Because protecting forests is everyone’s business.

ForestEthics
Because protecting forests is everyone’s business.

Everything we’ve
ever done has
been impossible.
Seven Case Studies in Transformation
 LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

impossible.

electricity

Quick reality check:

Before you attempt the impossible, you
might want to make sure what you’re
human flight
doing is actually worthwhile.

Impossibility, alone, is not much of a

criteria. Look no further than the Guinness
Book of Records. Cycling backwards nearly
40 miles while playing violin? Eating 26
grilled cheese sandwiches in 10 minutes?
We may have been better off if these things
were still considered “impossible”.

clean energy
ForestEthics ★ 3
2 ★ ForestEthics
 LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Doing the impossible
to save forests?
That’s a whole different question. Why
bother? I could go on forever, but here
are my top five reasons:
1. F
 orests save our lives. Half of our medications,
from digoxin for the heart, to taxol for cancer,
come from the plant kingdom. Our bodies
recognize and are healed by plant remedies. Let’s
keep our medicine cabinet healthy.
2. Forests create the air that we breathe. In fact,
that breath that you just took? Forests and oceans
conspired to make it. Each tree produces enough
oxygen for one human to breathe. What we
breathe in, they breathe out. Is that a beautiful
thing or what?
3. Forests give us our water. Forests help purify
and store nearly two-thirds of the US water
supply. The next time you are really thirsty, drink
deeply – and think of the forest.
4. C
limate change simply can’t be tackled
without a major assist from forests. In terms of
battling climate change, forests are tough to beat:
For all these reasons and many more, when it comes to
protecting forests, even when everyone else thinks it’s
impossible, we’ll be there. Be there with us. Winning is
great—winning when it’s impossible is even better.
4 ★ ForestEthics
impossible.
AL H
A RV
EY
electricity
they just need to be allowed to do
what they do so well – which in addition
to everything else, is absorbing and storing
massive amounts of carbon. Without them we
are sunk—with them we have a fighting chance
of overcoming one of the biggest challenges of
our time.
5. W
 e are even more linked to forests than you
think. There are things about forests that just
make sense even if we don’t fully understand
them yet. If you map the survival of languages
and healthy forests, the overlap is stunning. Trees
make people feel calm, less anxious. Five minutes
doing something in nature can boost your mental
health. Why? There’s science to all of this but let’s human flight
keep it simple. Forests are our natural cathedrals.
They are gorgeous. They put us in touch with
a feeling that there is something larger than
ourselves—and that’s very, very good for us.
For the Forests,
Todd Paglia clean energy
ForestEthics ★ 5
 Thousands gather at Clayoquot Sound (British Columbia)
to protest old-growth logging. Massive arrests ensue.

impossible.
SAVE OLD GROW TH

There is
an island.
Most of it is logged.
One corner still has river valleys
filled with old growth forests.
This last corner is being logged.

10,000 protestors come to stop the logging;

1,000 people are arrested;
Celebrities and rock bands show up; How do you make the
A media maelstrom ensues. impossible possible?
And nothing changes. How do you stop
the logging?

ForestEthics ★ 7
6 ★ ForestEthics
 impossible.
SAVE OLD GROW TH

You follow
the money. A secluded bay in Clayoquot Sound.

