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Breaking News from America's Progressive Community... Latest Releases
Making news? The press releases posted here have been provided to NewsCenter by the one of the many progressive organizations we have selected to participate . If you would like more information about this press release, you should contact the organization directly.
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| OCTOBER 22, 1998
12:42 PM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Greenpeace Racine Tucker-Hamilton, cell phone: 202-256-4041; Gina Sanchez, cell phone: 202-256-4042; or Andrew Davies, 202-319-2432, all of Greenpeace |
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| Greenpeace Switches Activists to Continue Blockade of Ship | ||||
| LONG BEACH, CA -
October 22 - At 10:30 p.m.Wednesday four new Greenpeace activists from the Rainbow Warrior
boarded the Thorseggen, replacing the activists that had been occupying the ship for the
past 41 hours. The new activists chained themselves to the ship's cranes to prevent it
from unloading its cargo of 800 tons of newsprint. Much of the wood chips used to produce this newsprint were supplied by Interfor, one of the main companies logging the Great Bear Rainforest to extinction. The Great Bear Rainforest -- located in British Columbia -- is the largest unprotected temperate rainforest in the world. More than half of the wood logged in British Columbia is exported to the United States. Greenpeace brought the Rainbow Warrior to the U.S. West Coast to highlight the destructive effect of America's overconsumption of lumber and paper on the last 20 percent of the planet's large, intact ancient forests. "We will continue occupying this ship until companies like Interfor stop clearcutting the world's ancient forests, and U.Sbusinesses stop buying products that contribute to the destruction of the ancient forests," said Greenpeace forest issues spokesperson Marc Evans. The Great Bear Rainforest -- home of the rare white "Spirit" bear and rich salmon streams -- is being ravaged by clearcutting. British Columbia's own Ministry of the Environment reported in 1996 that one in every ten animal species in the province is threatened or endangered. Of the original 353 large rainforest valleys in the Great Bear Rainforest, only 69 are still intact. Nearly all the remaining valleys are slated to be logged in the next decade. Greenpeace advocates the reduction of wood products consumption,increased rates of paper recycling, use of ecologically sound non-wood fibers and the use of wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council as alternatives to the use of fiber from ancient forests. ------ Greenpeace is the leading independent organization that uses peaceful and creative activism to protect the global environment. ------ Editor's note: For videos, photos and more information in English and Spanish, contact the numbers listed above. -0- |
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