Dam Home Depot: Save Patagonia's Rivers!
This would be a specific anti-corporate campaign against Home Depot, for their financial support of the dams in Patagonia, and also two lumber companies that chop down the Chilean temperate rainforest. Our allies would be International Rivers and Forest Ethics. We would make flyers and protest outside of Home Depots, handing them to customers. Wetlands,GJAE's parent organization, has a history of successful campaigns against Home Depot - we were part of a national campaign aganst them from 1998-2000 that led to the company agreeing to phase out wood products from endangered forests. We still have many campaign signs and banners from that campaign that could easily be updated to the current issue. Our volunteer base would also be excited to take another shot at an old foe.
Chile would make an excellent new campaign, as two groups (ForestEthics and ProtestBarrick.net) have done extensive work on mining and lumber problems in Chile. Chile is also a perfect subject for an extractive industries campaign, as the nation is overly dependent on them for its growth. It also has some of the highest levels of inequality in the world and a unique economy that arose out of the original site of the (failed) neoliberal experiment in Chile under its dictator Pinochet. A campaign against the exploitation of the resources here could easily fit with campaigns against the high inequality in Chile, and to a condemnation of the history of neoliberal experiments as brutal affairs, and its obvious failure as an experiment (Pinochet himself, after a few years of experimenting with the privatizations recommended by Milton Friedman, his close friend, backtracked when he saw the glaringly obvious poor performance of the experiment). (7) There are also incredibly unique circumstances in Chile's ecosystem that would allow for easy propaganda - from “save the oldest tree”, to “protect the smallest deer”.
The following was ForestEthics' reply when asked what might be an effective focus for a campaign on Chilean forest resource extraction and the US-Chile FTA.
“Hi Howl, the two specific company names that would be useful to you, based on my experience, are Arauco (sometimes called 'Celco') and CMPC (sometimes called 'Mininco'). See attached for a report we did with our Chilean partners in 2008, based on direct audits of Arauco and CMPC and other information. Give me a call if you have questions about the attached. You will see reference in the file name and the document to 'JSP'. That stands for "Joint Solutions Project," which started in November 2003 and ended in August 2007. Since August 2007, ForestEthics has not had any direct interactions with either Arauco or CMPC, but we are aware of campaigns started since then (e.g., the Patagonia Campaign of International Rivers) that have focused on Arauco and CMPC. We have supported those campaigns.
And I'd love to know about your possible campaign. Looks like it might be focused on wetlands threatened by Arauco and/or CMPC. And based on my experience in Chile, that focus would be very helpful.
Best,
Aaron Sanger, M.S., J.D.
Director, U.S. Campaigns
ForestEthics
360 734 2951 ext 203”
In a followup letter Aaron commented on the role of the FTA in relation to environmental destruction in Chile,
“In Chile, here's what they call the FTA with the US: Tratado de Libre Comercio (TLC). It did/does exacerbate environmental and social problems in Chile by boosting the revenue, and therefore the influence, of companies such as Arauco and CMPC--without requiring any new enviro/social safeguards and even lowering some existing safeguards. Of course, with China now replacing the US as Chile's 'most desirable customer', and revenues to Chilean companies from the US in decline, it would be good to consider whether China or the TLC is currently the bigger 'exacerbater'.”
Below are details on International Rivers Network's campaign against Home Depot for colluding in the destruction of Patagonia
From International Rivers:
The Home Depot is the largest US buyer of timber products from the Matte Group, one of the companies planning to build five big dams on two pristine rivers in Patagonia, southern Chile. The dams and their associated transmission lines would ruin rivers, flood rare endangered forests and destroy livelihoods.
Why The Home Depot? <http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/latin-america/patagonia/home-depot-and-patagonia-dam-controversy-why-dam-home-depot> Every year The Home Depot purchases 50 million dollars worth of timber products from the Matte and Angelini groups - owners of wood products companies CMPC and Arauco- which together control the main Chilean owner of the dam consortium called HidroAysén. The Home Depot claims that it works to protect Chilean native forests, but the dams and their transmission lines would require clearcutting and flooding of untouched temperate rainforests of a type found nowhere else on the planet <http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/latin-america/patagonia/patagonia-wild-refuge-under-attack> .
The Endangered Wilderness of the Pascua
Patagonia Campaign supporters have sent thousands of emails and postcards asking Home Depot to stop buying timber from suppliers that plan to destroy the rivers and forests of Chile’s Patagonia. International Rivers is also working closely with leading US Socially Responsible Investment firms <http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/patagonia/socially-responsible-investment-funds-home-depot-> to encourage The Home Depot to conduct business in a socially and environmentally responsible manner and discontinue their support for companies involved in HidroAysén.
However, The Home Depot continues to drag their feet on this issue, ignoring the demands of their customers, their shareholders and the environmental community. Although the company is at risk of ruining their reputation as a leader in environmental responsibility, The Home Depot is attempting to downplay the influence they could have on the Patagonia dams scheme. We're calling on The Home Depot to protect Patagonia and stop buying timber products from the Matte and Angelini groups <http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/05/04/18592731.php> .
Organize an Action at The Home Depot Near You!
Thanks for your interest in taking action to Save Patagonia from a 5 dam scheme called HidroAysén. Actions are already happening around the country and will continue in order to pressure The Home Depot into protecting Patagonia's rivers.
Why The Home Depot?
The Home Depot is the largest buyer of timber products from the Matte Group, one of the owners of the company behind HydroAysén - a plan to build 5 big dams on the Baker and Pascua rivers in Patagonia, southern Chile. The dams and their associated transmission lines would require clearcutting and flooding of a type of forests found nowhere else in the world.
We're calling on The Home Depot to protect Patagonia and stop buying timber products from the Matte and Angelini groups.
How You Can Help
Educate your community and mobilize US opposition to the Patagonian dams. Organize a community action at your local Home Depot store.
Fill out the form below to receive materials and information on how to organize an action at your local Home Depot store.
We'll email you a Patagonia Action Kit that will provide background information and ideas and tools to take action. Let us know how many flyers, factsheets, and stickers you want us to mail you, along with the store location, approximate date you'll do the action, how many people will be involved, and what type of action you're planning.
If you’ve never organized an event before, send us an email or give us a call; we can help you work out the details.
Together, we can get The Home Depot to do the right thing.
| 