Toilet paper. Phone books. Two by fours. All made by big

companies with big-brand reputations at stake. And when
The results were stunning. We (then known
the customers of those big-brand companies find out that
as the Clayoquot Rainforest Coalition) came
the toilet paper they just flushed came from a 1,000-year- on like a precision hammer, discovering which
old tree? Hoo boy. companies were buying products made from
the destruction of the forest, and letting the
Suddenly, the big logging company, MacMillan Bloedel, whole world know what was happening.
isn’t dealing with a bunch of unhappy treehuggers they
Major US companies were shocked to learn
could care less about. Oh no. They’re dealing with a bunch
they were connected to the destruction,
of unhappy big-brand companies who just happen to be their
and demanded answers—and changes—
largest customers. from their paper or wood suppliers. Soon,
MacMillan Bloedel was really feeling the
And they’re facing the brainchild of some of the biggest pinch, claiming that we were not only
names in environmental protection who got together 
to hurting their bottom line, but were ruining
create a new little project, which eventually became their reputational capital. Less than 36
ForestEthics. Its sole purpose was to track the lumber months after the first protest in front of a US
MacMillan Bloedel produced, find the buyers, and hold company’s store, the logging company shut
them accountable. down its logging camp in Clayoquot. They
then offered to work jointly with local First
Nations to come up with an environmentally
responsible logging solution. It vowed not to
log intact valleys and called for light-touch
sustainable logging in others.
Eventually, all ownership of the new
sustainable logging operation was transferred
to the local First Nation, which still runs
it today. MacMillan Bloedel proved that
environmental and economic success could
go hand in hand; logging in Clayoquot Sound
has decreased to a fraction of what was once
allowed. And the highly effective ‘markets
campaign’ was born.
Today, ForestEthics continues to lead on
the cutting-edge of markets campaigns,
pushing harder for more protection of
forests and wild places, and transforming
the environmental practices of some of the
biggest names in corporate America.

ForestEthics ★ 9
8 ★ ForestEthics
 impossible.
TR ANSFORM THE OFFICE SUPPLY INDUSTRY

Advertisement in USA Today

There’s a splashy
environmental
campaign.
Against a big-name company.
Lots of media, hundreds of protests,
intense negotiations, and more than a bit of tension.

It’s been going on for two years.

And you’re running it. Can you and the
The campaign is heading toward
“target company”
a groundbreaking resolution that will impact forests actually work together?
across the continent and beyond. Doesn’t sound too easy...

ForestEthics ★ 11
10 ★ ForestEthics
 impossible.
TR ANSFORM THE OFFICE SUPPLY INDUSTRY

But what if you Storefront protests, like this one in San Francisco, pressured the office supply giant to source its paper more responsibly.

never treated them

like an enemy? Staples, who didn’t return your calls and
letters for months, is feeling the heat. You’ve
been talking with them behind the scenes, and
habitat were protected; a new industry standard
of 30% post-consumer recycled paper was
set; and other major office supply companies
it’s, well, tense. It’s not like they’re lobbing heavy scrambled to keep up. Independent studies
It’s 2003, and you’ve been putting this whole markets-based objects at you. But is it the start of a beautiful found that recycled paper mills in the US were
campaigning thing to the test: you’ve been trying to transform friendship? Forget it. operating at record capacity, and attributed
the kind of paper that office supply giant Staples sells. (When Right from the start, we treated Staples that directly to our work with Staples and other
you started your campaign, the overall recycled content of Staples’ executives like the allies we wanted them to be. office supply leaders.
paper was less than 3%, on par with the unfortunate industry We worked to understand the challenges they Best of all though, Staples has continued to
standard.) were facing as a company. We knew we could be one of our most valuable allies over the
make headway if we gave them a reason that past 10 years, helping us secure, among other
Your annual budget is smaller than the weekly revenue of would help their bottom line. things, the largest conservation agreement in
a single Staples store. But, apparently, you’re a glutton for North America.
We showed them how doing the right thing
punishment because that doesn’t dissuade you for a moment. for the environment could give them a huge
advantage over competitors—and we gave
For two years, you organize hundreds of protests outside of
them achievable, practical ways to make it
Staples stores. You get rock-legend R.E.M. to create a public
happen. When they finally agreed, we gave
service announcement for you. You fly a banner around Staples’ them the recognition they deserved; namely,
hometown Fenway Park. Then you interrupt their annual the ad you see on the previous page, which ran
shareholder meeting by inviting people whose lives are being in USA Today and still hangs on the wall of their
impacted by dirty and unsustainable logging practices to corporate headquarters’ cafeteria. Talk about
speak about their experiences. The media goes wild for your a happy ending: critical forests and caribou
high-profile stunts and effective strategies.
Rock legends REM film a public service
announcement for our campaign.

