Dogwood Alliance has been working with giants in the music industry like Universal Music Group and Sony Home Entertainment to green their packaging for the last few years. Last week, our friends at The Musician’s Guide contacted us and asked us to share their latest infographic on the good and bad in the music industry. Hope you enjoy!
Ever wondered just how green the music industry is? When you factor in the millions of fans travelling great distances to see their favourite artists, the recording studios with 100’s of electronic units left on 24/7 all year round, and the resources that are used to make music equipment, it’s not surprising to think that it’s not the most friendly industry out there.
Last month The Musician’s Guide – a UK musician resource website put together a campaign around the theme of ‘How Green is the Music Industry’ to shed light on the good, the bad, and the ugly. That is, from the Ditty Bops and Jack Johnsons who are cycling thousands of miles to perform tours and insulating recording studios with recycled clothing, to the U2’s – whose 2010 tour had the same carbon footprint as a return trip to mars, or a lightbulb being left on for 159,000 years.
Click here to view the
How Green is the Music Industry Infographic
.
I drank untreated river water. I drank a lot of it. I filled a water bottle for later. I knew it wouldn’t make me sick.
I could drink from the river because I was on the edge of an intact Argentinean forest. Whether by accident of neglect, harshness of climate, or beneficence of landowners, the forest was large enough, and natural enough, to clean the water falling on it and flowing through it to the quality of fine drinking water.
At home in the southeastern U.S. we have a very few patches of old growth forest. Many other forests were downed all at once years ago–where now trees born together in a few short years grow shoulder to shoulder. There are also monotonous rows of single species industrial tree farms. All of these woods are crisscrossed by roads. Only a small percentage of our woods are real, natural forests–places where trees germinate, grow, die, and rot on no particular human-imposed schedule in an area sufficient to withstand human impact and the random blows of nature. Our forests were and could be so much more. They could make drinkable water.
Real, intact forests clean water and air, provide with ease for the complex needs of wildlife, lift the spirit, and keep people healthy. They are not exclusive of people. Sheep and cattle roam, beer is brewed, firewood is gathered, furniture is made, and hikers wander in the Argentinean forest where I took my drink. But, real, intact forests aren’t excessively messed with—they don’t look “managed.”
In the early 1900s, protecting drinking water motivated creation of the National Forests of the Eastern United States on lands so burned and cut over that many pictures show not a single tree standing. Today real, intact forests are emerging on some of these same lands.
In 1972 the Clean Water Act passed as Congress envisioned an end to water pollution and restoration and maintenance of “the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters,” partially in response to the Cuyahoga River catching on fire. Today the Cuyahoga is designated a National Heritage River and supports dozens of species of fish where it supported none before.
Today’s challenge, taken up by Dogwood Alliance and others, is to build sustainable and responsible use of our forests so that they may reach their full potential. In twenty years, using virgin materials to wrap a sandwich, wipe up a spill, or scribble a note may seem as crazy as a National Forest without trees or a river burning in the
middle of a major city.
I’ll probably never drink directly from an Eastern U.S. river without worry, but maybe two generations down will, if we do right by our forests today.
Rachel Doughty
Ed. Note: Rachel is a member of the Dogwood Alliance program committee and an environmental attorney. She is currenltly on sabbatical traveling and working on a farm in South America.
ATLANTA, Ga. (November 16, 2010) – In a bold commitment to forests, Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific (GP) has announced that it will not purchase trees from Endangered Forests and Special Areas, or from new pine plantations established at the expense of natural hardwood forests. The policy statement was developed in consultation with environmental groups Dogwood Alliance, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Rainforest Action Network.
While GP’s new forest policy applies to all of its operations, as a first step in implementing its commitment on Endangered Forests and Special Areas, GP worked with the environmental groups and scientists to identify 11 Endangered Forests and Special Areas totaling 600,000 acres in the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Eco-Region, as well as 90 million acres of natural hardwood forests in the Southern region. Endangered Forests and Special Areas in other regions will be mapped in a similar process, over the coming years.
