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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Participate
in Home Builders Day of Action
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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org
http://forests.org/ -- Forest
Conservation Archives
http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest
Conservation
3/6/00
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY
Rainforest
Action Network is spearheading a campaign against the
largest
user of wood in the United States, the Home Construction
Industry. They state homebuilders use 72% of lumber
consumed in the
U.S. You can bet that little or none comes from
certifiably
sustainable
timber sources, and that much is from endangered old-
growth
forests--particularly from Canada and Indonesia. Given RAN's
record
of success as of late, you can bet that when this campaign is
over,
more lumber used in the construction industry will be
environmentally
sound. Following are details on how to
get involved
in this
exciting campaign.
g.b.
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RELAYED
TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Home Builders Day of Action, April 1st
Source: Rainforest Action Network
Status: Copyright 2000, contact source for
permission to reprint
Date: February 28, 2000
To: All Activists
From: Old Growth Campaign
Re:
International Day of Action April 1, 2000
Date: 2-28-00
What
industry uses 72% of lumber consumed in the United States?
Which
companies in this industry are leading the charge in helping to
destroy
endangered forests everywhere?
What
can we do to stop them?
A DAY
OF ACTION AGAINST THE NATION'S TOP HOMEBUILDERS: KAUFMAN &
BROAD
AND CENTEX HOMES ON APRIL 1ST:
Remember
Home Depot? Last year activists like
you led the battle that
will
help to save forests around the world.
Our efforts have caused a
revolution
in the home improvement retail industry in which five of
the top
ten do-it-yourself stores have agreed to eliminate their
egregious
wood supply.
We're
just getting started. Now it's time for
us to take on the
mother
load, the largest use of wood in the country, the Home
Construction
Industry.
We have
found that the American dream of home ownership has become a
global
nightmare. Everyday thousands of acres
of endangered forests -
- from
British Columbia to the Amazon, California to Alaska, and
Siberia
to Malaysia -- are routinely clearcut and used in home
construction. 72% of all wood goes to the home
construction industry
and, in
the next 10 years, 25 million new homes will be built. At
this
rate of destruction, we will watch as the last of our endangered
forests
disappear.
One
glaring example of this is the Great Bear Rainforest in British
Columbia. Currently, all remaining intact valleys in
the Great Bear
Rainforest
are scheduled to be clearcut in the next 10 years. 40% of
the
wood from British Columbia goes to the U.S. home construction
industry.
In the United States, only 4% of our old growth forests
remain
standing. Most of that is on federal forest lands in the
Pacific
Northwest. Unless we stop the home
construction industry now,
endangered
forests around the world will be gone forever.
On
April 1st, we will target Kaufman & Broad and Centex Homes, which
are two
of the largest homebuilders in the country.
They are most
vulnerable
to pressure during their Open Houses, which they hold on
Saturdays
to promote their model homes to prospective buyers. As part
of the
International Day of Action on April 1, 2000, we will be the
uninvited
guests of Kaufman & Broad and Centex at their Open Houses
held
around the country. While on site,
activists will be doing
everything
from flyering prospective buyers, to leading dead wood
tours,
to hanging banners off model homes. On
top of these activities
at the
home sights, activists will organizing fax-ins, call-ins and
letter
writing campaigns targeting Kaufman & Broad and Centex.
To call
these companies toll free: 1-800-34-HOMES Kaufman & Broad /
1-800-Centex1
Centex Homes
This is
an historic opportunity to change the face of the industry
that
uses 72% of our wood. We are calling on
activists from across
the
country to get involved and organize an event for the
International
Day of Action April 1, 2000. You've got
it, April
fool's
day. We know that it's no joke that our
last remaining
pristine
forests are being destroyed. We know
that only a fool would
continue
to build with old growth wood in this day and age. This
April
Fools Day join us and send a clear message to Kaufman & Broad
and
Centex that they're not fooling anyone about their use of
endangered
forests in building their homes!
For
more information contact:
Loren
Finkelstein
Free
The Planet!
202/547-3656
freetheplanet@essential.org
Liz
Butler
American
Lands
202/547-9098
lizb@americanlands.org
Jenn
Krill
Rainforest
Action Network
415/398-4404
jkrill@ran.org
To get
involved and to stay informed on the campaign subscribe to the
endangered-forests@egroups.com
listserv by sending an email to
endangered-forests-subscribe@egroups.com.
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