ForestEthics ★ 13
12 ★ ForestEthics
 impossible.
RE VOLUTIONIZE THE C ATALOG INDUSTRY

Advertisement in
The New York Times
2005 ,
Catalogs.
They come
from trees.
Sometimes from trees growing
in endangered caribou habitat.

One of the biggest brands in the US

is mailing out one million per day. Everyday.
They won’t stop.
How do you revolutionize
You have $10,000 to take on the catalog industry,
their multi-million dollar brand and aside from a wing and
get them to change their ways.
a prayer?

ForestEthics ★ 15
14 ★ ForestEthics
 impossible.
RE VOLUTIONIZE THE C ATALOG INDUSTRY
You turn that
$10,000 into media A high-profile protest at a Victoria’s Secret flagship store on Union Square in San Francisco.
attention worth The ad didn’t just catch the eye of Times
millions of dollars.
readers—it also got the attention of other news
outlets. Like USA Today, who wrote a story that
was picked up by papers across the country. Like
the Today Show, who interviewed Todd Paglia,
And that’s only half of the story. It’s 2005, and because of you, the Executive Director of ForestEthics. That’s the
leaders of the office supply industry have jumped on the kind of exposure money can’t buy. Well, money
could buy that kind of exposure—but according
environmentally responsible paper bandwagon. Recycled pulp mills
to a leading media analyst, it would take millions
are operating at record-high capacity due to demand from Office of dollars, not $10,000.
Depot and Staples. Because of your work, the companies adopted
And it definitely had an impact. Whereas Victoria’s
environmental policies for their paper for the first time. So what’s next? Secret had been ignoring our calls for nearly a
year, the day that ad ran, you’d better believe
Catalogs. Once again, you follow the money and find that Victoria’s
we heard from them. Because just like every
Secret, one of the world’s largest brands, is buying those trees so other big-name brand, their parent company
they can send out one million catalogs every single day. Limited Brands had spent a lot of money on
their image—and they couldn’t afford to have it
With $10,000, a model from Craigslist, a volunteer photographer, associated with forest destruction.
and a rented chainsaw, you run the advertisement pictured in
After two and half years of dogged and relent-
the previous spread. Only about four times as large, and in The New less campaigning—more than 600 protests,
York Times. Full page. hundreds of media stories, and some really fun
stunts—Victoria’s Secret and Limited Brands
went the same way as Staples and Office
Depot. They adopted their first-ever sustainability

16 ★ ForestEthics
policy for their paper
,
and became one of our strongest allies. Sudden-
ly the sweeping changes to corporate environ-
mental polices, which once seemed impossible,
weren’t just possible: they were inevitable.
When we started our Victoria’s Secret campaign,
their catalog paper contained less than 3%
recycled content. Plus, there wasn’t a supplier
in the world who could fulfill our demand that
they use environmentally responsible paper. It
literally wasn’t possible. Behind the scenes, we
worked with them day in and day out to help
transform the type of paper that was being made
for catalogs, so that it was possible to do better.
Today, some of the biggest names in the catalog
industry, like Limited Brands (parent company of
Victoria’s Secret) and Williams-Sonoma, source
from responsibly managed forests that are not
endangered.
The catalog industry’s environmental practices
have been completely transformed. And it all
started with $10,000 and the notion that it
really was possible.
ForestEthics ★ 17
 impossible.
SAVE THE C ARIBOU

There are caribou.

There are mountains.
There are mountain caribou.
They are ungulates.
Go ahead – say it again: UN – GU —LATES.
Love that word.

The caribou are endangered.

You will NEVER see one. (Most likely.)
They are elusive, and majestic, and beautiful,
You outgrew your
and dependent on old growth forests to live.
superhero cape years ago,
You have one staff person, a budget in the red,
and you must save them.
so what’s your
next best option?
JD TAYLOR

ForestEthics ★ 19
18 ★ ForestEthics
 impossible.
SAVE THE C ARIBOU

You persuade 600 AL HARVEY

new corporate allies

to care about the
caribou too. Many customers don’t want to purchase products that come from endangered forests.

