Save the Redwoods/Boycott the Gap
["From the redwood fo-o-o-rest...to the New York island...."]
Posted by Mary Pjerrou (pirohuck@mcn.org)
Tuesday, January 29, 2002
THEY’RE IN NEBRASKA!!!
Old Growth Redwood Stump Moving Across the Nation
"From the redwood fo-o-o-rest...to the New York island...."
The intrepid California forest activists who are driving the 5 1/5 foot wide old growth redwood stump across the nation to NYC--for next weekend’s Gap and World Economic Forum protests--have weathered one of the worst western snow storms of the season and are heading into Nebrasks this evening (Tues., 1/29)! The old growth stump—logged by the Fishers of the Gap—is tied down in the back of the truck. The activists are speaking to media along the way about the NATIONAL DISGRACE of redwood forest destruction by the Fishers and others.
The three activists driving the redwood stump across country are: Mary Bull, a tech business owner and head of the "Save the Redwoods-Boycott the Gap" campaign. Mark Hilovsky, a San Francisco green builder and long time champion of old growth. And Rio Russell, a recent UC Santa Cruz grad who grew up in the redwoods in Elk, California. They are following Interstate 80 (Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York!)
If you are media and wish to speak to them along the way, call (707) 877-3405 to make arrangements. To send good wishes, email pirohuck@mcn.org, or call the above number.
Schedule of Protests in New York City:
Friday, Feb. 1, 12 noon, Gap demo at 680 5th Ave. at 54th (Join the old growth stump!)
Friday, 5 pm, 6th & 55th Ave., Wetlands demo -Haitian sweatshops.
Friday, 6 pm, Washington Sq Park, WEF vigil, triptych display "sustainable planet."
Saturday, Feb. 2, 12 noon, WEF protest march from Central Park-SE to Waldorf-Astoria. (March with the old growth stump!)
To: All media Date: 1/29/02 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Old Growth Redwood Stump, logged by Gap-Fishers, on route across USA to NYC protest
o Forest activists are driving a pickup truck carrying the 5 1/2 foot wide old growth redwood stump--logged by the Fishers of Gap, Inc.--across the USA to NYC ("...from the redwood fo-o-orest...to the New York islands...")
o...to take the redwood stump to the door of Gap's 5th Avenue flagship store, and to World Economic Forum march to the Waldorf Astoria (they have it on wheels, so it rolls) - Gap demo, FRI., FEB 1 , 12 NOON, 680 Fifth Avenue at 54 St., NYC -
o...to protest the Fisher’s destruction of 235,000 acres of redwood forest in northern California
o...to illustrate what Corporate Rule and global "free trade" are doing to our forests here at home - WEF Protest march: SAT., FEB. 2, 12 NOON, from Central Park SE corner, to Waldorf-Astoria -
o ...and to put consumer pressure on the Fishers to STOP LOGGING REDWOOD FORESTS – and start paying Gap garment workers a living wage!
The undauntable redwood forest activists of the Save the Redwoods-Boycott the Gap campaign are weathering snow, sleet and icy rain, to deliver a 5 1/2 foot wide old growth redwood stump to door of the 5th Avenue Gap (Gap's east coast headquarters) and to the anti-globalization protests against the World Economic Forum, at the Waldorf Astoria, this weekend (Feb.1, 2).
The old growth stump is from redwoods forests in northern California, where the logging company of the Fisher family of Gap, Inc., claims not to be logging old growth.
"We've got the proof! They are logging rare old growth!" said Mary Bull, from the road on Interstate 80-E in Wyoming, where the Fishers’ old growth stump is tied in the back of the pickup. "They are also clear-cutting and using toxic herbicides--and putting a 'green smiley-face' on it, with their corporate lies! It is a national disgrace!"
Mary Bull is head of the Save the Redwoods-Boycott the Gap (SRBG), a consumer pressure campaign aimed at the Fishers, founders and major stockholders of Gap, Inc., who have diversified their family investments into logging of California's dwindling redwood forests. SRGB organized over 200 logging protests at Gap stores worldwide, this last December 1, on International Day of Action Against Gap.
Concerning the global "free trade" issue, Bull said, "Gap contracts with sweatshops in 55 countries around the globe, where workers who sew Gap clothes are paid as little as 11 cents an hour. The Fishers then use their ill-gotten profits to purchase and log redwood forests!"
Mark Hilovsky, a San Francisco green builder whose truck is hauling the old growth stump, stated that, "We have to stop using redwood in building construction. We should be using only recycled wood--and alternatives to wood. The redwood forest is almost gone. What the Fishers are doing is not sustainable."
"Look at this redwood stump," said Hilovsky. "It's only five and a half feet wide, and one of the best they have. Less than 3% of the Fishers' forests have this kind of tree--a good wildlife tree. Most of the trees in their huge holding are only about 16 INCHES wide!"
Mary Bull said, "We’re asking the Fishers to stop logging, and to convert the forests into a desperately needed fish and wildlife refuge. The Gap must also ensure a living wage to the workers who sew Gap clothes. Until the Fishers do the right thing - boycott Gap!"
Mary Pjerrou, who heads the Greenwood Watershed Association in Elk, California, stated from her home in redwood country, "Our group won two lawsuits against Fisher logging, and they’ve filed hundreds of logging plans that violate the court’s rulings. Our laws aren't working. Gap customers have to save these forests. We can't!" Pjerrou stated that the Fishers have increased the area of redwood forest that is being logged by 150% over former owner, Louisiana Pacific. "They are liquidating these forests," Pjerrou said.
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