Volume 6; Issue 3: March 31, 2008
Published by CPAWS – Northern Alberta Chapter
- Staples Switches to Recycled, Sustainable Paper for Customer Copying, Printing
The office supplies giant announced this week it will start using 50 percent post-consumer recycled content paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) for black and white copy and print jobs. - Launches ‘Do Not Mail’ Campaign to Stop Junk Mail
The production of the 100 billion pieces of junk mail that Americans annually receive requires more than 100 million trees, while producing as much global warming emissions as 3.7 million cars. Moreover, this deforestation is occurring in forests that play vital roles in the fight against climate change: the Canadian Boreal and Indonesian Tropical Forest. - Socially Responsible Investment Firm Calvert Commits to Boreal Protection
One of the largest socially and environmentally responsible mutual fund companies in the U.S. announced today they will fully support the protection of Canada’s Boreal Forest by adopting the Boreal Forest Conservation Framework (the Framework) and joining the Boreal Leadership Council.
Boreal Market News is a publication of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society - Edmonton Chapter. Our intent is to provide information to decision makers on new developments in forest management, focusing on changing market forces. For more information or to be added or removed from the mailing list contact the Editor, Helene Walsh, at: [email protected]
1. Staples Switches to Recycled, Sustainable Paper for Customer Copying, Printing
Article www.GreenBiz.com, March 11, 2008
Staples is making recycled, sustainably-sourced paper the standard product at its 1,400 Copy & Print Centers in the United States.
The office supplies giant announced this week it will start using 50 percent post-consumer recycled content paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) for black and white copy and print jobs.
The FSC is an international organization with national chapters in the US and more than 40 other countries. Founded in 1992, the FSC has certified 242 million acres of forests worldwide as of February 2008. To be certified, a forest or plantation must comply with a number of environmental, social and economic criteria.
Staples offers a number of other FSC-certified products, including paper with 100 percent post-consumer content. Among its environmental goals, Staples plans to switch the majority of its paper products to FSC-certified alternatives by 2010.
The company has already increased the average amount of post-consumer recycled content in all of its paper products from less than 20 percent in 2003 to 30 percent in 2006.
2. ForestEthics Launches ‘Do Not Mail’ Campaign to Stop Junk Mail
ForestEthics Press Release March 11, 2008
Five years after the national Do Not Call Registry became the most popular consumer rights bill in history, conservation group ForestEthics launched its campaign for a Do Not Mail Registry today to give Americans the choice to stop wasteful, annoying and environmentally destructive junk mail that also fosters identity theft.
ForestEthics is urging Americans to sign a petition a (www.DoNotMail.org) demanding a national registry that will finally offer citizens control over the unsolicited coupons, credit cards, catalogs and advertisements that fill their mailboxes on a daily basis.
“The Do Not Call Registry of 2003 addressed a nuisance — telemarketers’ calls at dinnertime,” said Todd Paglia, Executive Director of ForestEthics. “Do Not Mail also addresses a nuisance, but junk mail has the added consequence of serious environmental effects that must be confronted if we are to stop climate change and reckless deforestation.”
The production of the 100 billion pieces of junk mail that Americans annually receive requires more than 100 million trees, while producing as much global warming emissions as 3.7 million cars. Moreover, this deforestation is occurring in forests that play vital roles in the fight against climate change: the Canadian Boreal and Indonesian Tropical Forest. If left intact, these trees and soils act as a defense against global warming. The Canadian Boreal Forest forms part of the greater Boreal Forest, which alone stores more carbon than any other terrestrial ecosystem on earth. Yet, it is still logged at a rate of 2 acres a minute, 24 hours a day, to produce junk mail and other paper products.
Junk mail distributed in the United States currently accounts for 30% of all the mail delivered in the world, though 44% of it goes to landfills unopened.
"Junk mail is more than an annoying waste of time, it's a waste of our environment," said Adrian Grenier (star of HBO’s Entourage) and Peter Glatzer, co-founders of The Green Life. "Joining ForestEthics' Do Not Mail campaign is a great, easy way to stop the waste."
Polls consistently show that between 80 and 90% of respondents dislike junk mail and are eager to find a mechanism that will address their frustration and concerns about the problem.
Vermont State Representative Christopher Pearson, who is sponsoring Do Not Mail legislation in Vermont, added, "If our experience in Vermont is any indication, Americans are eager to assert their right to protect their privacy, their right to stop needless waste, and their support for a Do Not Mail Registry."
