Rainforest Action Network



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		OCTOBER 14, 1998 7:04 PM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Rainforest Action Network Celia Alario -- calario@ran.org Mark Westlund -- ranmedia@ran.org (415) 398-4404

		Home Depot Stores Targeted In North American Day Of Protest; Seventy-Five Do-It-Yourself Stores Get The Message: Stop Selling Old Growth Products!

		SAN FRANCISCO - October 14 - Rainforest activists across the US - and in two Canadian Provinces - are converging on local Home Depot stores today to protest the home improvement giant's refusal to stop selling old growth wood products. From Anchorage, Alaska, to Athens, Georgia, and from Hollywood, California to Hollywood Florida, activists from local Rainforest Action Groups and chapters of the American Lands Alliance, Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC), and Free the Planet, are calling on Home Depot founders Arthur Blank and Bernard Marcus to set a policy immediately to phase out old growth wood products. Demonstrations, street theater and in some cases non-violent civil disobedience will take place at Home Depot stores in communities near: Anchorage, AK; Tuscaloosa, AL; Tempe, AZ; Phoenix, AZ; Clovis CA; Hollywood, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Rohnert Park, CA; Stanford,CA area; Ventura, CA; Louisville, CO; Pueblo, CO; Denver, CO; Durango, CO; Berlin, CT; Hollywood, FL; Atlanta, GA (10 locations); Athens, GA; Demoines, IA; Blue Island, IL; Grinnel, IA; Chicago, IL (two locations); Evanston, IL; Rock Island, IL ; South Bend, IN; Evanston, IN; New Orleans, LA; Summerville, MA; Gaithersburg, MD; College Park, MD; Ann Arbor, MI; St. Louis, MO; Ashville, NC; Fletcher, NC; Wilmington, NC; Durham, NH; Glenrock, NJ; New Brunswick, NJ; Brooklyn, NY; Buffalo, NY; Poughkeepsie, NY; Snyder, NY; Huntington Station, NY; Rochester, NY; Oberlin, OH; Athens, OH; Toledo, OH; Youngstown, OH; Norman, OK; Corvalis, OR; Portland, OR; Salem, OR; Hatborough, PA; Pittsburgh, PA; Scranton, PA; Pawtuck, RI; Columbia, SC; Chattanooga, TN; Austin, TX; Memphis, TX; Salt Lake City, UT; Clifton, VA; Burlington, VT; St. Michaels, VT; Seattle, WA; Ashland, WI; Morgantown, WV; Vancouver, British Columbia; and Aurora, Ontario. The Home Depot is the world's largest retailer selling old growth wood. Among the wide array of old growth products the stores carry, you can find mahogany doors from the Amazon, old growth lauan plywood from Southeast Asia, dowels and tools handles made of the old growth tropical wood ramin, and lumber from the ancient temperate rainforests of British Columbia. Home Depot touts its membership in the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC); however, few stores carry any FSC certified wood products. Additionally, more than a year after pledging to stop carrying old growth redwood, company purchasing officials admitted that they are indeed still selling these products. This day of action kicks off World Rainforest Week, which runs through 10/25. RAN works to protect the Earth's rainforests and support the rights of their inhabitants through education, grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action. ###