So there is not a lot of outrage in Australia, so the protest against the timber industry in Tasmania moves to San Fransciso and the rest of the world...
Yesterday Paul West from the Rainforest Action Network put out the following media release. Before or after you read this nasty work of propaganda, you may want to find out some facts and figures on the Tasmanian forestry industry, click here, here and here.
The media release is titled 'Global outcry over falling forests and failing democracy on Australia's island state of Tasmania' and begins:
"Outraged world citizens today protested at Australian embassies and consulates in America, Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom to decry the destruction of old-growth forests and the undermining of democracy in the country's island state of Tasmania by Forestry Tasmania and Gunns, Ltd., a rogue billion-dollar logging giant whose practices rank among the world's worst according to recent reports.
The IUCN compares Gunns' operations to rampant illegal logging in the Third World.
Demonstrators delivered a letter signed by leading international sustainability groups to Prime Minister John Howard demanding that the government act in accordance with scientific recommendations to protect Tasmania's virgin forests from a well-documented arsenal of logging tactics deployed by Gunns and industry-controlled Forestry Tasmania. In the wake of massive clearcuts by Gunns, the industry routinely scorches the Earth with Napalm firebombs to eradicate all remaining life.
Gunns has also killed hundreds of thousands of native mammals using carrots poisoned with Compound 1080, a lethal super-toxin listed as a biological weapon by both the Canadian and US governments. Gunns CEO John Gay has publicly stated that it is okay that his company kills endangered animals because "there's too many of them." Tasmania's forests are currently being clear-cut at an unprecedented rate equivalent to approximately 44 football fields per day. The vast majority of Tasmania's priceless ancient trees are being processed into woodchips by Gunns to make disposable paper products destined for landfills in America and Asia.
The worldwide call for action today echoed a dozen of Australia's leading scientists who signed a 2004 statement of support for the protection of Tasmania's forests calling for the "urgent need for Australian government intervention." The effort to protect Tasmania's forests is one of the largest environmental issues in Australian history, and according to a 2004 opinion poll by Newspoll, over 85 percent of Australian citizens favor full protection for Tasmania's pristine forests.
Carrying signs reading "Stop Gunns" and "Save Tassie's Trees," forest defenders around the world protested with "GUNNS" taped over the mouths in solidarity with 20 silenced citizens in Australia who are currently being sued by Gunns for speaking out against the company's attacks on environmental treasures and public health. Likened to McDonald's "McLibel" lawsuit, websites like Gunns20.org and McGunns.com are evidence of a growing global grassroots movement to protect free speech, reassert democracy and save old-growth forests. The Gunns 20 lawsuit has also been condemned by leading human rights lawyers in the UK. For the Tasmania Forest Campaign, Rainforest Action Network and its allies today launched TreesNotGunns.org to organize future worldwide action.
At the Australian High Commission in London today, British MP and Deputy Environmental Minister Norman Baker met with the Deputy High Commissioner to deliver the NGO letter and spoke about the atrocities he witnessed on his visit to Tasmania last month. Over 100 members of the British Parliament recently signed a motion condemning Gunns' actions and calling for an international boycott of woodchips and paper sourced from Tasmania's old-growth forests.
... Spearheaded by San Francisco-based Rainforest Action Network, the worldwide day of protest expands one of the largest environmental protection campaigns in Australian history to global economic centers including Houston, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Tokyo, Vancouver and Washington, D.C. The letter to Prime Minister Howard was signed by coalition of US and European-based groups including Forest Ethics (ForestEthics.org), Friends of the Earth International (FOE.org), Global Exchange (GlobalExchange.org), Global Response (GlobalResponse.org), International Forum on Globalization (IFG.org), Native Forest Network (NativeForest.org), Pacific Environment (PacificEnvironment.org), Rainforest Action Network (RAN.org), Ruckus Society (Ruckus.org) and the Sierra Club (SierraClub.org)."
Now you may want to find out some facts and figures on the Tasmanian forestry industry, click here, here and here.