So say your name is Candace.

You’ve got tons of energy and determination.
You’re the one ForestEthics staff member who just And you’ve just come off one of the most
successful environmental campaigns of all
happens to live in Nelson, British Columbia, which
time—the effort to save British Columbia’s
just happens to be near the old-growth forest that
Great Bear Rainforest. You know how to do
mountain caribou need to survive. this stuff. You block logging roads, you attend
rallies, you come up with crazy caribou
And you’ve decided that someone needs to save the
costumes and you get people to shout “Save
mountain caribou, and even though your tiny budget Santa’s reindeer!”
is in the red…that someone might as well be you.
But just like the founders of ForestEthics
themselves, you k now that logging
companies and big governments aren’t
persuaded by caribou-costume wearing
environmentalists. What you need is some
of the largest companies in the world on
your side.
In true ForestEthics-fashion, you channel all
of your considerable energy into educating
companies like Aveda, Norm Thompson
Outfitters and Victoria’s Secret—some of
which have become ForestEthics’ biggest
allies, and others you’ve never communicated
with before—on the threat that mountain
caribou face. You organize protests, create
reports, and get thousands of citizens to
write to the government of British Columbia.
Fast forward a few years and you’ve got a total
of 600 businesses on your side. Fast forward a
few more years and you’ve convinced the BC
government to protect five million acres of
mountain caribou habitat— an area six and
a half times the size of Yosemite. Impossible
achieved.

20 ★ ForestEthics Annual Report 2011 ForestEthics ★ 21

 Kevin Gladstone of the Heiltsuk
First Nation of BC Great Bear
Rainforest sands driftwood logs

impossible.
DE VELOP SUSTAINABLE LOGGING into beautiful toys.

Logging. It’s not

that you like it.

Here’s the thing

you just can’t get
around when it
comes to logging:
It creates jobs.
And as much as you hate it,
you know that unsustainable logging could
support communities,
especially your First Nation allies on the British
Columbia coast, all of whom need jobs.

So what do you do?

Quite a bind. You’re going
You can’t support logging if it means
to need to pull a very big
losing some of the most ecologically
vital old-growth in the world.
rabbit out of your hat.
And you can’t stop logging if your allies
need it for jobs to support themselves.

ForestEthics ★ 23
22 ★ ForestEthics
 impossible.
DE VELOP SUSTAINABLE LOGGING

But you have

an idea.
Hand-crafted toys created by local First Nation youth provide jobs for their communities.

With our partners, ForestEthics helped secure a $120

What about instead of cutting lots of trees million Coast Opportunities Fund reserved for First
to make relatively inexpensive things, like Nations’ new economic ventures. And in 2011, Coastal
First Nations entered an agreement with a boutique
lumber or toilet paper, you pioneer an
essential oil shop to manufacture an exclusive line of
approach to logging, which allows for it on a
bath products. The products used the essential oils from
limited basis, in a way that supports the long hemlock, spruce, and cedar tree branches in the Great Bear
term health of the ecosystem. Rainforest—an extraction process we helped shepherd
for more than three years. The first batch of oils sold for a
And, what if you and your community
price that’s on par with the highest end of essential oils in
learned how to make something that gave the international market, showing that a small amount of
you much more value for every tree logged? wood can turn into some very big ventures.
What if it was something you could make
with your own hands?

Say, bath products or artisanal toys?

Solutions that are both
environmentally and
economically sound:
Imagine the possibilities.
ForestEthics ★ 25
 impossible.
STOP GREENWASH IN ITS TR ACKS

There’s a cute leafy

logo that’s tricking
consumers into
thinking that they’re
buying products that
are ‘good for forests’.
You don’t like it.
And you’ve watched as many people
have tried to expose the phony How do you expose the
Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) label deception of an appealing,
for what it really is.
well-publicized, totally
© 2006 JERRY AND MARCY MONKMAN/ECOPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

But to no avail.
phony seal of approval?

