Before high-tech monitoring systems, miners brought canaries into coal mines to detect dangerous levels of methane and carbon monoxide gases.  When the sensitive birds fell ill or died, miners knew they could be next and quickly left the mines.

Birds aren’t used in mines anymore, but they can still help us figure out if there’s something wrong in our environment.  A recent headline-grabbing report shows that even some common birds – the kind Americans are used to seeing in their backyards and nearby natural areas – are disappearing at alarming rates.

The report lists twenty common birds whose numbers have dropped by an average of 68% since 1967.  A big reason for the declines is habitat destruction, especially in the Boreal Forest.  No surprise there.  About half of North America’s bird species depend on the Boreal Forest for habitat.  As clearcuts and logging roads slice and dice the Boreal, migrating birds wrestling with other problems like global warming may be pushed over the edge.

Of course, beloved backyard birds don’t need to go the way of the dodo. The solution is pretty simple.  Most of the logging in the Boreal ends up in the United States.  And most of that wood is used to make paper products – things like Kleenex tissues.  If enough of us speak up, Kimberly-Clark, the world’s largest tissue maker and a big user of Boreal wood, would have to change its ways.

By using recycled paper and fiber from Forest Stewardship Council certified wood, Kimberly-Clark could protect sensitive bird habitat and blaze a responsible trail for other tissue companies to follow.

While birds can sing, they can’t make phone calls or write emails.  That’s your job.  So, go to the Kleercut.net campaign site and speak up for the birds!

-Rolf 

When you think of roads, do your National Forests come to mind?  Maybe they should.  The sad truth is that there are more miles of roads in our National Forests than in the Interstate Highway System – enough to circle the Earth seventeen times!  All those roads and decades of clearcutting have made wild, roadless forests rare jewels...and even more critical to conserve.

Millions of have weighed in on this issue, and the consensus is clear: Americans want their last roadless wildlands protected.  The trouble is, the Bush Forest Service isn’t listening.  Since the Roadless Area Conservation Rule was approved in 2001, they have fought to drive chainsaws, bulldozers and drills into our last wildlands.  I guess that’s what happens when you put a guy like Mark Rey, a former logging industry lobbyist, in charge of the Forest Service.  Fox in the hen house anyone?

Here’s the good news.  Last week was a rough one for stump-lovers like Rey.  On June 8th, a US District judge slapped down an attempt by the State of Wyoming to bring a nationwide ban on the Roadless Rule back from the dead.  That means the Roadless Rule remains in effect, and 58 million acres of our best wildlands are safe from roadbuilding, industrial logging and oil and gas drilling.

The Wyoming ruling is expected to be appealed, and more court challenges are already on the way from anti-forest forces.  This is nothing new.  A dizzying swarm of lawsuits has buzzed around the Roadless Rule for years, leaving its fate in legal limbo.  When will it stop?  Maybe soon.

A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers recently introduced legislation to make the Roadless Rule into law.  That would make it immune to lawsuits and permanently safeguard wild forests from Alaska to Alabama.

So, don’t just sit there – contact your members of Congress and tell them to get on board with the Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2007.  The sooner we pass this bill, the sooner we can give Mark Rey and his minions something better to do…

While campaigns such as Musicwood (see blog 2 below and here) have been working with guitar manufacturers and loggers in Alaska to protect ancient forests from unsustainable logging practices, Pacific Northwest Maples are being illegally logged and turned into guitars.

As an article in the Seattle Times notes, “All around Western Washington, from backyards to fragile stream banks, grand old big-leaf maples are being felled and dismembered to feed a black market born of an insatiable demand for the hardwood and its eye-catching whorls and ripples.” These maple thieves are cutting these trees, selling “pieces hardly larger than a shoebox, neatly carved from the base of the log.”

If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, it’s still a crime. And the guitar you see for sale might very well be part of the crime scene.

Last week in the New York Times there was a very small world brief titled: Office for Native Claims Urged. In 1995 a Ojibwa Native Canadian, Dudley George, was killed by a police sniper while at a land claim protest. Twelve years after George’s death the inquiry report recommended the government establish a land claims agency to resolve the thousands of land claims in Canada.

My question- did it really take an inquiry to alert the Canadian government to the many problems surrounding land claim disputes? For the past few years Greenpeace and dozens of other environmental and native organizations have been waving the flag about poor land management practices. The Canadian Government is aware that the Boreal Forest is vital to the climate and wildlife. The Canadian Government is aware that areas are being logged before land disputes are settled. The Canadian Government is aware that less than 10% of the Boreal Forest is protected . Just last month 1,500 scientists signed a letter asking the Canadian Government to act.

This is no longer a question of awareness it is a question of action. Why has the Canadian Government failed to protect this resource vital to the entire planet? Because it is far too profitable to hand over the land to American companies interested in mining and logging. As we know from the Kleercut campaign companies like West Fraser are sent in to clearcut so that Kimberly-Clark’s appetite for cheap pulp is met. We can all buy virgin Kleenex at the store because the land in Canada is up for grabs to American companies.

