Wise Old Women to the Rescue of Ancient Forests
6/14/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: WISE OLD WOMEN TO THE RESCUE OF ANCIENT FORESTS
Source: Rainforest Action Network
221 Pine Stret #500
San Francisco, CA 94014
Telephone: 415/398-4404; fax: 415/398-2732
Website: http://www.ran.org
Status: Distribute freely with credit give to source
Date: June 14, 1999
INTERNATIONAL GRANNIES GATHER TO TAKE ACTION:
On Thursday June 17th the Raging Grannies will picnic in the
rainforests before serenading Home Depot about its participation in
rainforest destruction. The Vancouver and Victoria Raging Grannies
chapters are teaming up with their cross border counterparts. They are
delivering the message that US and Canadian consumption is driving the
liquidation of North America's last ancient rainforests. The message
is being brought home to Home Depot, the single largest retailer of
wood in the world.
Early Thursday morning the Grannies will don their trademark protest
hats and travel to just outside Vancouver to an ancient rainforest
destined to be logged by Interfor. This forest is the water filter for
a major salmon river in southern British Columbia. In the forest they
will photograph themselves amongst the huge trees and picnic before
returning to Home Depot for a singing picket. Interfor is a major
supplier of Home Depot.
Customers of Home Depot will be treated to a photo memento of where
their purchases come from. The Grannies will be gifting photographs of
themselves in the ancient forest and in clearcuts. They will be
advising customers of where Home Depot gets its wood.
"We have a certain affiliation with these grand old trees," says Joyce
Lydiard, a Vancouver Raging Granny. "Their function as shelter,
habitat, and water filter is noble and useful but they are dismissed
as decadent and good only for fibre. There is a misconception that you
can replace something that takes hundreds of years to evolve with a
quick growing tree plantation."
"It's clear that destruction of temperate rainforests affects the
existence of salmon as well as other creatures" says Carolyn Hale, one
of the Grannies making the journey from Seattle. "Salmon in Washington
State are on the verge of extinction because of habitat destruction.
As grandparents and as Americans who are driving the consumption of
the Canadian Rainforests we feel we need to help protect this
wonderful forest which you have here."
The international humour-filled gathering of the Raging Grannies will
be in the ancient rainforests Thursday morning June 17, 1999 and at
the Home Depot in Vancouver at 2:00 PM until 3:00 PM.