FEB 20 INDONESIAN RAIN FOREST SPARED BY CORPORATION

FEB 20 INDONESIAN RAIN FOREST SPARED BY CORPORATION

A major victory was won last week in the war against the deforestation of our planet.  Paper giant Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) announced it was halting all logging within the national borders of Indonesia.  The sudden statement was greeted with cheers at GreenPeace World Headquarters in Amsterdam.  They earned it...it was a festive culmination after years of hard work.  This included intense lobbying, peaceful protest and...of course...blogging!  But they weren't the only ones celebrating.  Deep in the Sumatran jungle, the tigers, bears and orangutans all began singing together...just like in the animated Disney movie The Jungle Book!

Oops!  Sorry.  We do get a bit carried away here at the DUNER BLOG.  Jokes aside, this is a major victory for our world's rain forests.  Let's look at the stats:  Asia Pulp and Paper is the third largest producer of paper products in the world and is worth billions of US dollars (and quintillions of Indonesian Rupiah!).  Their products are everywhere.  In fact, there's a high chance you've used an APP item today.  For example, AAP made the Danon Yogurt packaging at breakfast.  They also make the boxes that hold the Kentucky Fried Chicken Strips you ate for lunch.  In addition, they make they color Xerox paper you used at work this afternoon.  And don't try to hide from guilt by saying you don't live on the Asian Continent.  APP's paper products are sold on all six continents!

To win the battle against the corporate giant APP, GreenPeace focused on their customers as the centerpiece of their grass-roots campaign.  Specifically, they focused on the cardboard used in boxes for ever-popular Barbie dolls.  See, APP sells tons of paper pulp to the Mattel Corporation.  Rather than face onslaught of negative press generated by Green Peace, the toy corporation announced last year they would be terminating their contract with APP.  Likewise, a GreenPeace program aimed at Disney books netted similar results. Sensing more and more corporations would follow suit, Asia Pulp and Paper changed course and stopped its evil ways.  Today they are an Environmental Super Hero!        

Let's address the cynics who ask: "What corporation would ever willingly bow to a bunch of yahoo environmentalists?  What's the catch?"  We at the DUNER BLOG agree.  We conducted research into APP's past.  It's not pretty.  In Indonesia alone, they've cleared five million acres of old growth rain forest.  The company also buys illegal timber from Cambodia and China's semi-autonomous Yunan Province.  All toll, they produce 7 million tons of paper annually with massive profit margins.  But those days are over.  From now on, they will rely solely on "tree farms" which are already growing all over Indonesia.  In response, GreenPeace has formally ended its campaign against the corporate giant.

In summary, APP made a business decision based on market projections and speculations.  It is...after all...still a heartless multi-national corporation.  But that doesn't mean it's not above flaunting it's new environmentally-friendly wardrobe, regardless of the motivation for the action. The C.E.O. of Asia Pulp and Paper, TEGUH WIJAY, issued a clear statement.  The new policy of using paper products only from tree farms is"mandatory" and all customers who "don't comply with the new policies will have their accounts terminated."  Ouch! We here at the DUNER BLOG salute any corporation that bows to the endangered Sumatran Tiger, no matter what the motivation is!

And remember: If you print out your e-mails, you can no longer call them e-mails.  You have taken the electronic aspect away. They're just mail.  Save Paper Now!