Black
Bear, Big Horned Owl, Caribou Evict J. Crew from Boreal Forest
at Corporate Office Environmental Protest
Culminating a national weekend of
protests targeting the catalogs industry, on Monday, April 23, 2007 environmental
activists from Wetlands Activism Collective staged a protest at the corporate
office of J. Crew, ,
at 770 Broadway (at 9th St.) in Manhattan, demanding that the company stop destroying boreal forests
for catalog paper. Activists dressed as
boreal forest animals served a notice of eviction from Canada’s Boreal
forest to a mock-chainsaw wielding activist dressed as J. Crew CEO Millard Drexler. The notice
informed the company that they have 30 days to get out of Endangered Forests,
increase recycled content, and reduce paper use.
Adorned in owl, bear, and
caribou costumes, protesters cried in despair, "J. Crew is evicting us
from our forest homes!", melodramatically "dying"
on the sidewalk. Later on in the
demonstration, as one activist in a bear costume staggered and "died"
in the middle of the sidewalk, a police officer said that such actions would be
"blocking the sidewalk." After that, the bear suit wearing
protester removed the costume nd to and laid sprawled it out in front of the demonstration, with a sign
about J. Crew in front, and shouted, "J. Crew killed this poor bear!"
The caribou cried, "My friend the bear is dead, thanks to J. Crew!
They destroyed our forest home!" .
Interested onlookers sign petitions, and
activists educated many J. Crew employees about the company's destruction of
ancient boreal forests..
Catalog retailers send out 20
billion catalogs a year, and almost none of the paper contains any recycled
content. Instead, over 8 million tons of
trees a year go into catalogs alone--which means 8
million tons of trees are going from forests to the landfill, with a short
appearance as junk mail in between. This is causing the destruction of forests
such as North America’s Boreal Forest, one of
our first lines of defense against global warming.
The campaign to reform the catalog
industry—led by environmental nonprofit ForestEthics in conjunction with local
groups like Wetlands Activism Collective—works to protect Endangered Forests
like the Boreal by changing the way the catalogers do business. ForestEthics
worked with Dell and Williams-Sonoma to develop strong environmental
initiatives, demonstrating that doing the right thing for the environment is
good for business. And after a two-year campaign, and
over 750 actions, ForestEthics announced an agreement with Victoria’s Secret in 2006, making the former
environmental offender into an environmental leader. Together, the three
companies have set a new environmental standard, and the rest of the catalog
industry will have to meet or exceed those standards to stay competitive.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
1) Volunteer with
Wetlands' Forest Defense campaign. Call (347) 293-2217 or email
activism@wetlands-preserve.org for
details.
2) Check our calendar
of events for upcoming meetings and protests at http://wetlands-preserve.org/?page=EventsCal
.
3) . Write to J. Crew CEO Millard Drexler
and demand a shift in the company's paper policy. You can find a sample letter at http://wetlands-preserve.org/?page=JCrewLetter.
