Hollywood Superstars Denounce B.C. Clearcuts
5/12/96
OVERVIEW, SOURCE & COMMENTARY by EE
Rainforest Action Network continues to intensify their campaign in support
of the British Columbian, Canada, Temperate Rainforests, recently enlisting
a large group of Hollywood notables to speak out on the issue. A
significant portion of the clearcut forests are used for paper pulp,
including phonebooks. A large source of information concerning the
campaign to protect Clayoquat Sound and other BC temperate rainforests can
be found at the "Gaia Forest Conservation Archives" at:
http://forests.org/forests/canada.html
g.b.
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
For immediate release: May 10, 1996
Contact: Mark Westlund, ranmedia@ran.org; Tamar Hurwitz, ranla@ran.org
HOLLYWOOD SUPERSTARS DENOUNCE
B.C. CLEARCUTS IN NEW YORK TIMES AD
Some of the biggest names in Hollywood have signed on to support Clayoquot
Rainforest Coalition's campaign to save British Columbia's temperate
rainforests from clearcutting. In a full-page ad in the West Coast edition
of todays' New York Times-Monday, May 13-film makers and environmental
groups urge B.C. lawmakers to take real measures to end forest destruction.
The ad is timed to correspond with B.C. elections. Annually, major
Hollywood studios spend over $400 million in B.C. while filming on location
in the province.
The following actors, producers, and directors have signed on to the ad: Ed
Asner, Ed Begley Jr., Tom Cruise, Ted Danson, Dana Delany, Laura Dern,
Richard Donner, Lauren Shuler Donner, Ted Field, Matt Frewer, R.W. Goodwin,
Daryl Hannah, Woody Harrelson, Lisa Henson, Paul Jackson, Kathleen Kennedy,
Nicole Kidman, Ali McGraw, Frank Marshall, Penny Marshall, Mike Medavoy,
Donna Mills, Robert Redford, Rob Reiner, Tim Robbins, Alex Rose, Steven
Seagal, Martin Sheen, Mary Steenbergen, Oliver Stone, Barbra Streisand,
Harvey Weinstein, Paula Weinstein, Barbara Williams, Lili Fini Zanuck, and
Richard D. Zanuck.
"What's going on in the rainforests of British Columbia is a travesty of
nature," says director Oliver Stone. "Every minute, another acre of forest
is cut down. I personally have become involved with this issue because it
outrages me to see thousand year old trees decimated for newspapers and
disposable Yellow Pages."
B.C.'s natural crown jewel, Clayoquot Sound, has been at the center of an
international controversy over the past few years. As of last year, logging
in Clayoquot Sound is supposed to adhere to recommendations by a B.C.
government-appointed science panel, including reductions in the size of
clearcuts. However, the most important parts of Clayoquot Sound-its
pristine rainforest valleys -are still slated for logging and clearcutting
continues, inflicting extensive damage on the delicate rainforest
ecosystem. The partial protection applies only to Clayoquot Sound, which
comprises .1 per cent of B.C.'s total forests. The rest of B.C.'s forests
enjoy no authentic protection at all.
The Hollywood celebrities outline concrete measures which British Columbia
lawmakers could undertake to address the destruction of these great forests
which are among the last remaining natural forests anywhere in the world.
These include protection for Clayoquot Sound's pristine areas, drastically
reducing the rate of logging in B.C. and dramatically increasing the
percentage of rainforest protected.
The Clayoquot Rainforest Coalition, which includes Rainforest Action
Network, Greenpeace, Natural Resources Defense Council, Coalition for
Forests, Pacific Environment and Resource Center, and Friends of Clayoquot
Sound, has been working to protect the ancient rainforests of Clayoquot
Sound on Vancouver Island, and throughout British Columbia.