Current Actions

• Keep the Leuser Protected Ecosystem protected

  Thousands of Indigenous communities rely on the forests of the Leuser Protected Ecosystem, a forest area on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, for their lives and livelihoods. It is also the last place on Earth where endangered species like the Sumatran orangutan and the Sumatran tiger coexist with elephants, rhinos, and Sunbears.
  
  But the government of Aceh, the province in which the Leuser Protected Ecosystem lies, is considering a plan that would remove large regions of forest from the protected area, opening them up to palm oil and pulp plantations, logging, mining, and all of the roads and other infrastructure that come with them. The Indonesian government is now considering the plan, and has the power to reject it.
  
  We need to be making sure that what's left of the world's rainforests are protected, not opening them to destructive industries seeking to profit from rainforest destruction.
  
  Call on Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Secretary General of the Ministry of Forestry Hadi Daryanto to reject the misguided plan to un-protect portions of the Leuser Protected Ecosystem.

• APRIL: Return lands stolen from local communities

  Earlier this week, hundreds of Indigenous villagers from Sipituhuta and Pandumaan communities in North Sumatra risked life and limb by standing between their forest home and the logging machinery of PT Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL), a company affiliated with paper giant APRIL. In response, Indonesia's notoriously abusive security agency, known as Brimob, was called in to forcibly suppress the protest. At least 16 village members have now been arrested in connection to this latest dispute.
  
  This case has been simmering since 2009, when the APRIL affiliate began deforesting the community's territory and planting eucalyptus plantations on their ancestral land.
  
  In September, APRIL workers and security forces again began to clear forest on the community's land. The community gathered in large numbers to stop the machinery, confiscating weapons and chainsaws from the logging crew. Three days later, eight villagers were summoned to the police station. Instead, nearly 1,000 community members arrived in solidarity.
  
  This land conflict is just one example of the widespread human rights violations that have plagued APRIL's operations for many years. It is past time for APRIL to make respecting the rights of local communities its new business-as-usual. Please write to CEO Sukanto Tanoto today and ask APRIL to release the Indigenous villagers still being held, to peacefully resolve this conflict, and to return the community lands it has stolen.

• Tell APRIL CEO Sukanto Tanoto to stop pulping Indonesia's rainforests for paper

  Hot on the heels of Disney and HarperCollins adopting new policies to keep rainforest destruction out of their books, controversial paper giant Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) committed to undertake major environmental and social reforms yesterday. APP's biggest competitor, Asia Pacific Resources International (APRIL), on the other hand, continues to destroy Indonesia's precious forests and peatlands and wreak havoc on local communities' human rights, livelihoods and ways of life.
  
  If APP follows through on its commitments, it would have a hugely positive impact on Indonesia's rainforests and communities. APP and APRIL together produce some 80% of the pulp and paper that comes out of Indonesia, and both have been linked to egregious environmental and human rights abuses.
  
  Now's the time to push APRIL to meet or beat APP's new rainforest commitments. Please write to APRIL CEO Sukanto Tanoto and tell him to stop pulping Indonesia's rainforests for paper.

• Tell Bank of America's Global Advisory Council: Address Climate Change!

  By being the top funder of the US coal industry, Bank of America is contributing to perhaps the most urgent global issue of all: climate change. Please sign this petition urging Bank of America's Global Advisory Council to address real next steps for climate change at their inaugural meeting this March.

• Tell APP we won't accept paper made from rainforest destruction

  We need to make sure notorious rainforest destroyer Asia Pulp & Paper gets the message: We will not accept paper made from rainforest destruction.
  
  Just over two years ago, independent fiber tests revealed paper linked to Indonesian rainforest destruction and human rights violations in books sold by nearly all top American publishers. Today, all of the top ten US publishers—including HarperCollins, Disney, Scholastic, and Random House—recognize that customers will not accept books with paper that comes from the destruction of endangered rainforests. This truly is a seismic shift in an industry that just two years ago was rife with controversial paper, and it's all thanks to your hard work.
  
