2008 Woodie Awards
Sears catalogs under fire
Company lacks a progressive policy
Tara Young
Issue date: 10/10/07 Section: News
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UCF's Eco-Advocates have joined together with thousands of other environmental activists across the world to take Sears Holdings Corp. head-on.
The activists are demanding that Sears, the oldest and largest catalog producer in North America, clean up its act in the catalog sector.
"The catalog industry produces about 20 billion catalogs a year," said Eco-Advocates member Allison Van Doren, "and most of the catalogs have very little recycled content, and a lot of the paper they're using, including Sears, comes from the Boreal Forest, the largest endangered forest in the world.
"Sears is the oldest catalog company without a progressive paper policy."
Spearheaded by ForestEthics, an environmental nonprofit group, the activists estimate that Sears produces about 425 million catalogs a year. The activists insist that the Boreal Forest is a key resource that must be preserved for the general welfare of the world's ecosystems, as well as the welfare of the human population.
"There are endangered species in the forest; it holds more freshwater than anywhere else on Earth, and there are indigenous people who live there," Van Doren said. "The forest is their home and they make their livelihood off of the forest in various ways, and so long as it's being destroyed, they're losing their home."
According to ForestEthics, the Canadian Boreal is being logged at a rate of two acres a minute, 24 hours a day, further contributing to the fact that worldwide deforestation is the second largest contributor to global warming emissions, behind energy production.
They also state that 90 percent of the world's paper is currently manufactured from virgin wood pulp and, worldwide, the pulp and paper industry is the fifth largest industrial consumer of energy; in the U.S., it is the third.
In addition, the Boreal serves as one of the world's largest terrestrial storehouses of carbon. When the forest is destroyed by clear-cut logging, the carbon is released into the atmosphere, further contributing to the causes of global warming, ForestEthics said.
The activists are demanding that Sears, the oldest and largest catalog producer in North America, clean up its act in the catalog sector.
"The catalog industry produces about 20 billion catalogs a year," said Eco-Advocates member Allison Van Doren, "and most of the catalogs have very little recycled content, and a lot of the paper they're using, including Sears, comes from the Boreal Forest, the largest endangered forest in the world.
"Sears is the oldest catalog company without a progressive paper policy."
Spearheaded by ForestEthics, an environmental nonprofit group, the activists estimate that Sears produces about 425 million catalogs a year. The activists insist that the Boreal Forest is a key resource that must be preserved for the general welfare of the world's ecosystems, as well as the welfare of the human population.
"There are endangered species in the forest; it holds more freshwater than anywhere else on Earth, and there are indigenous people who live there," Van Doren said. "The forest is their home and they make their livelihood off of the forest in various ways, and so long as it's being destroyed, they're losing their home."
According to ForestEthics, the Canadian Boreal is being logged at a rate of two acres a minute, 24 hours a day, further contributing to the fact that worldwide deforestation is the second largest contributor to global warming emissions, behind energy production.
They also state that 90 percent of the world's paper is currently manufactured from virgin wood pulp and, worldwide, the pulp and paper industry is the fifth largest industrial consumer of energy; in the U.S., it is the third.
In addition, the Boreal serves as one of the world's largest terrestrial storehouses of carbon. When the forest is destroyed by clear-cut logging, the carbon is released into the atmosphere, further contributing to the causes of global warming, ForestEthics said.