For Immediate Release, July 1, 2010
Lawsuit Filed to Halt Release of Genetically Engineered Eucalyptus Trees Across the American South
FORT PIERCE, Fla.— An alliance of conservation organizations today sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture over its approval of open-air field tests of a genetically engineered (GE) hybrid of eucalyptus tree across the southern United States. The permit, issued to a company called ArborGen, which is a joint initiative of , MeadWestvaco and Rubicon, was approved May 12 with minimal environmental review. It authorizes the experimental planting and flowering of a new, genetically engineered hybrid on 28 secret sites across seven southern states — Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas.
“In refusing to prepare a detailed environmental review, the Department of Agriculture ignored serious risks before permitting this action,” said Marc Fink, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. “Federal agencies can’t be allowed to neglect their duty to the public trust. Once this genie is out of the bottle and escapes to neighboring lands, it’s irreversible.”
ArborGen hopes its GE “cold-tolerant” Eucalyptus will become widely planted for pulp and biomass. But eucalyptus trees are not native to the United States and are known to become invasive, displacing native wildlife and plants in various areas around the country and increasing wildfire risk. “Releasing GE cold-tolerant Eucalyptus trees into the wild in multiple states greatly increases the risk they will spread uncontrollably throughout the region,” said Dr. Neil Carman of the Sierra Club.
In approving the GE eucalyptus permits, the Department of Agriculture ignored the concerns of numerous agencies and scientists, including the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council, which formally criticized the proposed open field tests of these genetically engineered trees.
In addition to approving these test sites, Agriculture is also considering a “deregulation” petition submitted by ArborGen that would allow widespread commercial planting of GE Eucalyptus without any limits or regulation. According to the U.S. Forest Service, GE Eucalyptus plantations in the southern United States would use more than twice the water of pine plantations in a region already suffering from a depleted water supply.
“These tests include planting over a quarter of a million genetically engineered eucalyptus trees along the Gulf Coast and into South Carolina,” said Anne Petermann of Global Justice Ecology Project and the STOP GE Trees Campaign. “Ultimately they plan to produce up to half a billion GE eucalyptus seedlings annually for planting across the U.S. South. This would be another disaster for these beleaguered Gulf Coast states, leading to a loss of native forests and biodiversity, depleting ground water and worsening climate change.”
The Government Accountability Office and USDA inspector general have both issued sharply critical reports on the USDA’s management of genetically engineered organism (GMO) field tests. In 2006, a GE rice field test contaminated southern U.S. long-grain rice fields, causing billions in losses to farmers; in 2007, a federal court found that a GE bentgrass field test had contaminated a protected national grassland in Oregon. “The Department of Agriculture continues to tell the public that no further restrictions are needed on these novel organisms,” said George Kimbrell, an attorney for the plaintiffs. “In light of history, their empty promises here ring hollow.”
“Over the last generation the people of the South have watched the forests of our region destroyed by industrial forestry, impacting our water quality, wildlife habitat and quality of life,” said Scot Quaranda of Dogwood Alliance. “The federal government’s decision to approve the use of GE Eucalyptus trees in our region will open the door to further exploitation of the people and forests of the South. This decision must be overturned.”
The organizations are represented by attorneys Marc Fink of the Center for Biological Diversity, George Kimbrell of the International Center for Technology Assessment and the Center for Food Safety, and Jeanne Marie Zokovitch Paben, director of the Earth Advocacy Clinic at Barry University School of Law.
To read comments submitted by Georgia Department of Natural Resources, click here.
To read comments submitted by the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council, click here.
The organizations that filed suit today are the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, Dogwood Alliance, International Center for Technology Assessment, Center for Food Safety and Global Justice Ecology Project.
Dogwood Alliance releases Sustaining our Defense report detailing the importance of Southern Forests in the fight against climate change.
We all know that forests are vital in the fight against climate change, but did you know that paper companies like and its customers like KFC could be considered climate criminals?
This morning, in partnership with Climate for Ideas, an environmental research organization based in the UK, Dogwood Alliance released “Sustaining Our Defense: Southern Forests, Carbon, and the Fight Against Global Climate Change.” The report further demonstrates the important role forests play in mitigating global climate change and implicates the paper industry for failing to address this vital issue which greatly weakens our natural defenses. Sustaining Our Defense ReportYou can view the full report here.
If you do not have time to read the full report, check out this short video I made which summarizes the findings and shows why KFC needs to dramatically change the way it thinks about paper packaging and how needs to seriously change its act for the sake of our forests, communities and the planet.