Will the Canadian Government create an office to resolve native claims disputes? No. It's already decided and the land is up for grabs to the highest bidder. Just as we've seen recently with climate policy, the Canadian Government seems comfortable following the Bush Administration in a race to the bottom. We may still be in the lead when it comes to bad environmental policy but the Canadian Government is right on our tail.

Neither me nor my mom can remember the 1960s—I wasn’t born then, and she . . .—but we both can tell you that much of the music we love from this period is revolutionary and radical and life-changing. The rock & roll that gets me up in the morning, and keeps me going throughout the day, is cutting-edge and inspiring. It is now, and it was when it was first released, both connected to its times, and way ahead of its times.

My infatuation with music and the incredible power it has is one of the reasons why Greenpeace’s Musicwood Campaign is so exciting to me. This campaign is partnering with the music industry to protect threatened forest habitats and safeguard the future of the trees critical to making musical instruments. Musicwood is literally using music to bring about a hugely positive and radical change not only for Southeastern Alaskan forests, but—as is the case with most environmental work— for all of us.

Greenpeace and musical instrument manufacturers are working together to increase the availability of traditional woods used by musical instrument manufacturers that can be certified to the exacting management standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Musicwood is demonstrating, one species at a time, that there is a strong and growing market for well-managed, FSC certified wood. This is important because currently, there are no FSC certified forests in the entire state of Alaska and the predominant logging practice remains clear-cutting. Transitioning private land suppliers over to the FSC system will ensure a well-managed supply of Sitka spruce for the long term, meeting the needs of manufacturers while greatly benefiting Alaskan Native communities. Musicwood’s goal is to create a demand by consumers and businesses for FSC certified "good wood" as the only acceptable music wood from the North American coastal temperate rainforest.

Want to read more?
Read the article in the New York Times  (it also appeared in the International Herald Tribune)
Learn about the FSC

A few weeks ago I was asked to explain what I do as a Greenpeace Forest Campaigner and found the question tougher to answer than you might imagine.  If you're interested in my response by way of lengthy story I've posted it below. It's also a decent way to get a sense of the devastation being wreaked on the Boreal so that we can blow our nose on Kleenex.

..... 

It smells similar to burnt hair. Burnt hair and fumes from a congested stretch of LA highway.  Ahead of me is what looks like an empty construction site complete with the dirt and the deeply scarred ruts from the large tires of earthmoving machines.

It’s my first time in the part of the Boreal Forest in Alberta, Canada.  The forest that is one of the largest unspoiled forest ecosystems left on Earth at 1.4 billion acres.  The forest that fifty percent of the 700 North American bird species depend on for survival.  I shouldn’t say it’s my first time in the Boreal, really it’s my first time visiting an empty stretch where the forest stood until it was pulped for toilet paper.  Companies like West Fraser bring in the machines to raze everything so that they can sell ancient ecosystems as pulp to Kimberly-Clark.  This is the pulp we all flush down the toilet as Cottonelle enhanced with Aloe, Kleenex Anti-Viral or Scott Extra Soft.

I spent the last hour moving through the filtered shade of tall trees surrounded by the scuttle of forest animals.  But now I’m standing in a clearcut.  The earth is still warm from the machines that overheat as they cut ten inches from the base of a tree: one tree after another, for hours upon hours.  The sun is too bright and there’s a glare that forces me to squint to review the debris.  There are ruts in the mud, snapped underbrush, the sideways splinter of a tree that was incorrectly caught in the machine, leaked oil stains, a broken sapling that was unable to escape a heavy-tread tire, and moss already shriveling in the bright sunlight.  I’m hot and sticky as I look across the brown where the heat is blurring my vision rising from the earth the wave heat does from pavement on a hot summer day.  This is the forest at its most vulnerable, a part of our world that until recently relied on the protection of ancient towering stands.  It’s uncomfortable to view this exposed underbelly, but this is my job.

I work for Greenpeace as a Forest Campaigner and my job is to make sure companies like Kimberly-Clark are held accountable to environmental standards.  The tough part of the job is to know that alone I can’t work fast enough.  As fast as we successfully organize customers and shareholders to pressure the company to change, machines move quickly across the forest. From time to time I am sent to inspect the damage. I confirm that Kimberly-Clark (the makers of Kleenex, Scott and Cottonelle brands) is still supporting the decimation of intact forests here in the Boreal and elsewhere in the world.

The kicker is that clearcutting doesn’t have to happen.

When Kimberly-Clark declares it is too hard to use recycled paper in Kleenex, they are really saying clearcutting is too cheap and too easy.