“No other U.S. company has demonstrated this level of initiative in mapping unique forests across such a broad region,” said Debbie Hammel, NRDC Senior Resource Specialist. “Through this process, GP has proven that—by harnessing scientific advances and seeking conservation guidance—corporations can help protect unique places without sacrificing profitability.”
“Georgia-Pacific has shown real leadership on issues of critical importance in the South. At the same time, our forests are not completely out of harm’s way until other companies also agree to protect them,” said Danna Smith, Executive Director of Dogwood Alliance. “We will continue to urge the companies that are lagging behind to take action to protect unique places on the Southern landscape and end the conversion of natural hardwood forests to plantations.”
The South’s natural forests are home to more plant and animal species than anywhere else in North America. They also help protect the drinking water for millions of people and naturally eliminate carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Yet less than two percent of the region’s forests are protected, and the South produces more wood and paper than any other place in the world. The 11 designated Endangered Forests and Special Areas span North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia and include forests in the Alligator River Region, Camp Lejeune Area, Congaree River Area, Croatan National Forest Region, Fort Jackson, Francis Marion National Forest, Holly Shelter Region, Great Dismal Swamp Area Green Swamp Region (account for two distinct areas), and Savannah River Site. These areas are home to endangered species such as the Red-cockaded woodpecker, rare plants including the carnivorous Venus flytrap, and unique geographic features—including pocosins, the Algonquin term for “swamp on a hill.”
In addition to helping protect Endangered Forests and Special Areas, GP is helping to protect the South’s natural hardwood forests from being converted to plantations in the future by not buying pine fiber from natural hardwood forests that have been converted to pine as of July 1, 2008. Over the past several decades, the intense wood and paper production in the region has resulted in the conversion of millions of acres of natural hardwood forests to pine plantations. These plantations are more intensively managed than natural hardwood forests, often involving the spraying of chemical herbicides and fertilizers, causing concerns about the human health impacts in nearby communities. In addition, the replacement of natural hardwood forests to pine plantations diminishes biodiversity and wildlife habitat and releases carbon into the atmosphere. The conversion of wetland forests to pine plantations has also been linked to increased flooding on the southern coast of North Carolina. This commitment to increasing protection for forests is the result of six years of engagement between GP and environmental groups the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Dogwood Alliance, and Rainforest Action Network (RAN).
### About the Natural Resources Defense Council The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, nonprofit organization of scientists, lawyers, and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting the Earth: its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. Founded in 1970, NRDC has 1.3 million members and online activists nationwide, served from offices in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Beijing. www.nrdc.org About Dogwood Alliance Dogwood Alliance mobilizes diverse voices to defend the unique forests and communities of the Southern United States from destructive industrial forestry. Founded in 1996, Dogwood Alliance is the only organization in the South holding corporations accountable for the impacts of their business practices on the region’s forests and has been at the forefront of driving the U.S. paper market towards more sustainable fiber sourcing practices.
Every now and then something profound happens and it makes you realize that all the hard work, frustration, persistence and endless patience has been worth it. Today is one of those days. One of those days where we have to pause, take a breath and celebrate. Dogwood Alliance and the iconic Southern paper giant, Georgia-Pacific (GP), are announcing bold new steps the company is taking to prevent the conversion of over 90 Million acres of natural hardwood forests to pine plantations and protect endangered forests in the Southern US – the largest wood and paper producing region of the world. History is in the making. Times are changing. A major economic force affecting forests has shifted.
Over six years ago, I sat with my colleagues at Rainforest Action Network and NRDC across a table from Georgia-Pacific executives to discuss our concerns about the conversion of natural forests to plantations and the destruction of endangered forests in the Southern US. And while it was certainly clear that we didn’t see the world in the same way, something told me then that a breakthrough was possible. The multiple discussions that followed at times made me angry, frustrated and even sad. On many occasions I left meetings or phone calls determined to walk away. But then we’d achieve some big breakthrough, I’d laugh and I’d keep going. Such has been the roller coaster ride with GP over the past six and a half years – a little scary but in the end amazing and invigorating.