Southern forests are one of the nation’s most powerful tools in combating climate change, yet the paper industry continues to log them at a damaging clip and convert natural forests to plantations which do not do an adequate job at sequestering carbon.
The perfect example is climate criminal ‘s two giant paper packaging mills on the mid-Atlantic coast which supply KFC with its iconic buckets and are responsible for increasing atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide by over 7.5 million tons in a single year.According to the EPA, this is equivalent to the emissions from over 1.3 million cars or the annual emissions from nearly two coal fired power plants.
This is unacceptable and needs to change. Please take a moment to watch the video and learn more and share it with your friends on Facebook, Twitter or by forwarding this email. Together we can sustain our defense and protect the forests of the Southern US which are a critical barrier to climate catastrophe.
Announcing the release of “Sustaining Our Defense,” a new report implicating paper industry, led by in forest destruction, worsening the climate crisis…
For Immediate Release: June 30, 2010Contact: Scot Quaranda, Dogwood Alliance, 828.242.3596 [email protected]Southern Forests Vital to Sustaining Our Defense Against Climate ChangeNew Report Implicates Paper Industry Led by in Forest Destruction Worsening the Climate Crisis Calls Forest Protection and Restoration for a Sustainable Paper Industry in the Southern US the Only Wise ChoiceAsheville, NC – Today, Dogwood Alliance and UK-based NGO, Climate for Ideas, released a report “Sustaining Our Defense: Southern Forests, Carbon, and the Fight Against Global Climate Change.” The report further demonstrates the important role forests play in mitigating global climate change and implicates the paper industry for failing to address this vital issue which greatly weakens our natural defenses. The report is based upon the work of Climate for Ideas’ in, “The Carbon Footprint of two virgin fiber paper packaging mills in the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Ecosystem.”
The report states that Southern Forests are one of the nations’ most important and powerful tools for sequestering and storing carbon and other greenhouse gasses and protecting our environment from the dangers of global climate change. When natural forests are protected or managed responsibly, they accumulate and hold carbon, serving as carbon reservoirs, or “sinks.” Maintaining and enhancing carbon stores in forests keeps carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. When they are disturbed by logging or lost through conversion to industrial tree plantations or development, they release carbon dioxide and add to atmospheric levels of greenhouse gasses overall.
“The choices we make today about how we treat forests have implications for how much carbon dioxide we put into the atmosphere,” said Jim for of Climate for Ideas. “We can choose to emit that carbon to the atmosphere, or keep it in the forests.”
According to the report, the paper industry delivers a one-two-three punch to our climate. First, logging for paper production releases carbon from the soil and trees and disrupts a forest’s natural cycle of carbon sequestration. Second, the slash left behind or burned in the forest continue to emit carbon for years and it takes a long-time before a forest regains the level of carbon uptake it had achieved pre-logging. Third, the pulp processing of wood to paper is a huge source of greenhouse gas emissions with only a small portion of the tree ultimately in the paper itself.
“‘s two giant paper packaging mills on the mid-Atlantic coast which supply KFC with its iconic buckets are responsible for increasing atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide by over 7.5 million tons in a single year,” said Andrew Goldberg of Dogwood Alliance. “According to the EPA, this is equivalent to the emissions from over 1.3 million cars or the annual emissions from nearly two coal fired power plants.”
The report details why our forests need to be protected and restored to ensure maximum benefits in the fight against climate change. In order to do this we need to reduce our overall use of paper, use more recycled fiber and ensure forests are better managed for carbon storage is to manage to the high standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Better forest management with less clearcutting and longer rotations with protection of natural forests from conversion to monoculture plantations improve our carbon performance.
When trees are harvested there is an immediate long-term negative effect on the forests’ natural sequestration of carbon. Even when trees are replanted, it can take up to 20 years for a newly planted forest to stop being a net emitter of greenhouse gasses. It can take hundreds of years before it stores the same amount of carbon as an undisturbed forest. Which of course runs counter to the industry greenwashing assertion that planted and young trees in plantations are sufficient to combat global climate change.
When harvested trees arrive at a pulp and paper mill, the manufacturing process required to convert them into paper emits enormous amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. The virgin fiber mills in the study consume approximately 3.5 tons of wood for every ton of paper produced. The wood that does not become part of the final product is burned as fuel releasing additional CO2 into the air.