ForestEthics ★ 27
26 ★ ForestEthics
 impossible.
STOP GREENWASH IN ITS TR ACKS

For years, the The public was not equipped to distinguish

between green and greenwash.
Estimated by some to be valued at more
than $500 billion worldwide, the market

Sustainable Forestry
for green products is increasingly lucrative,
So we asked ourselves: if companies knew
which is why it’s ever more important to
that products containing this misleading label

Initiative has given

expose misleading labels like the SFI.
were causing destruction to forests, wouldn’t
they want to drop the label? Already, we’ve convinced 21 major brands,

‘green credibility’ to
like AT&T, Sprint, and Energizer, to stop
Turns out the answer is a resounding ‘yes’.
using the SFI label. It’s a pretty simple
In just 18 months, we convinced 21 major
choice: either associate themselves with
products that are really brands to steer away from the phony SFI
certification program.
a trade association masquerading as an
independent non-profit, or steer clear of

anything but green. In the world of consumer choice, certification

is a big deal. When you buy certified organic
the brand-risk that comes from misleading
consumers.
food, you know that what you’re eating
Outwitting a marketing machine like
meets a certain standard. The same goes for
Many people tried to expose the SFI’s deceptions SFI at its own game is a tall order. But by
the label ‘fair trade’. But some labels, like the
and shortcomings. convincing major companies to drop its
‘smart choice’ icon slapped on the Fruit Loops
greenwash label, we’re serving up some
But the label kept spreading, thanks in large part to box, smell a little fishy. Smart choice, really?
serious results. That’s a good thing for
a massive publicity budget—and to the backing of The same goes for the SFI. Behind its clever our forests, wildlife, and our two-legged
the biggest names in the logging industry. marketing, the SFI is really an industry- friends and family.
designed, industry-funded label. It threatens
our forests, communities, fresh water, and
wildlife, while preying on the good intent of
the environmentally-minded consumer.

28 ★ ForestEthics Annual Report 2011 ForestEthics ★ 29

28 ★ ForestEthics
 impossible.
CLEAN UP THE OIL INDUSTRY

Apply your paper

strategy to… oil?
Impossible.

A new threat arrives on the scene.

And it’s a big one: tar sands oil.
Some of the dirtiest on Earth.

Underneath the Boreal forest that you’ve been

protecting lies the ‘tar sands’, raw material for
making some of the most health-threatening
Can you stop
and difficult-to-produce oil in the world, but
incredibly lucrative for Big Oil. Big Oil’s
The scale of the destruction is daunting. destructive plans?
DAVID DODGE, THE PEMBINA INSTITUTE

And so is your campaign.

ForestEthics ★ 31
30 ★ ForestEthics
 impossible.
CLEAN UP THE OIL INDUSTRY

When you’re on the front page

of newspapers like the LA
Times because the Canadian
government is attacking you Toxic tar sands tailing ponds in Fort McMurray, Alberta.

