Greenpeace activists showed up at Kimberly-Clark offices in
Chicago, Illinois and Franklin, Massachusetts to confront the giant
tissue maker about its continued use of non-recycled materials that
contribute to the destruction of the ancient boreal forests in
Canada.
Lockdown in Massachusetts
Environmental activists welcomed office workers at
Kimberly-Clark's newest outpost with a protest over the
tissue-maker's limited use of recycled fiber in its products.
Posing as movers, activists entered the office with moving boxes
full of recycled toilet and tissue paper and urged the staff to
sign a document calling on the company to stop destroying one of
North America's wildest forests to produce disposable products.
When Kimberly-Clark refused to sign a pledge protecting the Boreal
forest activists locked down to moving boxes and were eventually
arrested by police officers.
Chicago Confrontation
In Chicago, activists locked down to the Johnson Publishing
building, only willing to leave if a forest protection pledge is
signed by a Kleenex brand board member. Three activists wearing
Forest Crime Scene shirts attached themselves to the exterior doors
while a "delivery person" entered the building with the pledge.
The event focused on Kimberly-Clark board member Linda Johnson
Rice, who sits on the company's executive committee. Ms. Johnson
Rice is also President and Chief Executive Officer of Johnson
Publishing Company, Inc.
The incident is the latest step in an international campaign to
force Kimberly-Clark to stop purchasing pulp for its disposable
products, including Kleenex, from destructive logging operations in
Canada's Boreal Forest.
Each of the activists were arrested and Ms. Johnson Rice refused
to come out of her office to speak with Greenpeace representatives
and did not sign the forest protection pledge.
Forest Destruction
A recent Greenpeace report revealed that Kimberly-Clark
devastated Ontario's Kenogami Forest while promoting itself as a
socially responsible environmental leader. The report, "Cut &
Run," uses government information, independent audits, public
records, and satellite mapping to document Kimberly-Clark's
management and logging of the Kenogami Forest near Thunder Bay,
Ontario. It details how, in just 70 years, the Kenogami Forest has
been turned from a vast expanse of healthy, near-pristine forest to
a severely damaged landscape rife with social and environmental
problems--largely to make products that are used once and then
thrown away.
Kimberly-Clark is the largest tissue product company in the
world. It manufactures the popular Kleenex, Scott, and Cottonelle
brands of toilet paper and facial tissue. Kimberly-Clark produces
million tons of tissue products annually and generates net sales of
$18.3 billion.
Take action
Don't just tell Kleenex what you think about ancient forest destruction – show them!