Trash is a Big Climate Problem, New Study Finds

Dogwood Alliance strongly supports the findings of this report as an important solution to the climate crisis. As an organization working to protect the forests of the Southern US, we continue to seek positive solutions for our forests and for the climate and following some of the simple steps set forth in this report will help us achieve that goal. In addition to recommendations on zero waste strategies, incinerator bans and extended producer responsibility, as part of our work to solve the packaging problem, we strongly support the following recommendation:

UN CBD Fails to Protect Forests from GE Trees

Under heavy pressure from Brazil, Canada, Colombia, New Zealand and Australia, the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Ninth Conference of the Parties (COP-9) failed to pass a moratorium on the release of genetically engineered trees into the environment despite support for a global ban endorsed by hundreds of organizations around the world, and the unified efforts to stop GE trees carried out by NGOs, Indigenous Peoples’ Organizations, scientists and foresters present at the COP.

Dogwood Alliance Launches No Free Refills in Louisville

Louisville, KY – This morning, community leaders and businesses joined Southern forest protection organization, Dogwood Alliance, in front of the signature KFC in Louisville, KY to release a report focused on the destructive legacy of fast food packaging and calling on the top offending restaurant chains, led by Louisville’s own Yum! Brands to dramatically overhaul its use of paper packaging or risk being the target of a national campaign. Yum! Brands is the parent company of five chains listed in the report, including KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Long John Silvers, and A&W.

Office Supply Industry’s Environmental Progress and Problems Cited in USA Today Ad

An advertisement in today’s USA Today highlights the forest-related paper practices of five major office supply companies: Corporate Express (NYSE: CXP), FedEx Kinko’s (FDX), Office Depot (ODP), OfficeMax (OMX), and Staples (NasdaqGS: SPLS). Environmental groups Dogwood Alliance and ForestEthics say FedEx Kinko’s and Staples are making significant progress in their paper purchasing, while OfficeMax has been doing the least to back up its “green” spin with concrete actions.