SUMMER RAYNE OAKES

Indonesia has become the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases and many of it’s native indigenous cultural groups are set to become extinct. This is why…

Image courtesy of: Birdlife.org

I’ve been working with Rainforest Action Network over the last few months on their “Don’t Bag Indonesia’s Rainforest” Campaign. We’ve partnered with The GreenShows to host our opening night event on September 15. We’ve reached out to over 100 fashion and luxury product companies who, most unknowingly, are using custom paper packaging such as shopping bags, made from the pulp of trees felled in the endangered tropical rainforests in Indonesia. Driven by market demand from the United States, the rapid destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests principally for paper pulp and palm oil is causing massive global greenhouse gas emissions, destroying Indigenous communities, threatening unique ecosystems and pushing species like orangutans and Sumatran tigers to extinction.

The companies we’ve contacted have responded positively, many nixing their contracts with the paper pulping companies exploiting the forests. This is a great achievement but we have some more work ahead of us. I invite you to find out more about the campaign, follow the progress, and help place Indonesia top-of-mind in the upcoming Copenhagen Climate Negotiations.

Image found by Tara St. James via Square Project