The report implicates (IP), the largest paper producer in the Southern US and the world, as a climate criminal. Specifically, it looks at IP’s paper packaging mills on the mid-Atlantic coast which supply fast food companies including KFC’s iconic bucket. IP’s continued reliance on out-dated forestry methods like ditching and draining of wetlands, conversion of natural forests to plantations and large-scale clearcutting are having a detrimental impact on the region’s forests to sequester carbon. This suggests that customers like KFC and other fast food companies should work with IP to end these practices and increase the use of recycled fiber in its products.
# # #
“Sustaining Our Defense” can be viewed and downloaded at: http://www.dogwoodalliance.org/images/pdfs/sustainingourdefense.pdf The report is based on “The Carbon Footprint of two virgin fiber paper packaging mills in the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Ecosystem,” written by Climate for Ideas and commissioned by Dogwood Alliance.Dogwood Alliance is an environmental organization based in Asheville, NC that mobilizes diverse voices to defend the unique forests and communities of the Southern U.S. from destructive by industrial forestry practices. They currently targeting KFC for its use of paper packaging that is destroying the forests of the Southern US, learn more at http://www.kentuckyfriedforests.com or for general info, visit: http://www.dogwoodalliance.orgClimate for Ideas conducts research on environmental issues in order to advance sound science and sound policy for companies, governments and non-governmental organizations. Learn more at http://www.climateforideas.org
Dogwood Alliance shares thoughts from the US Social Forum in Detroit…
Last week, Lindsey and Scot along with our friends at Bountiful Cities joined over 30,000 people at the US Social Forum in Detroit. It was an exciting and enlivening event where we attended various workshops and gave a couple of our own; met and networked with activists from across the country; and joined together to work, learn, and party with people from an amazing cross-section of environmental, labor, civil rights and social justice organizations.
The theme of the forum was “Another world is possible. Another US is necessary. Another Detroit is happening.” As the week progressed, we were constantly reminded of the power of these words and the importance of joining together as a community to solve some of the most pressing problems in the world.
For our part, Scot spoke on two panels with over 80 people in attendance. The first was “Forests and Climate Change,” sponsored by Dogwood Alliance, Global Justice Ecology Project and BiofuelWatch. The three organizations covered a variety of issues from the importance of protecting and restoring Southern forests in the battle against climate change, the false solutions being posed by various governments and agencies that are capitalizing on the carbon market, and the need for community-based solutions that value standing forests over commodities.
The second workshop was “Biofuel, Biomass, Bio-economy: One Big Bio-mess!” This was sponsored by Energy Justice Network, BiofuelWatch, Friends of the Earth, ETC, and a local community in Traverse City, Michigan fighting four proposed biomass facilities. Here we covered a basic primer on bio-energy, the impact on Southern forests, the political landscape in DC, the threat of genetic-engineering for this industry, and how local citizens can stand up against the purveyors of biomass.
Lindsey got in on the action for the KFC Campaign. She attended a workshop on culture jamming where they were so impressed with our campaign that she ended up doing an ad hoc 20 minute presentation on the campaign. She shared ideas and brainstormed with an incredible group of folks.
Detroit itself was incredible. We were warned in advance to always be on guard, watch our backs, and to not travel alone. What we found was quite a different experience. The people of Detroit were grateful we were there, loved sharing stories about how Detroit used to be, and loved discussing ideas about what Detroit could become. Everywhere we went, we were literally welcomed with open arms. Additionally, the over 1300 community gardens across the city amongst the ruins of a once thriving city were inspiring.
Two other events we attended were the Eco-Justice People’s Movement Assembly (PMA) and the Clean Air, Good Jobs, Justice march and demonstration against the world’s largest trash incinerator.
Image Credit: Langelle/GJEP
The Eco-Justice PMA was an incredible gathering of over 200 people from across the US, working together to develop a common agenda for environmental justice across the country. It was so inspiring to join hands and work closely with people fighting against community pollution from BP in the Gulf, to stop mountaintop removal in Appalachia, to close down power plant polluting in the Bay area, against racism in Arizona, and many more. When all was said and done, we agreed to a common declaration and to support one another’s issues across the country. Scot was especially lucky to take part in the Southern working group where he got to listen to and work with amazing folks from across the Gulf States fighting to save their communities from both the BP spill and the continued devastation left behind by Katrina, Ike and Rita.
