1)
Reduce your paper and wood consumption.
Logging companies are cutting
down some of the most endangered forests on the planet to make
wood and paper products such as office paper, phone books, toilet
paper, window trim, lawn furniture, and 2 x 4's. Over seventy-eight
percent of the Earth's original old growth forests have already
been logged or degraded.
You can help reduce the
pressure on our remaining forests by taking simple steps to reduce
your own wood and paper use. For example, use both sides of each
piece of paper, use your own cloth bags at the grocery store,
use cloth napkins and towels, and avoid disposable paper plates
and cups.
When purchasing paper products,
choose products with the highest percentage of recycled content
—post-consumer recycled content is the best. Choose tree-free
paper alternatives if possible. Tree-free paper is made from agricultural
products like waste straw, kenaf, and hemp, so not a single tree
is cut down for its production!
2)
Reduce your oil consumption.
The burning of oil, gas, and coal is the primary cause of climate
change, a trend that is threatening the stability of the global
climate. Scientists have predicted that if we stay on our current
path, global temperatures will rise between 2° and 9°
Fahrenheit in the next century —a warming rate faster than
any occurring in the last ten thousand years. In addition, oil
exploration projects lead to toxic pollution and massive deforestation,
posing a threat to pristine ecosystems and indigenous cultures
worldwide.
You can help alleviate oil's
impact on the environment by reducing your own oil and gas consumption.
The next time you purchase a car, choose one that gets good gas
mileage and avoid gas guzzling sports utility vehicles. If you
drive somewhere regularly, start a carpool. Whenever possible,
leave your car at home and instead walk, ride your bike, or take
local mass transportation. Support funding for mass transportation
and bike lanes —options that will serve our transportation
needs and our planet much better in the long run than an ever-expanding
maze of roads and highways!
3)
Reduce your beef consumption.
Rainforest beef is typically found in fast food hamburgers or
processed beef products. In both 1993 and 1994 the U. S. imported
over 200 million pounds of fresh and frozen beef from Central
American countries. Two-thirds of these countries' rainforests
have been cleared, in part to raise cattle whose meat is exported
to profit the U. S. food industry. When it enters the U. S. the
beef is not labeled with its country of origin, so there is no
way to trace it to its source. Reducing your consumption of beef
will reduce demand for it, cutting back on pressure to clear more
forests for cattle. For more information on the connection between
beef and the environment, contact Earthsave International, 1509
Seabright Avenue, Suite B1, Santa Cruz, CA 95062; 1-800-362-3648;
www.earthsave.org.
4)
Hold businesses accountable.
Corporations need to know that the public will hold them accountable
for business practices that are socially or environmentally destructive.
If you feel that a company's business practices are environmentally
irresponsible, send the company a letter expressing your concern,
or organize a boycott of the company. Below you'll find information
about two companies that you can write to today to help protect
the Earth's forests.
5)
Invest in rainforest communities.
RAN's Protect-an-Acre Program was created to protect the world's
rainforests and to support the rights of rainforest communities.
The Protect-an-Acre Program is an alternative to "buy-an-acre"
programs, which tend to ignore the fact that there are often people
who depend on the forest and have lived in the forest sustainably
for centuries. Protect-an-Acre provides funding to help forest
peoples
gain legal recognition of their territories, develop locally-based
alternative economic initiatives, and resist destructive practices
such as logging and fossil fuel development. For information about
how you can support the Protect-an-Acre program, visit the Protect-an-Acre
section of our website.
6)
Support the grassroots.
In 1999, Home Depot, the single largest retailer of lumber in
the world, agreed to phase out its sales of old growth wood. This
victory was a direct result of the hard work of grassroots activists,
who staged more than six hundred demonstrations at Home Depot
stores across the U. S. and Canada. You can play a critical role
in future victories by joining or starting a Grassroots Action
Group in your area! Contact RAN's Grassroots Coordinator at 415-398-4404
or organize@ran.org for help in finding a local group or advice
on starting your own group. Equally important, help protect the
forests in your region by getting involved with a local forest
preservation group.
7)
Support Rainforest Action Network.
Rainforest Action Network is an effective, hard-hitting organization.
In 1985, RAN launched a nationwide boycott of Burger King, which
was importing cheap beef from tropical rainforest countries. Two
years later, Burger King canceled thirty-five million dollars
worth of beef contracts and agreed to stop importing beef from
the rainforest. RAN then led a global consumer boycott against
Mitsubishi, which resulted in Mitsubishi Motor Sales America and
Mitsubishi Electric America committing to unprecedented environmental
reviews of their business activities. Most recently, as a result
of a two year campaign led by RAN, the nation's top home improvement
etailers and largest home builders agreed to phase out the sale
and use of wood from the Earth's endangered forests. None of these
victories would have been possible without the support of our
members. To join RAN, join online!
