Greetings from South Beach where I am attending Tissue World Americas, ok, ok, LoL. It might not be the most glamorous conference, but it sure is a good venue to tell Kimberly-Clark to stop wiping away ancient forests. It is here that Kimberly-Clark, other tissue making giants like Proctor & Gamble and Georgia Pacific, along with anybody whose anybody in the tissue making industry, are showing their wares and discussing the intricacies of making toilet paper, etc. One thing not on their agenda, however, is how to protect the ancient forests from which much of their raw material originates. This is where we come in.

Awesome Miami activists and Greenpeace volunteers, Julie, Andy, Susan, Eric, Carson, Yuri (you all rock), helped James Brady and myself in greeting the delegates with a 6’ x 10’ banner floating mid-air from a 10’ in diameter red helium balloon reading: Kimberly-Clark: Wiping Away Ancient Forests. As the delegates approached the entrance, Susan and I asked if they would take a tissue test, AKA the Kleercut Challenge, many of them said yes. With our tissue boxes covered in wrapping paper, we asked if they could tell which tissue comes from destroyed ancient forest and which is made from recycled paper? Not surprisingly, these experts could tell the difference, but much to my surprise when we said that Kleenex is made from old-growth trees clearcut from the Boreal forest, many were dumbfounded. When asked if they would use a recycled tissue paper brand instead of Kleenex, many said yes, and many answered that they already do. Music to our ears. And, it begs the question, why aren’t all tissue paper products made from recycled paper? One of the delegates tells me the tissue giants could do that, and even it make it as soft as tissue made from 100% virgin fiber. So K-C, what’s the deal?

After 4 ½ hours in the hot sun, we took the banner down, packed up our tissue boxes and left the world of tissues, knowing that Kimberly-Clark clearly saw and heard our message. But we are not stopping there, we will continue to show up where they least expect it, and urge people to not buy their products until they stop destroying ancient forests for Kleenex, Scott, Cottonelle and Viva.

We also stopped by the hotel rooms of the tissue delegates and slid some mock USA Today newspapers under their doors.  You can check it out here.

For our latest project on how businesses can participate in the Kleercut campaign, check out www.forestfriendly500.com

--Pam Wellner, Greenpeace Forests Campaigner