for threatening its tar sands Where do you begin to tackle an issue of
profits, you know you’re doing this size? Well, we followed the money. The
industry claimed it was impossible to track
more than affecting Big Oil. tar sands to the end consumer, but our map
identifying which US refineries process tar
sands proved them wrong. We used that
You’re casting an international spotlight on the battle between a map to show US companies where fuel from
clean energy future and the destructive habits of dirty oil — a battle tar sands refineries comes from in the US.
that’s being played out writ large in Canada, the US’s number one Then we persuaded them to use their buying
power against those refineries. As of Summer
source of foreign oil.
2012, 16 companies, including Walgreens
Attempting to shift the practices of the oil industry is audacious. and Whole Foods, have publicly confirmed
Very audacious. But a few years ago, when we became aware of the action to move away from fuel that comes
emerging ecological disaster occurring in Canada’s tar sands, we from refineries using tar sands.
knew we had to try. Our campaign is proving so threatening to the
oil industry that the Canadian government,
Current plans for the tar sands directly threaten an area of the with its cozy ties to Big Oil, has described
Boreal forest the size of Maine. And its dirty, excessive-global- ForestEthics as an “enemy of the state”. But
warming-polluting brand of energy stands to impact far more than it’s not just our work transforming corporate
the forest 
it lies beneath. US communities are suffering health practices that’s earned us that moniker.
problems because of the more intense air pollution spewed by We’ve mobilized thousands of Canadians
to stand up against a proposed pipeline by
refineries processing tar sands. And experts in Canada argue that
oil giant Enbridge Corporation. The pipeline
developing the tar sands could be a game changer for our climate.
would transport tar sands from Alberta,
Canada to a proposed port in the renowned
32 ★ ForestEthics Annual Report 2011
32 ★ ForestEthics
Great Bear Rainforest, where it would be
shipped by supertankers to far-reaching
corners of the globe.
There are a lot of problems with that
sentence. First, raw tar sands material is
excessively corrosive, making pipelines more
susceptible to leaks. Second, there has been
an unofficial moratorium on tanker traffic on
Canada’s western coast for decades. And for
good reason—its pristine, life-giving waters
are stunning but perilous for tankers. Then,
there’s the issue of Enbridge’s appalling track
record, including over 600 leaks and the US’s
most costly onshore pipeline disaster ever,
which is still not cleaned up.
“I know there’ll be an accident, no ifs about
it,” said Sammy Robinson, Haisla First Nation
Elder and carver, from BC’s North Coast.
We think spills are something that happens
with milk and apple juice, and can be
cleaned up with a sponge. Let’s start calling
these ‘spills’ by their real name: disasters.
Our plan is to stop the Enbridge pipeline
before it even starts.
ForestEthics ★ 33
 ForestEthics
Because protecting forests is everyone’s business.

Staff &
Board ForestEthics
Because protecting forests is everyone’s business.

SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM To view our most recent

Todd Paglia, J.D., L.L.M.
Executive Director
annual report, visit:
Kristi Chester Vance
Deputy Director
Aaron Sanger www.forestethics.org/annual-reports
Director, US Campaigns
Matt Westendorf
Chief Operating Officer

STAFF BOARD
Jim Ace Jason Paglia Andrea Leebron Clay, Chair
Stop SFI Greenwash Campaigner Executive Assistant Kevin Johnson, President
Jolan Bailey Claire Richards James Clay, Treasurer
Canadian Outreach Coordinator Development Associate Michael Uehara, Secretary
Matt Brown Claire Rosenfeld Marika Holmgren
Director of Communications Online Communications Coordinator Stuart Sender
Stephen Danner Melyssa Rubino Anne Kroeker
Senior Development Officer Campaign and Administrative Associate angel Kyodo williams
Max Fleisher Rangan Sanguanchaiyakit Neal Gorenflo
Database and Office Administrator Accountant
Adam Gaya Nikki Skuce ForestEthics Solutions Society
Organizer, US Campaigns Senior Energy Campaigner
Jason Cory Mogus, Chair
Kayla Henson Samantha Stanley
Online Specialist Bridgitte Maria Alomes, Vice-Chair
Campaign and Administrative Associate
Nancy D. Bradshaw, Secretary-Treasurer
Mary Humphries Geeta Tate
Director of Development Grant Writer
Karen Tam Wu ForestEthics Advocacy Association
Valerie Langer
Director of BC Forests Campaign Senior Conservation Campaigner Clayton Ruby, Chair
Paras Upadhyay Candace Christine Batycki, Vice-Chair
Senior Accountant Karen Mary Mahon, Secretary-Treasurer
Tzeporah Berman

ForestEthics ★ 35
34 ★ ForestEthics
 ••• •••
Advocacy • Solutions • Action

www.ForestEthics.org

San Francisco Bellingham

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San Francisco, CA 94102 Bellingham, WA 98225
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Vancouver, B.C. V6B 1H5 Vancouver, BC V6B 1H7
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www.ForestEthicsAdvocacy.org www.ForestEthicsSolutions.org

36 ★ ForestEthics