I’m standing in an empty space the size of 80 soccer fields and it feels more like the plains of Arizona.  The Boreal Forest here is completely gone and despite myths of replanting- the Boreal Forest here is irreplaceable.  Every year Kimberly-Clark prints a Forest Fact Sheet to sing the praises of their environmental deeds.  And this clearcut is a model of  the sustainable forestry Kimberly-Clark champions.   This is what happens when a company allows forest management certifications other than FSC.

If you’re asking what FSC is, there is no reason to let Kimberly-Clark confuse you. FSC stands for Forest Stewardship Council that was created by environmental leaders to serve as a check on companies that harvest forests.  The FSC certification means that someone other than the company has verified that wood coming out of a forest was harvested in a sustainable way.  Kimberly-Clark allows other certifications created by industry to promote the illusion that they are sustainable.  The clearcut I’m standing is considered a certified cut.

These clearcuts are wasteful. They make our world warmer and evict animals that are then forced to compete with other animals for new homes; animals like woodland caribou, bear and migratory birds.  Most people don’t know that 33% of the entire North American population of the American Robin depends on the Boreal for nesting or breeding.  As do 18% of Pileated Woodpeckers, 9% of Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds, 13% of Baltimore Orioles, 15% of BlueJays, 16% of Bald Eagles, 27% of Magpies, 36% of Bank Swallows, 46% of Whooping Cranes, 80% of Juncos, 83% of the Great Grey Owl population.  All these birds depend on the Boreal for the survival of their species.

The robin you watch hopping around the lawn every morning before you go to work depends on the Boreal Forest.  I’ll give you a minute to think about the brand of toilet paper under the sink in your bathroom.  And the thousands of pallets of your brand at the WalMart or Safeway distribution centers. If it’s a Kimberly-Clark brand, if it’s not recycled, your last purchase may have just evicted that Robin in your yard.  This season that happy little guy may be without breeding grounds.  

To avoid evicting thousands of migratory birds, including the American Robin in your yard, Baltimore Orioles or Bald Eagles there are easy steps you can take. Next time you’re at the store, flip the package over and buy the toilet paper with the recycled symbol that means paper made from paper. Avoid all Kimberly-Clark products: Kleenex, Scott, Huggies, Depend, Kotex and Cottonelle. Once you’ve made the change, tell your friends to do the same.

Once you’ve removed Kimberly-Clark from your shopping list, you can consider doing more. Look for recycled content in everything you buy and ask grocery stores to carry more recycled products. There are great alternatives out there: Seventh Generation, Marcal, Cascades, Earth First, Trader Joe’s and Green Forest.   Support the Greenpeace Kleercut Campaign financially so that we can continue to pressure the company to change using creative tactics, large customer contract cancellations, organized shareholder pressure, and awareness raising advertisements. If you own or work at a small business you can join our Forest Friendly pledge to avoid making purchases that impact our ancient forests. Let the company know that you think Kleenex needs to increase the amount of recycled content and FSC certified pulp in their tissues, that you feel irritated, frustrated or devastated at the use of our ancient forests for toilet paper and disposable tissue.

As a Greenpeace Forest Campaigner standing in a clearcut I only have one question for the Kimberly-Clark Corporation and their customers.  Is it really worth trading the ability forests have to mitigate global warming, worth trading the oxygen we breathe, or worth the silence in your backyard when you’re favorite songbirds have been impacted, just for soft Kleenex?

    Many people do environmental work to make the world a better place for their children to live in. Imagine, then, what it must be like for a prominent environmental activist to loose one of his children because of his and his child’s environmental work.
Earlier this month, this is exactly what happened to Ildefonso Zamora, a Mexican indigenous environmental leader in the Great Water Forest.
    Because of their environmental work, Ildefonso and his two sons (ages 21 and 16), have received many threats from timber gang members. On May 15th, Ildefonso’s two sons were ambushed while they were traveling with relatives. One son was shot and is now stable condition. He identified the attackers— 2 local loggers whose father, Feliciano Encarnacion, is one of the main leaders of the logger gangs from this area. The other son died the night of the attack.
    Ildefonso has worked against illegal logging in his community since 1998. Despite his work, authorities have not taken measures to stop the loggers. According to the Mexican Federal Bureau of Environmental Protection (PROFEPA), the areas of Lagunas de Zempoala and Huitzilac have been identified as one of the 15 critical regions of Mexico due to illegal logging. Together, these areas account for 60 per cent of the illegal logging in the country.
In April 2006, Ildefonso and Greenpeace informed PROFEPA about illegal logging in the Great Water Forest. As a result, the local PROFEPA office began monitoring the area, making raids and arresting many loggers. In November of that year, the Public Prosecutor requested 47 arrest warrants against loggers. These orders were denied by a judge, who argued that there were not enough elements to determine if a crime was committed.

TAKE ACTION: Send a message to President of Mexico Felipe Calderon Hinojosa demanding justice for these killings and better protection of forest activists

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