Success Stories

Cutting edge of environmentalism

Protecting the environment requires tenacity and rapid strategic evolution. In a constantly changing landscape, we continually pioneer new, innovative ways to achieve success. When our adversaries adapt to our strategies, we change them. When
protests against logging companies weren't working, we went after the
companies that were buying from the logging companies—and we won. When conventional wisdom tells us something can't be done, we challenge it.
No one believed that that logging companies, government officials,
indigenous leaders, environmentalists and corporations could ever come
together to protect a rainforest—until we made it happen in the Great Bear Rainforest.

Armed with this unique ability to adapt to challenges and find collaborative solutions, we are able to share a variety of success stories:

Major US companies (and an important US city) act to clean up their transportation footprints

Some very large companies and one US city recently
took different actions to reduce the environmental and social impacts –
including carbon emissions – that come from fossil-fueled
transportation. Producing transportation fuel from Canada's Tar Sands is more
destructive, polluting, and carbon intensive than other ways of
producing transportation fuel.

Here are some facts about the recent corporate shift towards a clean energy future:

Walgreens1 has clearly decided to eliminate Canada's Tar Sands from its transportation footprint. Whole Foods2 has committed
to the elimination where possible of its use of fuels produced by
refineries that use feedstock from Canada’s Tar Sands. Recent actions by Gap Inc.3, Levi Strauss & Co.4, Timberland5 and FedEx6
are not specifically focused on Canada's Tar Sands, but they are
relevant because fuels from Tar Sands are higher in carbon and other
environmental and social impacts than conventional fuels. And each of
these companies has said, in its own way, that it wants to reduce the
environmental and social impacts of transporting products.  Just like Bed Bath & Beyond7 asked
all transportation providers to avoid fuels that would counter Bed Bath
& Beyond's goal of reducing its carbon emissions.

The City of Bellingham8
(one of two US gateway cities for Canada's Tar Sands) also has a goal
of reducing environmental and social impacts – including carbon
emissions – so it adopted new guidelines that require minimizing its
fuel purchasing from refineries taking feed stock from Canada’s Tar
Sands.

Securing one of the world's largest forest protection commitments

In June 2009, the province of Ontario, home to a large portion of
Canada’s Boreal Forest introduced world-leading legislation to
protect 50% of Ontario’s Northern Boreal Forest, and implement
community-led land-use planning in the rest of the region. The Far North Planning and Protection Act,
if passed, would help Ontario fight climate change, protect critical
ecosystems and species at risk, and ensure First Nations have control
over land-use decisions on their homelands. Moreover, it would legally protect 55
million acres (22 million hectares) in the northern Ontario Boreal
Forest—an area six times the size of Belgium, or half the size of
California.

However,
there is still
work to be done. We're working with the
Ontario
government and others to ensure that the government's commitment
results in true protection for the Northern Boreal Forest, and the
species and communities that live there. We're also pushing for protection in the
Southern Boreal Forest, where caribou are severely threatened by logging.
View our more of our forest success stories >>

Victoria's Secret and ForestEthics: Transformation through collaboration

In
December 2007, an unlikely alliance between Limited Brands, parent
company of Victoria's Secret, and ForestEthics yielded an unprecedented
victory for the protection of Endangered Forests. The
transition from adversaries to allies was not easy, but in the end, a
mixture of our grassroots tactics, practical negotiations, and
corporate responsibility on the part of Limited Brands brought an
historic environmental agreement. This video captures the
essence of the of our unique ability to leverage large corporations to
help make lasting environmental agreements.
View more of our successes in transforming industries >>


Awards? We'll take 'em!

At the first annual BENNY Awards, sponsored by the Business Ethics
Network, we came away with not one but two awards for its
corporate campaigns. One award was for the Victoria's Dirty Secret
campaign; the other was for the Staples campaign, an award ForestEthics shared with Dogwood Alliance.

ForestEthics was the only organization to be recognized with two
awards. The awards were given based on nominations and voting by the
corporate campaigning members of BEN.

The BENNY awards were
created to recognize "spectacular achievements in the advancement of
business ethics." The Business Ethics Network was established "to
inspire a race to the top by the world’s largest corporations [and] to
bring corporations back to their original purpose to serve the common
good."

Additionally, ForestEthics and our dedicated staff have won:

  • Forest Leadership Parnership Award in 2005 (To Joint Solutions Project)
  • Wilburforce Conservation Award in 2005
  • Gift to the Earth Award from WWF in 2007
  • Certificate of Honor from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2007
  • BEN Path to Victory award in 2008
  • Transformative Leadership Award by the Seasons Fund for Social Transformation
  • Wilburforce Conservation Award in 2005

We need your support to protect the future of our forests

In
less than a decade, we have secured the protection of more than 65
million acres (25 million hectares) of Endangered Forest—an area the
size of Colorado. And we're just getting started. With your
help, we can continue to protect Endangered Forests for the threatened
species and local communities that live there, for the protection they
give us from climate change, and for the clean air, clean water and
boundless inspiration they provide to all of us.