  But while US publishers are sending a loud and clear message that consumers are demanding paper that is not tied to rainforest destruction or human rights violations, APP has yet to take action of its own. APP is going to make a big sustainability announcement next week, and it could be a significant milestone in the fight to save the world's rainforests and protect the rights of forest–dependent communities and wildlife. But APP needs to know that we expect the company to address all of these issues with both words and deeds.
  
  APP really needs to hear from you. Please send the company a message now and ask APP decision makers to protect rainforests and the communities and wildlife that depend on them.

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  No child or parent should become an unwitting participant in rainforest destruction this holiday season. But if they're buying books published by HarperCollins, they just might be.
  
  Indonesia's rainforests are world-renowned, home to millions of Indigenous peoples and forest communities as well as endangered orangutans, Sumatran tigers, Sumatran elephants, and countless other unique species. Yet, Indonesia has one of the fastest deforestation rates in the tropics, and the pulp and paper industry, from which HarperCollins sources fiber for paper products, is a leading driver of deforestation.
  
  HarperCollins' current paper purchasing policy fails to prevent the company from contributing to the loss of endangered forests in Indonesia and around the world. It is past time for HarperCollins to sever ties with Indonesian rainforest destroyers APP and APRIL and join its peers like Scholastic, Hachette, and Disney by adopting a comprehensive global paper policy to keep rainforest destruction, tiger extinction and human rights abuses out of its books.
  
  Email HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray and tell him to stop grinding up rainforests for children's books.

• Tell Bank of America's Chairman of the Board: Stop Funding Coal!

  Over the past 2 years, Bank of America has invested more than 6.4 billion dollars in coal. Bank of America is the biggest underwriter of the coal industry - bankrolling mountaintop removal coal mining that is devastating communities in Appalachia.

  While Bank of America claims to support environment responsibility, it continues to lead investments in coal, one of the biggest threats to public health and climate stability.

  Please sign the petition to tell Bank of America's Board Chairman, Chad Holiday, that you want the bank to stop funding coal! Energy should not cost lives.

• Tell Bank of America: Stop Funding Coal!

  Over the past 2 years, Bank of America has invested more than 6.4 billion dollars in coal. Bank of America is the biggest underwriter of the coal industry - bankrolling coal mining, infrastructure investments, and coal plants around the country.

  While Bank of America claims to support environmental responsibility, it continues to lead investments in coal, one of the biggest threats to public health and climate stability.

  Please sign the petition to tell Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America, that you want the bank to stop funding coal! Energy should not cost lives.

• Tell Cargill corporate money should not sway science

  Two weeks ago, the mainstream media caught fire with a Stanford study questioning the benefits of organic foods. It turns out the anti-organics study may have the fingerprints of agribusiness giants Cargill and Monsanto. That's right, Big Ag has been bankrolling Stanford’s Food Security and the Environment (FSE) program. In fact, Cargill donated $5 million to Stanford over a 10 year period.
  
  Do you think it is a coincidence that the first big study to undermine the benefits of organics has links to Cargill?
  
  We need to tell Cargill: ENOUGH. Corporate money should not sway science.
  
  Whether it be for elections or our research institutions, corporate money comes with an expectation of influence. When a company like Cargill donates millions of dollars, it is likely expecting something in return.

• Stop 'NAFTA on steroids'

  Right now, negotiations for what's being called "NAFTA on steroids," the Trans-Pacific Partnership, are being conducted in secret. The corporate lobbyists pushing this agreement include a who's who list of Big Oil, Big Ag and Wall Street power brokers.
  
  The US negotiators have granted approximately 600 corporate lobbyists access to the negotiating texts while flatly refusing to tell the public what they have been proposing in our names. Why the secrecy? Probably because, at the behest of companies like Cargill, U.S. trade negotiators are pushing hard for the Trans-Pacific Partnership to include so-called "investor-state" provisions that would grant transnational corporations the power to challenge virtually any environmental law, regulation or court decision that negatively affects their expectation of profits.
  
  Take action now to demand that the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement be made public, that existing free trade agreements be fixed, and that the administration stop pursuing new ones that are even more damaging to the environment. Send a message to US trade negotiator Ron Kirk and Cargill's Chief Trade Lobbyist Devry Boughner and tell them the Trans-Pacific Partnership is the wrong direction for America and the environment.

• Urgent: Tell Congress to protect the world's forests and wildlife from illegal logging

  Almost half of all rainforest destruction is done illegally. Government corruption, lax laws and poor enforcement result in widespread illegal deforestation across the globe. This unofficial forest clearing makes it extremely challenging to truly protect critically endangered species like the orangutan or Sumatran tiger from extinction, and it contributes enormous amounts of carbon to our atmosphere.
  
  And now the best law on the books to prevent illegal logging worldwide—the Lacey Act—is under attack.
  
  The Lacey Act prohibits illegally sourced wood and wood products from being imported into the country, reducing global deforestation rates and preventing job losses in the American forest products industry. But the Lacey Act is under fire by those wishing to end environmental protections and regulations.
  
  Urge your House representative to vote no on the RELIEF Act (H.R. 3210) or any other bill that would weaken the Lacey Act.

• Bank of America: Don't bail out Patriot Coal's mountaintop removal

  Patriot Coal, the third-largest mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining company, is filing for bankruptcy. Bank of America is among the banks providing bankruptcy filing services for Patriot.
  
  This is a real opportunity for BofA to use its influence and environmental ambition to work with Patriot to close and clean up its MTR mines and transition the Appalachian region to produce clean, renewable energy.
  
  Tell Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan not to bail out Patriot Coal's mountaintop removal operations.

  Photo of Partiot Coal's Hobet MTR Mine by Vivian Stockman / SouthWings.org

• Demand transparency from Cargill

  Three years ago, Rainforest Action Network exposed palm oil company Duta Palma’s rainforest-destroying practices through a case study on one of its plantations in West Kalimantan, Borneo. Following the release of the report, Cargill publicly claimed that Duta Palma was not a supplier in 2008 or 2009 and that it didn’t intend to do business with the company in 2010. But despite numerous requests from thousands of RAN supporters around the world, Cargill still has not disclosed the companies with which it will not trade. In fact, there has been no confirmation that Duta Palma did not regain its status as a Cargill supplier.

  Until Cargill adopts supply chain safeguards and is transparent about its criteria for doing business with palm oil suppliers, the company has no way of ensuring that conflict-ridden and rainforest-destroying palm oil is not ending up in its supply chain and American homes.

  With palm oil in half of all the products sold in US grocery stores, we deserve to know: What is Cargill doing to keep the worst of the worst palm oil out of its supply chain? Demand transparency now.

• Tell Indonesia's President to order an immediate halt to all Tripa rainforest destruction

  As many as 20 fires are again burning throughout the Tripa rainforest, one of the world’s most ecologically important forests. The extinction of the Sumtran orangutan is now a more imminent reality. The fires were intentionally started by palm oil companies as a means for clearing rainforests to make way for oil palm plantations and are so severe that they have created a regional air quality crisis in Malaysia.
  
  Three months ago, when the first fires broke out, RAN supporters flooded the President of Indonesias inbox to demand he address this tragedy, sending a strong message that forced him to launch a task force investigating the palm oil companies that intentionally ignited the fires. But since then our allies have documented 86 new fire hotspots, and there is no concrete evidence that any further action has been taken.
  
  Please sign this petition to demand that Indonesia President SBY order an immediate halt to all destruction in Tripa: Stop the land clearing, stop the fires that are burning in critical orangutan habitat, and stop the canals that continue to destroy Tripa at this very moment.

• EPA: Choose science over political influence

  The EPA has recently made the preliminary finding that palm-oil based biofuels do not meet the greenhouse gas standards of the federal renewable fuels mandate.
  
  Palm oil companies know that this is jeopardizing news to their multi-billion dollar industry. As a result, the EPA is being challenged by the lobby muscle of Indonesian and Malaysian palm oil industry--to leverage political influence over science. Two giant palm oil companies, Cargill and Wilmar, are claiming that palm-oil emissions are exaggerated-- making the EPA vulnerable to softening its standards.
  
  Urge the EPA to choose science over political influence!

• Tell Bank of America: Stop funding dirty coal.

  On May 9, Bank of America held its annual shareholder meeting in Charlotte, NC. RAN helped mobilize hundreds of people to make our demands heard both inside and outside the meeting that BofA must stop funding dirty coal and fueling climate change.
  
  We need Bank of America to know that for every one of us that protested BofA at its annual shareholder meeting, there are a dozen more people across the country standing up with us — sign and share this petition today.

• Corporations need to pay their fair share

  Are corporations paying their fair share when it comes to taxes?
  
  Two weeks ago, it was announced that the U.S. corporate tax rate is the highest in the world, inciting massive critique and concern for corporate well-being. Except for one thing, none of these billion dollar behemoths pay anything close to the corporate tax rate.
  
  RAN looked at what the top ten banks, coal and oil companies paid in taxes in 2011, how much they profited, how much they received in tax credits, and what they would have paid if they complied with the 35% statutory tax rate. It probably won’t surprise you that all of them are gaming the system. Banks, oil and coal companies are making billions in profits annually and, thanks to bailouts, tax breaks, offshore havens, and lots of loopholes, paying much less than their fair share in taxes.
  
  Tell President Obama to close corporate tax loopholes and make sure the top corporations are paying their fair share...just like the rest of us.

  
• Tell Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty: Respect Native Land Rights Now!

  Without consent or consultation, God's Lake Resources Inc. trespassed on Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) lands in northern Ontario and is threatening to drill on a sacred KI burial ground. The KI community is saying NO to God's Lake Resources, just as the community opposed mining exploration by Platinex in 2008 and De Beers in 2010.
  
  It’s important that we stand with the KI. Not only has the Canadian government repeatedly chosen to ignore Indigenous communities' right to free, prior, and informed consent when it comes to industrial and extractive industries operating on their lands, but it has actually sought to press criminal charges against Indigenous leaders who stood up for their communities’ rights. Find more info and view a video message from KI Chief Danny Morris.
  
  Tell Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and his Minister of of Northern Development and Mines, Rick Bartolucci, to respect the KI community’s rights and stop God’s Lake Resources from mining the KI’s land.

• Sweets Valentines Day Card

  Send an e-card

• Call Arch Coal today to save Blair Mountain

  Mountaintop removal coal mining is destroying the mountains and threatening the health and lives of communities across Appalachia. But people in Appalachia are standing up and today they need your support.
  
  Residents of Blair, West Virginia have noticed increased activity from mining company Arch Coal around Blair Mountain -- site of the largest labor uprising in American history. Residents are becoming increasingly concerned about Arch’s activities and fear they will move forward with plans to mine the historic location.
  
  Call Arch CEO, Steven Leer, today and tell him that Appalachian communities should not fall victim to pad his profit margin.
  
  Call Arch’s St. Louis headquarters: (314) 994-2700
  Call Arch’s Charleston, WV headquarters: (304) 760-2400
  
  Script to use when Calling Arch Coal
  
  1. "Hello, my name is ____ and I am calling to ask you to abandon your plans to mine the historic Blair Mountain. The whole world is watching, and I am calling on your corporation to do the right thing and stop the destruction of Blair Mountain, along with all other mountains and communities in Appalachia. Mountaintop removal mining is wrong and harmful to the people and communities below it. Please cease and desist from your Blair Mountain plans."
  