The discussions have been interesting and informative. As many of you may know - Gunns does not have a PR department. We concentrate on doing our jobs to the best or our ability. Without the forests in good health and in abundance we would be out of business. We have tried using science and common sense, statistics and verifiable facts to combat misinformation and emotive claptrap - but in the end people believe what they want to believe - the truth be buggered and that is the frustrating part of it all. The domocratic processes in Australia - both at a Federal and State level have domonstrated that the majority of Australians and Tasmanians support forest policy as it stands. There is always room for improvement in any industry and hence we and Forestry Tasmania are constantly looking at new ways to improve our environmental standards. However - we use science and research to achieve that end - not uninformed rhetoric.
Make a new plan Stan and hit the road.
As Billy Conolly was moved to observe, there is one person behind all this eco-terrorism. It is Stan. You can see his work in AfganiSTAN, PakiSTAN, KyrgiSTAN and BaluchiSTAN. Just four cones and it all makes sense, not to me, but it all makes sense.
Boxer
It does look like Stan and his RAN mates know full well that hard core activists will do what ever it takes to stop any "alternative perspective" thats not theirs.
So I guess its easier for Stan and the RAN to run away from the debate so they don't have to lay upon their Australian hard core activists mates the same scorn they aimed at Gunns for seeking a leagal ruling on whats acceptable.
It's probley even more embarrassing for Stan to stay engaged, for he knows that Gunns is acting within the law to pursue it's interests where the hard core activists knowingly act out side the law.
Stan! Stan! Anyone seen Stan?
Jen - without wanting to give you a job I reckon you would be in a good position to facilitate something like this. And your blog is far from a pushover for either side - e.g. just watching Thinsky and Motty go for it should convince anyone !! A unique national experiment perhaps. The format - web site with attached blog ?? I suppose you would have to be optimistic that you would get somewhere.
Fair enough Ian. But in the end animals can't talk and people are influenced by debate.
I could facilitate something here. But better still use OLO. A link to what Graham can offer is http://issuesbriefs.nationalforum.com.au/about.html .
And notice OLO has a very low Alexa rating meaning they get more visits than me (though note how my rating keeps improving!).
OLO are sometimes picked up by Google News etcetera.
I reckon Phil had a great idea and that Graham has the mechanism to facilitate information collection and exchange from both sides.
But as always, if RAN or Gunns want something posted here - just send it in and I will probably do it as a new guest blog post.
A good place to start would be the National Association of Forest Industries at http://www.nafi.com.au It has a good mix of professional papers, reports, topical coverage and, for the kids and green plodders, plenty of educational material.
In all this debate and it's duelling web sites, we all need to recognise who the real experts in forest ecology are. They are not foresters and they certainly are not greens. They are the wildlife that live in these forests. And they vote with their feet.
The highest concentrations of Yellow Bellied Gliders, for example, have been observed in forests that, in the old parlance, "have been extensively modified". That is, stands of regrowth after heavy harvesting with a minimum of retained stems. YBG's are sap feeders and sap flow and nutritional value is highest in vigorously growing young to early mature trees.
According to Eucalypt Forest Guru, RG Florence, in "Ecology and Silviculture of Eucalypt Forests", these robust young trees that are stretching to maximise their share of a newly created gap produce maximum seed fall. And that also means maximum flowering and maximum production of fresh green leaf.
And this, of course, means maximum inputs to the entire leaf, sap, flower and seed based food chains.
And this is why the real experts in forest ecology, the wildlife, are generally more abundant in a multi-aged mosaic of regenerating forest than in a locked up and slowly dieing old growth forest. In the latter, the growth has declined, the sap flows less, the bark is thicker, the leaves are older and the buds and seeds are fewer.
Take a look at;
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/telegraph/viewpoint/stories/s1339987.htm
OK Jen - here's a challenge !! Facilitated debate online by web hosting ?!
Phil, I thought the same thing when I first saw the Treesnotgunns site. I actually think there is a need for a bit more than just competing sites, I think there is a need for a site which will provide space for both sides to put their arguments and list their references, resources etc. If Gunns and RAN wanted to sponsor one, could get it up quite quickly, and publicise it to the OLO audience!