Today, GP is stepping away from business-as-usual forestry practices, announcing boldly to the world its new policies to end purchasing wood from endangered forests and from any new plantations established at the expense of natural hardwood forests. Going beyond words on a piece of paper, over the past 2 years, GP, working with Dogwood and NRDC has mapped 600,000 acres of endangered forests and special areas in the Mid-Atlantic Coastal eco-region. Unique forests in and around special areas like the Green Swamp, Great Dismal Swamp and Congaree River, home to endangered venus fly traps, unique swampland forests and a variety of other special species will from here on out be spared from the GP chopping block.
No other wood or paper products company in the US has taken the time to work with conservation organizations and scientists in the South to map endangered forests and special areas on such a large scale within a major wood sourcing region. GP will continue to work with Dogwood to map endangered forests and special areas across the entire South. Maps of Gulf Coast forests will be next.
And while GP has shown much needed leadership on issues of critical importance to the unique forests and communities of the Southern US unless other companies take similar action, our forests will not receive the protection they so deserve. Unfortunately, two big players in the Southern forest industry continue to stand in the way of progress: (IP) and one of its biggest customers of fast food packaging, KFC and its parent company Yum! Brands. Unlike GP, who has engaged proactively with us in an earnest effort to find solutions, IP and KFC continue to deny there’s a problem, covering up forest destruction as good for the environment and refusing to even engage in meaningful dialogue on the issues.
Perhaps today’s announcement with GP will spark a much needed breakthrough with IP and KFC. We’re ready for another roller coaster ride. Come on IP and KFC! Jump on board. Our communities need your help. Our forests need your leadership.
– Danna Smith, Executive Director
PS To dig deeper into this historic agreement, please explore the links throughout my letter…
On November 16, 2010, paper producing giant Georgia-Pacific made a very bold and very public commitment to protecting Southern forest by announcing that it would no longer purchase trees from endangered forests or from new pine plantations converted from natural hardwood forests.
GP worked with environmental groups and scientists to identify 11 endangered forests totaling 600,000 acres in the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Eco-Region and 90 million acres of natural hardwood forests in the South. The company will continue to map endangered forests in these and other regions in the coming years. The 11 endangered forests identified so far are in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia.
As for pine plantations, the company has stated it will not buy pine fiber from plantations that were created at the expense of natural hardwood forests as of July 1, 2008.
Georgia-Pacific’s commitment to increasing forest protection is the result of six years of engagement and discussions between the company and environmental groups like Dogwood Alliance, Natural Resources Defense Council and Rainforest Action Network.
Learn more: Read Georgia-Pacific’s 2010 Environmental Policy
Earlier this month KFC and its parent company Yum! Brands, the largest restaurant company in the world, responded to Dogwood Alliance’s campaign by introducing reusable packaging containers for its side dishes. This was one of multiple requests we made of the company and we applaud the small step they have taken forward by becoming the first major fast food chain in the US to introduce reusable packaging. The fast food industry is one of the largest consumers of throwaway packaging in the world and our campaign challenges companies like KFC to find innovative solutions like the new reusable container to address the massive amount of waste associated with this industry and the environmental impacts of such consumption. In addition to the company’s earlier commitment to increase the amount of recycled paper it uses for its packaging we see this as a positive move forward toward a leadership position in the industry. Clearly these represent steps in the right direction. We hope this means KFC will indeed dig in and work to green its entire packaging supply chain.
In the same announcement, KFC also stated that 90% of its paper packaging is now certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). Unfortunately, since its creation by the largest paper and timber companies in the United States, the SFI has been lambasted by the environmental community as a rubber stamp, putting a fake green label on the most destructive forestry practices. In fact, there is currently a complaint before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seeking to shut down the SFI for false marketing claims and challenging its non-profit status.