For more information and to sign the petition visit www.DoNotMail.org. Fact sheet, graphics, hi-res photos and interviews available upon request.
ForestEthics, a nonprofit with staff in Canada, the United States and Chile, recognizes that individual people can be mobilized to create positive environmental change—and so can corporations. Armed with this unique philosophy, the organization has transformed the environmental practices of Fortune 500 companies including Staples, Home Depot, Dell, Williams-Sonoma, Victoria’s Secret and many others, and has protected more than 12 million acres of Endangered Forests. Visit www.ForestEthics.org for more information.
3. Calvert Commits to Boreal Protection
Socially Responsible Investment Firm Pledges to Engage Business to Advance Solutions to Preserve Canada's Boreal Forest; Joins BLC and Signs Boreal Conservation Framework
CBI/Calvert Press Release March 17, 2008
One of the largest socially and environmentally responsible mutual fund companies in the U.S. announced today they will fully support the protection of Canada’s Boreal Forest by adopting the Boreal Forest Conservation Framework (the Framework) and joining the Boreal Leadership Council. "We recognize the importance of conserving Canada’s Boreal Forest as one the world’s largest intact forest ecosystems, and as a critical shield against global warming," said Ms. Baljit Wadhwa, senior social research analyst at Calvert Asset Management Company, Inc.
"The Framework is a good fit with Calvert’s own efforts to promote sustainability, address climate change, support Indigenous Peoples’ rights, and protect the environment," continued Ms. Wadhwa. "Calvert has a long history of evaluating potential investments using strong environmental and climate change criteria, and increasing numbers of financial institutions are following our lead."
Calvert ensures that its strong socially and environmentally responsible principles are met through thorough research analyses and dynamic corporate advocacy. Calvert also conducts government policy outreach and advocacy within the investment community. Through shareholder advocacy, it has already actively engaged forestry companies working in Canada’s Boreal Forest to support the Framework by undertaking more socially and environmentally responsible operations.
"We are honored that Calvert has committed to taking a leadership position on Canada’s Boreal Forest," said Larry Innes, executive director of the Canadian Boreal Initiative (CBI). "We value both their strong commitment and incredible resources to engage businesses and governments to balance conservation and development in the Boreal."
First convened in December 2003, the Boreal Leadership Council (BLC) is a unique alliance of leading conservation groups, Aboriginal communities, resource-based companies and financial institutions that are committed to conservation and sustainable development solutions in Canada’s Boreal Forest. This marks the fifth company to join the BLC in the last three months, taking the total number of members to 19.
Members of the BLC are also signatories to the Framework, a vision to preserve at least half of the Boreal Forest while supporting sustainable development on the remaining landscape. Stretching across Canada from Newfoundland and Labrador to the Yukon, the Boreal Forest is one of the world’s largest and last intact forest ecosystems. It provides extensive habitat for a variety of species, is home to over 600 Aboriginal communities and is the backbone of Canada’s forestry, mining and energy sectors. The Boreal Forest contains more fresh water than any ecosystem on the planet and is a vital shield against global warming.
Canadian Boreal Initiative
Based in Ottawa, the Canadian Boreal Initiative (CBI) brings together diverse partners to create new solutions for Boreal conservation and acts as a catalyst for on-the-ground efforts across the Boreal by governments, industry, First Nations, conservation groups, major retailers, financial institutions and scientists. CBI houses the BLC secretariat and works with members to turn the Framework principles into action, expand endorsement of the Framework in key sectors, and influence important policy outcomes.
Calvert Group, Ltd./Calvert Asset Managemnt Company, Inc.
Calvert is one of the nation’s largest socially responsible mutual fund firms with over $15 billion in assets under management. Calvert offers forty-one funds that allow individual and institutional investors to pursue a broad range of investment objectives within a single fund family. Calvert launched the Calvert Social Index®, a benchmark for measuring the performance of large, U.S.-based socially responsible companies. In addition to its equity funds, Calvert has an extensive lineup of tax-free and taxable fixed income investments. For more information on Calvert, click on www.calvert.com.
For further information please contact:
Larry Innes
Canadian Boreal Initiative
T: 416.575.6776
http://www.borealcanada.ca
Ms. Baljit (Bava) Wadhwa
Calvert Asset Management Company, Inc.
T: 301.961.4755
http://www.calvert.com