World Rainforest Week kicks off
RAN aims to convince multi-national companies to change their ways
Today (12th October) marks the start of World Rainforest Week which runs until the 18th of the month and aims to make people more aware of the threats posed by logging practices, climate change and the expansion of agribusiness.
The week is organised by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), a global body which uses hard-hitting marketing campaigns to target multi-national corporations and encourage them to adopt more environmentally-friendly practices.
As part of World Rainforest Week, the group is encouraging people take part in various activities to promote the plight of the rainforests, including starting a petition demanding Cargill adopts and implements a global forest policy, blogging about the event and donating or holding a fundraiser in aid of RAN.
The body also suggests holding a screening of Green, a documentary which tells a story about the corporate conversion of rainforests in Indonesia for palm oil, tropical wood and paper through the eyes of a dying orang-utan and is available for free download.
If people email RAN about their screening then they will also be sent a series of discussion questions to raise after the film.
RAN hit the headlines last month following a stunt which saw activists releasing a 70-ft banner over Niagara Falls as part of a protest against the importing of oil from Alberta's tar sands.
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Comments
I think our problems in this world are gigantic. I think the taking of oil and natural gas effects the stability of the inside of the Earth and has the potential to destroy the shape of the Earth and possibly the gravitational pull which means the end of the Earth entirely and a home for human souls in the future. I think that we need to go down there and work out a deal with the country to stop deforestation and begin building forest around the earth.