The final action before we hit the road back to North Carolina was a 2000+ person march and demonstration in front of the world’s largest garbage incinerator right smack dab in the middle of Detroit. We marched from the library to an elementary school within a few hundred meters of the incinerator where people planted flowers and trees on the grounds with local students. We then headed to the incinerator, which is a behemoth and spews pollution on the surrounding communities, many of whom we got to meet at the march or joined us along the way. We then finished at the local recycling center, which was forced to close by the operator of the incinerator because they did not have enough trash to burn. Now they burn what should be recycled. It was so inspiring to join hands with local community members and concerned citizens from across the country to demand clean air, good/green jobs and justice! You can read more about the action and see photos by our friends at the Global Justice Ecology Project here and here.
All in all it was an awesome event, and I am proud that Dogwood Alliance was able to be there and join so many amazing people from across the country envisioning another world!
A beautiful piece by Dogwood Alliance boardmember Ginger Dollar reflecting on our Southern forests and why they need to be protected…
My family is about as southern as one can be settling parts of Georgia and some of Western North Carolina. I grew up surrounded by trees. From the gently, rolling hillsides of the Piedmont to the richly, diverse forests of southern Appalachia, I have fond memories of running through the woods and swinging on vines across multitudes of creeks, watching the leaves change color in the fall, playing in gigantic piles of leaves, taking comfort in the forests’ solitude and majestic being and watching with joy as the forests came alive every spring. Southern forests were a part of who we were as southerners that added daily value to our lives, not just from what we observed and experienced, but from the pollutants they filtered to help cool the climate and to clean the air, the soil and water.
Over the years, I have seen much of our beloved Southern forests devalued by massive unchecked development, roads, clear cuts, and pine plantations. As our population and consumption has exploded into an unsustainable fury, we are losing the very things that make life so wonderful on this planet. I joined the environmental movement as an attempt to do something to correct or at least slow down the path we have chosen as a society. The idea that we would destroy forests for the sake of paper and packaging is incredulous to me. Yet, the south has become the largest sourcing region for pulp in the world. We have amazing technology to make paper and packaging from our trash and a multitude of other plant fiber. And while more paper is being made from other sources and recycled material (thanks to organizations like Dogwood Alliance), Southern forests are still being sourced for virgin fiber.
There is no good reason for companies like KFC not to demand that their packaging be made from high content post-consumer paper. They have the buying power to make this demand and their paper supplier, , will either meet their demand or risk losing a multi-million dollar account. By creating an increased demand for recycled paper, more recycling plants and stations are needed, less paper ends up in the landfill, and all of this adds up to more jobs, less forests destroyed for paper, less fossil fuels used to clear-cut and transport destroyed forests, cleaner water, soil stays intact and fertile, and reduction in greenhouse gasses.
The rate of destruction to our Southern forests caused by the destructive practices of the pulp and paper industry can no longer be an option. These practices are unsustainable to our environment and economy. Dogwood Alliance has been trying to negotiate with Yum Foods, KFC’s parent company, for three years, and they haven’t budge nor has their supplier, , the leader in forest destruction. We need your help. Please go to this website, http://www.kentuckyfriedforests.com/, to learn what you can do to help change KFC’s practice of using packaging that comes directly from our irreplaceable and precious Southern forests.
For the forests,
Ginger Dollar Dogwood Alliance Board Member
Andrew attended the KFC shareholder meeting to tell them to stop destroying our forests. Watch how it went!
Last week I attended the KFC shareholder meeting in Louisville, KY directly asking the CEO and Board of Directors to change the way they think about paper and stop destroying Southern forests for their paper packaging.
For a company that earned over $10 billion in revenue last year, the shareholder event was not very well attended, with mostly only board members and corporate attendees. Standing up to address the crowd, I spoke about the oversized impacts their cups, boxes and buckets have on our forests, what corporate responsibility means when it comes to sourcing from forests, and presented a roadmap forward for KFC to move from laggard to leader.
I want to take a moment to draw your attention to an exciting new way to learn more about our campaign and have fun while you are doing it. Starting earlier this month, the Dogwood Alliance team began producing v-logs (video blogs) to share campaign updates. Clocking in at around two minutes apiece, they are a fast way to find out what we have been up to on the campaign trail. In the v-logs you can see some serious and sometimes hilarious footage of our staff in action. Here is the latest, a re-cap of the happenings at last weeks KFC shareholder meeting.
We hope you enjoy the video and please take a moment to forward this on to your friends, share it on your social networks or comment on it on YouTube. And if you haven’t taken action yet, please join the over 20,000 people that have already taken action on the campaign here.
Thanks for your support! Together we will convince KFC to stop destroying the forests of the South that they call home and that we all depend on.
