August, 05 2009, 11:46am EDT

Kimberly-Clark Sets the Bar Higher for Tissue Products With Stronger Global Forest Policy
Kimberly-Clark Sets the Bar Higher for Tissue Products with Stronger Global Forest Policy
WASHINGTON
Kimberly-Clark Corporation, the maker of Kleenex, Scott and Cottonelle brands, today announced stronger fiber sourcing standards that will increase conservation of forests globally and will make the company a leader for sustainably produced tissue products. Greenpeace, which worked wit
"We are committed to using environmentally responsible wood fiber and today's announcement enhances our industry-leading practices in this area," said Suhas Apte, Kimberly-Clark Vice President of Environment, Energy, Safety, Quality and Sustainability. "It is our belief that certified primary wood fiber and recycled fiber can both be used in an environmentally responsible way and can provide the product performance that customers and consumers expect from our well-known tissue brands. We commend Greenpeace for helping us develop more sustainable standards."
Kimberly-Clark has set a goal of obtaining 100 percent of the company's wood fiber for tissue products, including the Kleenex brand, from environmentally responsible sources. The revised standards will enhance the protection of Endangered Forests and increase the use of both Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified fiber and recycled fiber. By the end of 2011, Kimberly-Clark will ensure that 40 percent of its North American tissue fiber - representing an estimated 600,000 tonnes - is either recycled or FSC certified, an increase of more than 70 percent over 2007 levels.
"Today, ancient forests like the Boreal Forest have won," said Richard Brooks, Greenpeace Canada Forest Campaign Coordinator. "This new relationship between Kimberly-Clark and Greenpeace will promote forest conservation, responsible forest management, and recycled fiber as far and wide as possible."
Also by the end of 2011, Kimberly-Clark will eliminate the purchase of any fiber from the Canadian Boreal Forest that is not FSC certified. This forest is North America's largest old growth forest, providing habitat for threatened wildlife such as woodland caribou and a sanctuary for more than one billion migratory birds. It is also the largest terrestrial storehouse of carbon on the planet, storing the equivalent of 27 years worth of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Furthermore, the revised standards reinforce Kimberly-Clark's long-standing ban on use of wood fiber from illegal sources; adds a preference for post-consumer recycled fiber; and supports expansion of recycling initiatives and the identification, mapping and protection of areas that have the potential to be designated as Endangered or High Conservation Value forests.
"These revised standards are proof that when responsible companies and Greenpeace come together, the results can be good for business and great for the planet," said Scott Paul, Greenpeace USA Forest Campaign Director. "Kimberly-Clark's efforts are a challenge to its competitors. I hope other companies pay close attention."
Greenpeace is a global, independent campaigning organization that uses peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future.
+31 20 718 2000LATEST NEWS
US Coal Plants Killed 460,000 People Between 1999 and 2020
"Air pollution from coal is much more harmful than we thought," said the lead author of a new study published in Science.
Nov 24, 2023
Research published Thursday in the journal Science estimates that pollution from coal-fired power plants killed roughly 460,000 people in the United States between 1999 and 2020, making it more than twice as deadly as other kinds of fine particulate emissions.
After calculating annual exposure to fine particulates—known as PM2.5—from 480 coal plants and examining Medicare death records, the researchers found that between 420,000 to 500,000 excess deaths in the U.S. over the past two decades were attributable to coal pollution.
Those deaths, the researchers wrote, "would have been avoided" if all sulfur dioxide emissions from coal-fired electricity plants were eliminated.
Lucas Henneman, an assistant professor in the Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering at George Mason University, toldThe Guardian that "air pollution from coal is much more harmful than we thought, and we've been treating it like it's just another air pollutant."
"This type of evidence is important to policymakers like [the Environmental Protection Agency] as they identify cost-effective solutions for cleaning up the country's air, like requiring emissions controls or encouraging renewables," Henneman added.
The new study indicates that regulations have been effective at lowering coal pollution-related fatalities in the U.S., which were highest between 1999 and 2007 at more than 43,000 per year. After 2007, annual excess deaths attributable to coal pollution fell sharply, hitting around 1,600 in 2020.
"Large decreases in annual deaths across the study period highlight the success of emissions reductions brought about by regulations under the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments," the study authors wrote. "Although coal use in the U.S. has remained low, global use is expected to increase and plateau by 2025, suggesting the potential for high mortality costs from coal for years to come."
In 2021, hundreds of nations agreed for the first time to phase down "unabated" coal power, but "coal power has barely declined since then," the Financial Timesreported earlier this week.
Ahead of the COP28 climate summit that kicks off next week, 15 nations—including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany—are pushing for an end to new coal-fired power plants, according to a letter seen by the Financial Times.
"We must significantly accelerate action on coal," the letter states. "It is now critical that we immediately stop approvals and construction of new coal power plants and radically accelerate the coal-to-clean transition."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Protesters Arrested Disrupting Macy's Parade Over Genocide in Gaza
"What we are witnessing right now in Palestine is one of the greatest human rights issues of our time," said Seven Circles Alliance.
Nov 23, 2023
A small number of demonstrators were arrested on Thursday for disrupting the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Sixth Avenue in New York City to protest Israel's "ongoing ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians" in the Gaza Strip.
"Floats, marching bands, and the parade's iconic balloons were navigating around the protesters as cops moved in to make arrests," the New York Daily Newsreported. "Protestors clad in white jumpsuits, some emblazoned with the words 'Colonialism,' 'Militarism,' and 'Ethnic Cleansing' poured fake blood on one another and the roadway."
