John Seed
Tasmania’s precious native forests need your help for an hour tomorrow. Come help unfurl a banner on Ballina Street Bridge!
The group Still Wild Still Threatened are raising awareness about the ongoing plight of Tasmania’s native forests, which were promised protection last year but are still being logged as rapidly as ever.
The action is also in support of Miranda Gibson, who has been living on a platform 60m high in the tall trees of Tasmania’s western wilderness for more than six weeks. Miranda has vowed to remain where she is until Tasmania’s forests receive protection. If you haven’t already heard about Miranda’s inspiring action, you can follow her blog at http://observertree.org.
Malaysian timber giant Ta Ann has played a key role in ensuring these forests remain unprotected. Despite labelling some of its products as ‘eco ply’, Ta Ann continues to receive timber from old-growth forests in Tasmania, rejecting timber from plantations. The timber is exported and sold in Japan, China and Europe. To read more about Ta Ann and its forest-destroying activities, check out this great report by the Huon Valley Environment Centre: http://bit.ly/mRlUbs.
The campaign had a major success last month, with one of Ta Ann’s customers, UK company International Plywood, cancelling its wood contract after hearing about Tasmanian forest destruction. Now it’s time to call on Ta Ann’s major international customers, based in Japan, to follow suit and stop buying wood from our precious native forests. The recent success shows that change is possible. These companies hold the key to forest protection in Tasmania.
We need your help to send a clear message to Ta Ann and its customers that Australia and the global community will not accept native forest destruction.
Still Wild Still Threatened is a grassroots community organisation campaigning for the immediate protection of Tasmania’s ancient forests and the creation of an equitable and environmentally sustainable forestry industry in Tasmania. www.stillwildstillthreatened.org
When: Wednesday 15th February at 12:30 pm
Where: Meet at the carpark (just down from the ugly butter churn sculpture) where the Lantern Parade is held beside Ballina Street Bridge.
Bring: Yourself, friends and a placard about stopping logging in Tasmania’s old-growth high-conservation-value forests
Contact: Rohan 0407 898 374.
John Seed is a deep ecologist. His blog can be found at http://johnseed.net/.