Board Member Robyn Williams Heeks on why she supports Dogwood.
Ten years ago, almost to the day, I first learned about Dogwood Alliance. At the time, they were lone wolves, fighting an industry that was literally grinding mature Southern Forests into dust and shipping them down river to be made into disposable paper products. My husband (then boyfriend) and I were inspired by Dogwood’s smarts and their spirit. We then moved to the South in order to be closer to the fight and to do what we could to help.
I have much to thank Dogwood for: my husband, my home (New Englander turned Southerner!), and my skills as an environmental activist. In short: this organization kicks butt.
Ten years later the paper industry in the South is accustomed to the close and enduring engagement of its citizens, citizens that will not tolerate the wanton destruction of the forests they hold dear. The industry is changing its ways. The proof is in the pudding. In ten years, Dogwood Alliance has secured environmental paper policies from at least twice that many companies, including the largest paper retailers in the country – Staples, Office Max and Office Depot . They have also secured environmental paper policies from Bowater, the largest newsprint manufacturer in the US.
How do they do it?
It is amazing what a little bit of optimism gets you in a world that is plagued by so many challenges.
So near my tenth anniversary of being a citizen of our Southern Forests, I would like to say Thank You to my dear friends who make up the Dogwood Alliance.
Robyn Williams Heeks
Durham, NC
U.S. Department of Agriculture Approves Release of GE Trees
USDA Approves ArborGen’s Request to Plant 260,000 Genetically Engineered Eucalyptus Trees Across U.S. South
Yesterday the USDA’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service issued its decision to approve the mass-release of over a quarter of a million GE eucalyptus trees across seven states in the U.S. South (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina), despite overwhelming public opposition.
“We are very disappointed but not surprised by the USDA’s decision, which is likely to have severe social and environmental impacts,” stated Anne Petermann, Executive Director of Global Justice Ecology Project and Coordinator of the STOP GE Trees Campaign. “The USDA’s final environmental assessment disregarded concerns raised by thousands of people in comments submitted opposing the release of GE eucalyptus trees.”
The STOP GE Trees Campaign, which includes organizations, foresters and scientists from across the U.S. and around the world is preparing its next steps following the USDA decision.
Simone Lovera, Executive Director of the Global Forest Coalition said from her office in Asuncion, Paraguay, “This is not only bad for the U.S. This decision could open the door globally to these cold-tolerant eucalyptus and other transgenic trees which would have serious impacts on Indigenous and forest dwelling peoples around the world and lead to more biodiversity loss.”
To read the USDA’s final Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact, go to: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/brs/biotech_ea_permits.html
For background on the work of the STOP GE Trees Campaign and the threats of GE eucalyptus trees and other GMO trees, go tohttp://www.nogetrees.org
Contact:
– Anne Petermann, Executive Director, Global Justice Ecology Project and Coordinator, STOP GE Trees Campaign,1.802.578.0477
– Scot Quaranda, Campaigns Director, Dogwood Alliance,1.828.251.2525 x 18
USDA ignores public outcry and hard science…
U.S. Department of Agriculture Approves Release of GE Trees
USDA Approves ArborGen’s Request to Plant 260,000 Genetically Engineered Eucalyptus Trees Across U.S. South
Yesterday the USDA’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service issued its decision to approve the mass-release of over a quarter of a million GE eucalyptus trees across seven states in the U.S. South (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina), despite overwhelming public opposition.
“We are very disappointed but not surprised by the USDA’s decision, which is likely to have severe social and environmental impacts,” stated Anne Petermann, Executive Director of Global Justice Ecology Project and Coordinator of the STOP GE Trees Campaign. “The USDA’s final environmental assessment disregarded concerns raised by thousands of people in comments submitted opposing the release of GE eucalyptus trees.”
The STOP GE Trees Campaign, which includes organizations, foresters and scientists from across the U.S. and around the world is preparing its next steps following the USDA decision.
Simone Lovera, Executive Director of the Global Forest Coalition said from her office in Asuncion, Paraguay, “This is not only bad for the U.S. This decision could open the door globally to these cold-tolerant eucalyptus and other transgenic trees which would have serious impacts on Indigenous and forest dwelling peoples around the world and lead to more biodiversity loss.”
To read the USDA’s final Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact, go to: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/
For background on the work of the STOP GE Trees Campaign and the threats of GE eucalyptus trees and other GMO trees, go tohttp://www.nogetrees.org
Quick Vlog update on Kentucky Fried Forests Campaign.
Donate