Taking credit for the direct action, Seven Circles Alliance said in a statement that the coalition of climate, social justice, and political activists is calling on the United States to "cease its support for Israel's occupation of Palestine" and for both the U.S. and Israel to recognize the International Criminal Court (ICC).
"A free Palestine and the liberation and decolonization of all people, everywhere is deeply linked with the climate movement," the alliance asserted. "If the powers of the West are unabashedly supporting genocide and ethnic cleansing, it is crystal clear that they will not budge an inch in addressing climate breakdown and preventing societal collapse. Climate is a human rights issue, and what we are witnessing right now in Palestine is one of the greatest human rights issues of our time."
The direction action wasn't the only expression of solidarity with Palestine during Thursday's parade. Someone riding on the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe float also held up a Palestinian flag.
Israeli airstrikes and raids in Gaza have killed more than 14,500 Palestinians, including over 6,000 children, since Israel declared war in response to a Hamas-led attack on October 7. The assault has also displaced about three-quarters of the besieged strip's 2.3 million residents and devastated civilian infrastructure.
Massive street protests around the world over the past several weeks have pressured political leaders to demand a cease-fire and path toward peace in Gaza, while genocide experts and other critics of Israel's war—including some Israelis—have advocated for action by the ICC.
Some U.S. lawmakers have also called for a cease-fire, but President Joe Biden has stressed his "unwavering" support for Israel and asked Congress to authorize $14.3 billion for the war effort, on top of the $3.8 billion in military aid that Israel already gets from the United States annually.
A four-day pause in fighting is scheduled to begin at midnight to allow for the release of 150 Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons as well as 50 hostages held by Hamas.
"A temporary pause in the violence is not enough," U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the only Palestinian American in Congress, said earlier this week. "We must move with urgency to save as many lives as possible and achieve a permanent cease-fire agreement."
Keep ReadingShow Less
AOC Says $20 Million Offer to Unseat Tlaib Exemplifies 'Corruption of Our Politics'
Hill Harper rejected the offer from the Michigan businessman, saying he wants to "break the stranglehold wealthy special interests have on our politics."
Nov 23, 2023
Recent news out of Michigan, where actor and union organizer Hill Harper is running for U.S. Senate and U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib has recently angered pro-Israel lawmakers and donors for her staunch support for Palestinian rights, offered an illustration of the "corruption" of the American political system, said one progressive House member late Wednesday.
As Politico reported, Harper recently rejected $20 million from an anti-Palestinian rights enterpreneur, Linden Nelson, who offered the money in exchange for Harper dropping out of his Senate race and running instead against Tlaib (D-Mich.) for her House seat.
The offer came on October 16, the day Tlaib joined Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) in introducing a resolution to back an immediate de-escalation and cease-fire in Gaza. The blockaded enclave was then nine days into a relentless bombardment by Israel, which was launched October 7 in retaliation for Hamas' attack on southern Israel but had already killed nearly 3,000 Palestinian civilians, including 1,000 children, at the time.
The death toll has now grown to more than 14,500 people, including 6,000 children.
Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, has been the subject of vitriol from lawmakers who believe the U.S. should continue supporting Israel regardless of what human rights groups and the United Nations have warned may amount to war crimes in Gaza. Earlier this month, 22 Democrats joined Republicans in voting to censure Tlaib for using the rallying cry for Palestinian rights, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."
Pro-Israel Democrats are reportedly searching for a candidate to primary Tlaib, and last month, according to Politico, Nelson reached out to Harper offering $10 million in bundled donations directly to his campaign and $10 million in independent expenditures—if he would agree to be that House candidate instead of continuing his Senate run.
"The fact that in the U.S. just one wealthy person can make a call and offer millions to unseat an official they dislike tells you everything about the corruption of our politics," said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
Nelson has been involved with the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in the past, and has donated to both Democratic and Republican lawmakers.
AIPAC toldThe Hill that it "was absolutely not involved in any way in this matter" and said Nelson has not donated to the organization in over a decade, but considering the group's efforts to defeat other pro-Palestinian rights progressives in recent elections, Ocasio-Cortez expressed skepticism.
Harper, who is running for Sen. Debbie Stabenow's (D-Mich.) seat against the more conservative Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), echoed Ocasio-Cortez, saying Nelson's rejected offer exemplifies a "broken political and campaign finance system that's tilted towards the wealthy and powerful."
"I'm running to be a voice for the people," said Harper. "I'm not going to run against the only Palestinian American in Congress just because some special interests don't like her. I'm running because I want to break the stranglehold wealthy special interests have on our politics, whether it's the Israel lobby, the NRA, or Big Pharma."
Harper himself has called for a "humanitarian cease-fire" in Gaza this month, saying in a statement, "The answers to ensure long-term peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians are neither simple nor pain-free, but one truth stands firm: violence against defenseless children, trapped and frightened, is abhorrent, regardless of who is behind it."
Saurav Ghosh, director for federal reform at the Campaign Legal Center, toldPolitico that Harper and Nelson would have broken the law if they had moved forward with the deal.
Nelson's offer, said Jewish-led anti-Zionist group IfNotNow, is "a clear example of how groups like AIPAC and [its super PAC, Democratic Majority for Israel] try to undermine the will of voters and attack representatives who truly represent our values."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular