“Since 1992, The Home Depot has completely failed to make good
on its promises to stop destroying ancient forests as part of its
business practices,” said Greenpeace Forest Issues Specialist,
Ilyse Hogue. “These practices will no longer be tolerated by the
American public. Home Depot’s shareholders have a critical
opportunity at this meeting to make a decisive change for the
future and save one of North America’s last ancient forests.”
The 10,000-square-foot logo, made from 4,000 pounds of recycled
bed sheets and clothing, is placed in a clearcut several hundred
yards from the Squamish River, a prime salmon habitat. The forest
was cut by Interfor, one of the three primary companies destroying
the largest unprotected ancient temperate rainforest in the world,
the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia. The Home Depot is
one of Interfor’s largest customers. The mountains around the area
are checkered with 80-acre patches of stumps where
thousand-year-old trees once stood.
Temperate rain forests, like those in British Columbia, are
among the most threatened ecosystems in the world. “The United
States has destroyed more than 95% of its ancient forests,” said
Hogue. “Now Americans are the primary consumers of ancient forest
products from around the world, but they have not made the
connection between this destruction and the U.S. marketplace. We
constructed this logo to drive that message home.”
The Home Depot is the largest Do-It-Yourself store in the world,
and as such is the largest retailer of wood products from ancient
forests. With plans to double its stores from nearly 800 to 1600
over next two years, The Home Depot will only accelerate the
destruction of these threatened ancient forests if it continues
with its current procurement practices.
Greenpeace is the leading independent organization which uses
peaceful and creative activism to protect the global
environment.
