ForestEthics is a nonprofit environmental organization with staff in Canada, the United States and Chile whose tag line “Because Protecting Forests is Everyone’s Business” may have come as a surprise to some when it was founded in 1994. With a mission to permanently protect Endangered Forests, the organization adopted “a revolutionary new approach” by insisting that “corporate power can be used to destroy forests — or protect them.” So far the process of leveraging business interests to turn corporate adversaries into allies, to date, has protected over twelve million acres of Endangered Forest in British Columbia and Chile. The idea is that since consumers often don’t realize their purchases are contributing to the destruction of Endangered Forests, ForestEthics educates the public about the places that these products come from, and consumer outrage is never far behind. Behind every piece of paper and lumber there is a story—a forest, wildlife, people.

To first determine which forests are Endangered Forests, ForestEthics turns to staff members who live in the forests and work with scientists to define the areas that are most important to protect. The organization also works with First Nations to make sure their interests are represented—and that they receive funding to implement a viable, eco-friendly economy.

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When Endangered Forests are found being destroyed, ForestEthics determines which corporations are purchasing the products of that destruction. If a corporation refuses to change its practices, the organization holds that company publicly accountable—with protests, websites, email campaigns, national advertisements, and more. And when a company is ready to protect Endangered Forests, ForestEthics helps them implement sound policies through their Corporate Action Program.

Either way, the end result is that ForestEthics turns corporate adversaries into allies. And while logging companies may be able to tune out the protests of environmental groups, they can’t ignore their largest customers—the corporations ForestEthics works with, such as Staples, Home Depot, Estee Lauder and Dell—when they demand environmental reform. No corporation can afford to have its brand become synonymous with forest destruction. Whether they come to that realization on their own or through the consumer pressure, the result is the same: they no longer want to buy products that destroy Endangered Forests.

.: ForestEthics.org :.

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