FSC-certified company clearcutting Swedish forests
A German news show (with English subtitles) investigates clearcuts in the Swedish boreal by logging company Stora Enso, which has been certified as sustainable by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The FSC has come under heavy fire from a number of small green groups for what they deem as ‘greenwashing’ ecologically destructive practices, however the FSC remains supported by large conservation organizations who argue...
Elementary school children urge KFC to stop cutting down forests (video)
With 6,000 hand-drawn postcards, four elementary school kids travel from Charlotte, North Carolina to Louisville, Kentucky (350 miles) to urge KFC to use recycled paper and stop endangering forests on North Carolina’s coast. Lead by 10-year-old forest activist, Cole Rasenberger, the group delivered the postcards to executives at KFC. “I had a second grade project to be an environmental activist,” Rasenberger explains. “I found...
Celebrating ten years of the Great Bear Rainforest (video)
Video by Greenpeace chronicling the fight to save the Great Bear Rainforest. According to the description, the fight to save the Great Bear Rainforest should inspire work to save forests around the world: “The Great Bear Rainforest campaign demonstrates that out of conflict and peaceful resistance, it is possible to work towards solutions. It inspires our work in the Amazon, the Congo and Indonesia...
Photos: illegal logging in Borneo
No pictures please: Illegal logger harvesting timber. On a recent trip to Borneo, Rhett Butler caught photographic evidence of illegal logging in Gunung Palung National Park. Shots taken from a recent visit to Gunung Palung National Park in Kalimantan. Photos by Rhett A. Butler, 2011. Illegally logged wood. Rainforest tree chopped down. Illegally logged timber in a pickup truck. Illegally logged...
Trailer for Oka! Amerikee, eco-drama set in the Congo rainforest
Filmed in the Congo rainforest of the Central African Republic (CAR), a region rarely explored in film, the movie tells the story of an American ethnomusicologist living with the indigenous Bayaka people, also known as the pygmies, as loggers invade their land. According to the film’s website: “The movie is partly based on the life’s work of Louis Sarno, who has lived with and recorded the music of the Central African...
Tool for comparing value of forest conservation to logging, palm oil
A new tool developed by Lian Pin Koh of ETH Zurich allows users to quickly compare the value of various forms of land use, including oil palm plantation development, logging, and carbon conservation for REDD+ payments. The web-based tool provides a rough estimate for the net present value of economic activities as well as the impact on biodiversity. The tool is available at LU...
More media coverage of Woodlark Island situation
The Woodlark islanders struggle to stop Vitroplant Ltd from logging seventy percent of their island for palm oil plantations has received new attention from organizations and media. The online organization forests.org has set up an action letter which anyone concerned by the issue may attach their name to have their opinion sent to 12 administrators involved. Over two thousand people from all over the world have sent protests for...