.
>
>Critics of the initiative include Rodney Robbins, a third generation logger
>from Union Mills, North Carolina. Mr. Robbins, who depends on mature,
>selectively cut, forests for his livelihood was critical of the initiative.
>
>”All of us in the industry know this thing is a sham,” stated Mr. Robbins.
>“The big boys (AF&PA) are trying to promote themselves as some Godly
>stewards of the environment, when what they’re really doing is destroying
>the land and forcing people like me out of a job by taking away immature
>timber.”
>
>Under pressure from conservationists, several of the world’s largest
>retailers, including Lowe’s and Home Depot, have made commitments to buy
>products coming from well-managed forests that have been independently
>certified.  Critics say the SFI is Big Timber’s latest attempt to avoid
>substantial changes in their forest practices and gloss over their image.
>
>Forty conservation groups took today’s industry board meeting as an
>opportunity to send a letter calling on AF&PA to abandon their misleading
>promotional campaign.
>
>”SFI is little more than a new name for the old forestry,” stated Dr.
>Michael Marx, Executive Director of ForestEthics. “It is designed to mislead
>the public into thinking that huge clearcuts, excessive use of toxic
>chemicals, and cutting old growth trees are ecologically sustainable.”
>
>
>For example, some of the corporations under the SFI program include:
>
>·        International Paper IP - the world’s largest timber corporation and
>biggest cutter of forests in the southeastern coastal plain of North
>Carolina along with the entire South.  According to a US Forest Service
>report released July 18, trees there are being cut down much faster than
>they are growing. [my emphasis - see also article below]
>
>·        Pacific Lumber - A northern California timber corporation with a
>long history of violating California’s forestry laws and cutting old growth
>forests.
>
>·        Interfor - The Canadian timber corporation infamous for
>clearcutting the pristine watersheds and old growth forests of British
>Columbia’s Clayquot Sound, prompting international protests.
>
>”SFI lacks public accountability, scientific benchmarks and protections for
>workers, communities and wildlife,” stated Danna Smith with the southern
>based Dogwood Alliance.  “More profits for the timber corporations, less
>forests for American families to use and enjoy—it’s the Same-old Forest
>Industry.”
>
>
>this article is from yesterday's Winston-Salem Journal, but there was lots
>of coverage. The release of the findings of the Southeastern Forest
>Asessment has just begun. Mischi
>http://www.journalnow.com/wsj/MGBX2D7ZBPC.html
>
>
>
>
>
>
>____________
>Alex Tapia
>Climate Coordinator
>alex@campaignexxonmobil.org
>
>"Exxon Mobil, the biggest (oil company), is also the world's most powerful
>climate-change skeptic Š If the world's biggest purveyor of fossil fuels
>ever accepts openly that global warming is real, that may turn out to be
>more important to the planet than any Kyoto deal."
>--The Economist, December 2, 2000
>
>Campaign ExxonMobil (http://www.campaignexxonmobil.org)
>611 South Congress, Suite 200, Austin, TX 78704
>(512)479-0335; cell: (512) 636-0507; fax: (512)479-7645
>Toll free 87 SAVE TIGEr
>
>
>To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>empoweringdemocracy-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
>Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

Gary Liss
916-652-7850
Fax: 916-652-0485