  2. Thank whomever is listening to you and hang up.
  
  3. Pat yourself on the back for a job well done!

  Please fill in the form below to let us know you called!

  
• Thank President Obama For Rejecting Keystone XL

  President Obama has rejected the Keystone XL pipeline!
  
  This massive 1700-mile pipeline would have allowed some of the world's dirtiest oil to travel from Canada’s tar sands through America's heartland, jeopardizing our water, our air and our climate.
  
  Against threats from Big Oil, President Obama has stepped up to represent us and our future. Please take the time today to thank him for rejecting the disastrous Keystone XL pipeline.

• Don’t let Chevron get away with environmental crimes in Brazil

  "We're going to show this gang that they can't come here and create whatever environmental mess they want."
  
  Those were the words of Carlos Minc, Rio de Janeiro state's environment secretary, in response to Chevron’s oil spill off the Atlantic coast of Brazil.
  
  Anyone familiar with the ongoing battle to bring Chevron to justice in Ecuador knows that the company will do everything it can to protect its profits even at the expense of the planet and human health. Write to Brazilian officials now and urge them to hold Chevron accountable for every lost drop of oil it spilled into the Atlantic Ocean in its reckless pursuit of profits.
  
  Send your message to Izabella Teixeira, Minister of the Environment; Curt Trennepohl, president of Ibama (the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment’s enforcement agency); and Carlos Minc below.

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  Post your message to the 1%ers below, and it will get posted on the OccupytheBoardRoom.org website. We'll take all those messages and deliver them directly to more than 100 of the CEOS and board members at the top financial institutions in the world — the very same people who wrecked our economy and our environment, then gave themselves fat bonuses. They REALLY need to hear from you right now.

• Cargill: Stop Importing Social Conflict and Rainforest Destruction

  The expansion of palm oil plantations into rainforests and customary Indigenous lands throughout SE Asia is causing widespread social conflict and deforestation – and Cargill has no way to ensure consumers that the palm oil it purchases and distributes is not feeding this urgent crisis.
  
  Please take action today to demand that Cargill adopt basic social and environmental safeguards that ensure transparency and accountability in its supply chains.

• Rupert Murdoch and Rainforests

  Rupert Murdoch can’t seem to escape scandal these days. His company HarperCollins is caught in the middle of a controversy surrounding the rapid deforestation of Indonesian rainforests. HarperCollins is refusing to cut its ties to infamous rainforest destroyers APP and APRIL and remove rainforest destriuction from its children’s books.
  
  Demand Rupert Murdoch’s publishing company HarperCollins make its kid's books rainforest-safe.

• Cut Off Coal’s Cashflow

  The biggest financier of coal in the United States is Bank of America. BofA provided over $3.9 billion in financing to the coal industry in 2010 despite the fact that coal is responsible for polluting our air, damaging our climate, and seriously threatening our health.
  
  Tell Bank of America's CEO Brian Moynihan that BofA should lead the banking industry in phasing out all support for coal, and phasing in America’s clean energy economy.

  

• Stop Coal's Train of Destruction

  

  Bank of America is the biggest bank in the United States and the biggest underwriter of the coal industry—bankrolling coal mining, infrastructure investments and coal plants around the country. While Bank of America claims to support environmental responsibility, they continue to lead investments in coal, one of the biggest threats to public health and climate stability.  Bank of America is ready, willing and able to finance dirty coal ports on the West Coast of the U.S.
  
  A successfully completed "coal export terminal" means 10 open-top trains a day will spread toxic coal dust in communities living along the rail line, beautiful Pacific Northwest ecosystems will be threatened, and vulnerable communities in Asia—as well as the global climate—will be heavily impacted by the emissions of America's dirtiest fossil fuel.
  
  Demand that Bank of America stop perpetuating 19th-century technologies and fund clean, renewable energy technologies instead.

  

• President Obama: ban new oil pipelines!

