SAN FRANCISCO, California, June 21, 2002 (ENS) - The members of Rainforest Action Network take actions such as floating a giant 120 foot dinosaur hot air balloon representing a timber company through the streets of Atlanta, contacting decision makers, and participating in nonviolent civil disobedience.

Not everyone can go to Atlanta to help pilot George the dinosaur through the streets in protest of timber giant Boise Cascade's distribution of products made from old growth forests and the company's logging on U.S. public lands.

But everyone can take action to save rainforests in Southeast Asia, Africa, South America and in the United States. Over 78 percent of the Earth's original old growth forests have already been logged or degraded, recent surveys have found.

The Rainforest Action Network (RAN) suggests seven ways that everyone can help keep the trees growing.

1. Reduce your paper and wood consumption. Some of the most endangered forests on the planet are being turned into office paper, phone books, toilet paper, window trim, lawn furniture, and building materials.

   Technicians assess the saleable volume of wood in an Indonesian tree. (Photo courtesy CIRAD)
   
   To reduce the pressure on remaining forests, use both sides of each piece of paper, use your own cloth bags at the grocery store, use cloth napkins and towels, and avoid disposable paper plates and cups.

   When purchasing paper products, choose products with the highest percentage of recycled content - post-consumer recycled content is the best.

   Choose tree-free paper alternatives made from agricultural products like waste straw, kenaf, and hemp.

   When building a house or adding on to your home, utilize wood efficient building techniques and avoid old growth wood products. Learn about alternatives such as reclaimed or recycled lumber, composite lumber, and independently certified wood.

2. Reduce your oil consumption. The burning of oil, gas, and coal is the primary cause of climate change, a trend that is threatening the stability of the global climate.

   Oil exploration projects lead to toxic pollution and massive deforestation, posing a threat to pristine ecosystems and indigenous cultures worldwide.

   You can help alleviate oil's impact on the environment by reducing your own oil and gas consumption. The next time you purchase a car, choose one that gets good gas mileage and avoid gas guzzling sports utility vehicles. If you drive somewhere regularly, start a carpool.

   Whenever possible, leave your car at home and instead walk, ride your bike, or take local mass transportation. Support funding for mass transportation and bike lanes.

3. Reduce your beef consumption. Rainforest beef is typically found in fast food hamburgers or processed beef products.

   Nicaragua rainforest (Photo credit unknown)
   
   In 1993 and 1994 the United States imported over 200 million pounds of fresh and frozen beef from Central American countries. Two-thirds of the rainforests in these countries have been cleared, in part to raise cattle whose meat is exported for the U.S. food industry.

   Reducing your consumption of beef will reduce demand for it, cutting back on pressure to clear more forests for cattle.

4. Hold businesses accountable. Corporations need to know that the public will hold them accountable for business practices that are socially or environmentally destructive.

   If you feel that a company's business practices are environmentally irresponsible, send the company a letter expressing your concern, or organize a boycott of the company.

5. Invest in rainforest communities. RAN's Protect-an-Acre Program was created to protect the world's rainforests and to support the rights of rainforest communities.

   RAN's Protect-an-Acre Program is an alternative to "Buy-an-acre" programs, which RAN points out "ignore the fact that there are often people who depend on the forest and have lived in the forest sustainably for centuries."

   Protect-an-Acre provides funding to help forest peoples gain legal recognition of their territories, develop locally based alternative economic initiatives, and resist destructive practices such as logging and fossil fuel development.

6. Support the grassroots. In 1999, Home Depot, the single largest retailer of lumber in the world, agreed to phase out its sales of old growth wood. This victory was a direct result of the hard work of grassroots activists, who staged more than six hundred demonstrations at Home Depot stores across the U.S. and Canada.

   Armchair activists can write letters demanding political change while seated in a tree-free chair manufactured from recycled plastic. (Photo courtesy Eco-Furniture)
   
   You can play a critical role in future victories by joining or starting a Grassroots Action Group in your area. Contact RAN's Grassroots Coordinator at 415-398-4404 or organize@ran.org for help in finding a local group or advice on starting your own group.

   Equally important, help protect the forests in your region by getting involved with a local forest preservation group.

7. Support Rainforest Action Network, an organization that gets results.

   In 1985, RAN launched a nationwide boycott of Burger King, which was importing cheap beef from tropical rainforest countries. Two years later, Burger King canceled 35 million dollars worth of beef contracts and agreed to stop importing beef from the rainforest.

   RAN then led a global consumer boycott against Mitsubishi, which resulted in Mitsubishi Motor Sales America and Mitsubishi Electric America committing to unprecedented environmental reviews of their business activities.

   Most recently, as a result of a two year campaign led by RAN, the nation's top home improvement etailers and largest home builders agreed to phase out the sale and use of wood from the Earth's endangered forests.

   Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2002. All rights reserved.