Since we know a majority of KFC’s paper packaging comes from the Southern US and have traced the company’s iconic bucket to the destruction of endangered forests on the mid-Atlantic coast, the SFI seal of approval means more destruction of the lands, waterways and communities we hold dear in our region. In addition to certifying the logging of endangered forests, the SFI allows for large-scale clearcutting, conversion of natural forests to sterile pine plantations, massive use of toxic chemical in forest management, the use of genetically engineered trees, ditching and draining of wetlands, and various other destructive practices. By embracing the SFI, KFC is siding with the worst of the worst paper companies and greenwashing the continued devastation of the forests and communities of its home region.
A clear path forward would be to integrate more of our sustainable packaging requests of the company as they continue down the promised road to sustainability. In addition to reusable containers and increased use of post-consumer recycled paper, the company needs to look at strategies for reducing its overall paper use and implement recycling initiatives so all the packaging does not end up as litter or in a landfill. On sustainable paper sourcing, the company should eliminate its most controversial sources of paper and switch to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, which is embraced by environmental organizations worldwide as the only certification system that prevents the worst practices in the woods. Unlike the SFI, the FSC does not allow logging of endangered forests, continued conversion of natural forests to plantations, ditching and draining of wetlands, the use of genetically engineered trees, and the widespread use of toxic chemicals.
Clearly KFC is making progress and we appreciate that. Unfortunately its journey to sustainability is not complete and we fear the company has been duped by and other paper companies who hide behind the SFI. We hope that KFC will not continue to fall victim to the industry’s greenwashing and will meet all of our requests. KFC is well-positioned to be a real leader in the fast food industry and all it takes now is a little greater resolve to protect the forests and communities of its home region, the Southern US.
The Power of 1 on 10-10-10:
Individual Action for Global Effect!
With your help, 10/10/10 is going to be the biggest day of practical action to cut carbon that the world has ever seen.
Organizers at 350.org are calling it “A Day to Celebrate Climate Solutions”—challenging us to get together to work in our communities on projects that can cut carbon and build the clean energy future.
Nearly 6,000 events are planned in 183 countries for the 10/10/10 Global Work Party; we encourage you to find an event in your community to participate in. In the Asheville area, Transition Asheville is spearheading a full schedule of activities and invites you join in.
Check out Because the World Needs to Know to learn about why your action is needed. ______________________________________________________________ Because this is such a significant opportunity for awareness and positive action, several Asheville- area groups that work to reduce climate change have joined together on this e-mail action campaign.
10 groups are suggesting 1 tip for an action that all of us can commit to; one that doesn’t require too much time or money, but can result in great collective impact.
We ask all of our friends to commit to at least one of these tips (whether they join in on a work party or not ) … and then forward to 10 friends. Add one of your own if you wish!
So….. Act on a Tip, Spread the Word, Be part of the Change!
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10 Organizations, 10 Tips, 10 Forwards
~ An Asheville area e-campaign in support of 10-10-10 ~ |
Volunteer in a community garden. Growing food locally saves energy.
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Sign the petition to establish an inverted utlity rate structure in NC.
This could significantly reduce energy consumption in our state.
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The paper industry is the third largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world.
Think before you print an email, double side your print jobs whenever possible,
and use high post-consumer content recycled paper.
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R, R, & R
Have a waste- free lunch.
Packing your healthy meals in re-usable containers reduces throw-aways.
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Sign up for a block of clean energy with NC GreenPower .
$4.00 per month adds 100 kilowatt hours of clean energy to NC’s grid.
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The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
Wrap your hot water heater in an insulated blanket.
This could save nearly 10% in water heating costs annually.
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Develop a personal Energy Descent Action Plan to reduce your energy usage.
Every kilowatt hour of energy not used keeps one pound of coal in the ground.
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The Western North Carolina Alliance
At least once a week, walk, bike, take public transport, or carpool.
Find a ride through one of the rideshare websites for our area.
It will save money, energy, and pollution, and keep you healthy!
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The Western North Carolina Green Building Council
Switch a showerhead to one with the WaterSense label.
This can save up to 7,300 gallons of water,
and at least 500 kWh of electricity in hot water savings a year.
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Spend time in the woods with a child. Share what you love about the outdoors.
The Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes, an award that honors outstanding young leaders who have made a significant, positive difference to people and our planet, announces its 2010 national winners. The 2010 slate of winners represents great diversity from all across the country. Winners each receive $2,500 to be applied to their higher education or to their service project.
Cole took a second-grade homework assignment and turned it into a large-scale environmental action campaign involving his entire elementary school. Asked to write a government official on behalf of an endangered species, Cole instead chose to help protect an entire forest ecosystem. To help, he contacted the Dogwood Alliance, whose mission is to protect Southern forests. (He exchanged emails with the Alliance for nearly a month before Alliance staff found out he was just 8-years-old – not the high school student they’d assumed!) Through the Alliance, Cole learned that many of North Carolina’s coastal forests are owned by large paper packaging mills, and are being destroyed to make paper for fast-food restaurants.
He resolved to write McDonald’s to ask the CEO to use less packaging and more recycled paper, and hand-drew four postcards representing different forest habitats for his campaign. Betting that many voices would speak louder than just his own, Cole printed 2,250 postcards – enough for his entire school. He wrote a speech explaining his research and project, and over the course of three days, led a team of 24 students as they stormed all 51 classrooms to present the speech and get the postcards signed. Soon after sending his massive mailing, Cole heard from McDonald’s that they would soon be switching their bags to 100% recycled paper. Cole and his classmates are working to get other schools involved in their work, and have inspired the Dogwood Alliance to develop a youth organizing program. “I have learned that children do have a voice in the world and can make changes,” says Cole.
And Cole isn’t quitting there! He is currently working on an even bigger project asking KFC to improve their packaging and stop destroying the forests of NC! Go Cole!
[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Today is the International Day Against Tree Monocultures [1]. Across the globe, timber plantations are wreaking havoc on forests and forest dependent communities. Now, to further exacerbate this damage, genetically engineered trees (or GE trees) pose a new and unprecedented threat.
The Dogwood Alliance’s Executive Director, Danna Smith said, “The USDA recently approved a request by GE tree company ArborGen, headquartered in South Carolina, to plant over a quarter of a million genetically engineered eucalyptus trees across Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and South Carolina, —many of the same regions still trying to recover from Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf oil spill. This would be another disaster for the region.”
Like kudzu, eucalyptus trees are wildly invasive, and spread into native ecosystems, displacing wildlife. Additionally, the oil in these eucalyptus trees is extremely flammable. California spends millions each year to eradicate invasive eucalyptus because of the threat of wildfires. In 2009 over 200 people were killed in Australia in a firestorm fuelled by eucalyptus. It was the worst fire in the country’s history.
[/vc_column_text][space height=”10″][vc_video link=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-0luL6nCws”][vc_column_text]On July 1, 2010 Global Justice Ecology Project, Dogwood Alliance, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Food Safety, and the International Center for Technology Assessment filed a lawsuit to stop ArborGen’s GE eucalyptus due to their potential impacts [2].
“It’s time for people to understand that GE trees must be banned and that plantations are not forests,” remarked Orin Langelle, Global Justice Ecology Project Co-Director/Strategist.
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As the old adage says, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” and these photos tell the real story of the impact of industrial logging in the Green Swamp in Eastern NC.
The pictures are courtesy of Logan Mock-Bunting, a professional photographer from southeastern North Carolina. He trekked out to the Green Swamp on an early weekend morning and was able to capture both the beauty and the destruction taking place in that region to feed the never-ending demand of the paper industry.
The beautiful photos were primarily taken at The Nature Conservancy’s Green Swamp Preserve in the heart of the swamp where you can find longleaf pine, Venus flytraps, pitcher plants, and a wide variety of amazing wildlife and plants. This preserve is thankfully off limits to logging. The photos of destruction are from an active logging job in the northern region of the swamp that show the process of cutting down trees in a wet and swampy environment and the destruction that is left behind.
I hope you enjoy them and if you do please take a moment to share them with your friends on facebook, twitter, or via email.
The Heart of the Green Swamp
Kizoa slideshow: Green Swamp Good – Slideshow
Forests Destroyed for Paper
KFC bad slidewhow – make slideshow
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