  We don't need new oil pipelines when the ones we already have are a risk to communities and the climate.
  
  Please take action today to tell President Obama to ban new oil pipelines.

• APP and APRIL: Stop Destroying Indonesia's Rainforests

  Join us to demand that Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) and APRIL, Indonesia's biggest pulp and paper companies, stop destroying Indonesia's precious rainforests, abusing forest peoples' rights and fueling climate change.
  

  
• Cargill: Keep Slave Labor Out of America’s Food Supply

  Cargill purchases palm oil that is likely to come from plantations using slave or child labor in places such as Indonesia and Malaysia. Cargill controls roughly 25% of the global palm oil supply which they then distribute to companies that use it as an addititive in hundreds of popular American brands.

  
  Please take action today. Demand that Cargill adopt safeguards to prevent these terrible human rights violations from entering our food.

• Stand with Indigenous Peoples in Borneo Reclaiming their Stolen Lands

  

  

  Please stand in solidarity with the Indigenous community of Long Teran Kanan, who peacefully reclaimed a portion of their ancestral lands from palm oil giant IOI Group last March.
  
  A Malaysian court ruled in March 2010 that the community members of Long Teran Kanan were the rightful native customary landholders for the plots in question. IOI refused to recognize the court decision and continued to harvest palm oil from the land. The people of Long Teran Kanan then established a peaceful blockade, reoccupying the land for more than a week.
  
  Please join us in calling on IOI Group to respect the native customary rights of the Long Teran Kanan community.

• Cargill: Don’t Push Orangutans to Extinction

  

  

  Rainforests that are home to endangered orangutans are being cut down to plant palm oil. Roughly half of packaged foods sold in the grocery store now contain palm oil.
  
  Cargill—the largest importer of palm oil into the United States—does not have standards that prevent controversial palm oil from being used in the products you and I buy every time we visit the supermarket.
  
  Please join us in telling Cargill CEO Gregory Page that you don’t want rainforest destruction in your shopping cart. Without our help orangutans are at serious risk of going extinct.

• Tell Chevron CEO: Clean up Ecuador now

  After an 18-year struggle, the Indigenous and rural Ecuadoreans suing Chevron to force the company to clean up its oil contamination in the Amazon have prevailed. In a historic ruling, the court in Lago Agrio, Ecuador found Chevron guilty and ordered the company to pay $8 billion to clean up its oily mess. Chevron of course immediately fired off a statement claiming that the judgment was fraudulent and the company would appeal the decision. Enough is enough. Some 30,000 Ecuadoreans remain at risk while Chevron tries every legal maneuver and dirty trick it can find.
  
  Write to CEO John Watson and tell him it's time for Chevron to take responsibility for its oil pollution in the Ecuadorean Amazon.

• Cargill Valentines Day Card

  Send an e-card

• Stop the Heavy Haul!

  Last month, Idaho regulators cleared the way for an unprecedented corporate takeover of the Nation's scenic roadways.
  
  Exxon and other corporations are planning a permanent route for hauling massive oil refinery components manufactured in Korea from Northern Idaho to the Alberta tar sands.
  
  Approving these plans will deepen America's addiction to dirty oil and spoil one of America's "last best places."
  
  Tell Idaho regulators not to hand over our roadways to Exxon and other big oil companies.

• Protect Utah’s Canyonlands from Tar Sands

  The Alberta tar sands are wreaking havoc on Canada's environment and the global climate. Now Utah's Division of Oil, Gas & Mining has approved the first ever tar sands mine in the United States directly adjacent to Canyonlands National Park.
  
  Don’t let the tar sands become America’s problem, too. Write Jim Baza

  Video from our friends at Western Resource Advocates.

  Take Action

  Send an email to Director of Utah's Division of Oil Gas and Mining John Baza to demand protection of our National Parks from greedy oil companies.

• I Love Books and Rainforests

  Help us tell America's publishing industry that books must not contribute to rainforest destruction. Sign our petition today.