Greenpeace

American University has just committed to going K-C free! Sitting on my desk, positioned in between my notebook and mug of tea (Earl Grey, much inferior to English or Irish breakfast but all I could find in the office kitchen cabinet) is the letter from a certain Mr. Willy Suter, Director of Facilities Management for American University to a certain Mr. Thomas Falk. It is Cc’ed to Ms. Cheryl Perkins, Mr. Ken Strassner, and Mr. W. Dudley Lehman.
    It begins: “I am writing to express my concern about the Kimberly-Clark Corporation’s continued reliance on fiber from ancient and endangered forests for disposable tissue paper products.”
    Willy makes note of the Boreal’s old growth trees, the diverse animal populations as well as the indigenous peoples who depend on the forest for their day-to-day survival, and how the forest functions as a carbon storehouse, making it an essential tool for all of us in our day-to-day fight against global warming.
    Sound familiar? All the better.
    The letter also makes the link between an environmental stewardship education at a university and the university’s commitment to environmental stewardship. Good old (or young?- I’ll google him later) writes:

Given that a large percentage of your worldwide fiber comes from the North American      boreal, and that your overall tissue paper production in North America contains less than 19% recycled content, we’re concerned your company does not support the wise and sustainable use of natural resources. As such, I’m not interested in using Kimberly-Clark paper products until the company has made a commitment to: Not source from endangered forests; Greatly increase the use of recycled fiber, including post consumer content, in all paper products; Only source virgin fiber from logging operations that have been certified to the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council.

    Sound familiar? You bet.
    Way to go, American students! Maybe my next blog can feature some stories about how this campaign was tackled and won. In the meantime, in the words of good old Sonic Youth, Keep on, keep on, keep on!

    Saturday April 22nd was Earth Day. After waking up, going to the post office, and eating some breakfast, I found myself at the Greenpeace booth at the Berkeley Earth Day celebration. Both fortunately and unfortunately, our booth was downwind from the kettle corn stand, positioned behind a fountain. In back of us was a large banner talking about the dirty politics killing clean energy. One of our goals on Saturday was to encourage Bay Area constituents to write a letter to their Senator Feinstein to get her to save Cape Wind. Another one of our goals was to promote two of our other campaigns, Community Choice and the market campaign against Kimberly-Clark.
    Market campaigns are truly interesting because they target consumers as well as corporations. Both sides are encouraged, empowered, to make the right choice, and further, both sides are reminded of their close relationship. That is, while corporations are probably already way too conscious of how their decisions affect consumer choices, in these kinds of campaigns, consumers are able to see how their everyday choices really do influence corporate decisions. More to the point, consumers can see that they—not just the bad corporations— are implicated in the destruction— as well as the protection— of the planet.  Market campaigns serve to remind us that we are not innocent and helpless, that (this sounds so drastic, but really!) every decision we make has repercussions, not only for us personally, but rippling out, ultimately affecting all.  
    That being said, I must admit my shock at the Berkeley Earth Day public. To each passerby who stopped, I explained the K-C campaign, talked about how K-C destroys the Boreal, an ancient forest that is relevant in our daily lives as it forms one of the world’s largest land-based storehouses of carbon dioxide. I painted as vivid a picture I could of the Boreal, an ancient forest that is home to diverse animal and plant life and is depended on for subsistence by native peoples.
And yet—and yet, people still told me that they choose to use Kleenex because recycled paper is “too hard" on their noses. To me, this is truly mind blowing. If you are so concerned with softness for your precious noise, why not use a cloth handkerchief? Surely a handkerchief is much softer than any kind of paper, sourced from ancient forests or not.  Furthermore, I wonder how these people will explain to their children why hundreds of species of animals (moose, caribou, lynx, bear, wolves, eagles, hawks and owls to name only a few), plants and ancient trees were destroyed for the box of Kleenex sitting in their bathrooms. When it comes to ancient forests, it is not a hard choice to choose recycled.

Consider the Day of Action over? Reconsider! The days of action against Kimberly-Clark, destroyer of ancient forests, are ahead and are plenty.

Here are some situations in which you might find yourself these days:

1. Wanting to get involved, but school’s ending and you’re strapped with a ton of work (but not a ton of time).

2. Wanting to get involved, but not really wanting to take on a huge school-wide K-C campaign.

3. Wanting to get involved, but school’s close to being done—and that’s all you can think about!

As luck will have it, there are a few answers to the above-listed problems.

1. Even though school’s ending, you can take steps now to start your campus on the K-C free path. Contact Lindsey Allen either by phone (415) 710-5601 (cell) or email, Lindsey.Allen@sfo.greenpeace.org to find out all the exciting ways you can prime your campus for activities next year. And hey-- some of these activities are as simple as submitting an op-ed to your school newspaper, not really time consuming.

2. Can’t take on the K-C campaign to make your school K-C free? Maybe you’re not a student or maybe you are, but even so, you’re hesitant to start a campaign and nothing Lindsey says will convince you otherwise. Well, fine. Why not become a Forest Friendly 500 recruiter? Along with campuses pledging to halt using K-C products till the company stops clear cutting ancient forests, it’s important for businesses to assert their consumer muscle and pledge too. Go to http://forestfriendly500.org/recruit to learn more.

3. Join the Greenpeace Student network. Go here, http://members.greenpeace.org/member/student.php, and sign yerself up.

And what a day of action it was! Unless your head’s been in a toilet for the past month, you must have heard all about the planned K-C Student Day of Action. This past Wednesday,  college students across the US and Canada made a Kleercut Stink, telling Kimberly-Clark that sourcing from ancient forests to make disposable products is just not cool. From the desk of Lindsey Allen, Campus Organizer for GP’s Kleercut Campaign, here are some quick highlights.

-- 143: number of different campus events
-- 42: number of different US states events held in
-- 818: number of calls made to K-C headquarters—SO FAR
-- 127: number of campuses that have yet to report the number of calls made to K-C headquarters
-- 6,000 +: number of Kleercut fliers distributed
-- 3: number of K-C employees in the Communications Department who turned off their phones
-- 10: number of events in Texas, K-C’s “home turf”
-- 9: number of events in Wisconsin, home of the giant Neenah Complex

And, as the reports come back to us, I’ll be sure to keep you updated!

The K-C Student Day of Action is imminently upon us! This Wednesday, there will be 124 Student Actions in the US and Canada. 37 states have Actions planned, and there are 5 events in Canada (1 Saskatchewan, 4 in Ontario). If each event puts a minimum of 20 calls into the K-C headquarters, that’s 2,480 calls on April 5th!
To see the list of Actions in your state/ province that you can attend, get helpful hints including talking points and other event-day suggestions, check out http://www.stopklennex.com/april5. Here’s a sample tip: Wondering how you’re going to make that faux toilet? You can drape a white sheet over a chair, drawing in marker (or paint, but it seems like you’d have more control with a marker) toilet features (i.e. a flusher and a seat) onto your sheet.
Thanks to all the students who are organizing these sure-to-be awesome events! Thanks in advance to everyone attending too! I’ll definitely update you all on some of the success stories. Two last things: remember to take photos and be sure to send them to us at usa@kleercut.net! Can't wait to see the photos, hear about everything!!!