Stand.earth (formerly ForestEthics) is a

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...

environmental organization An environmental organization is an organization coming out of the conservation or environmental movements that seeks to protect, analyse or monitor the environment against misuse or degradation from human forces. In this sense the environme ...

founded in 2000. The organization protects endangered forests by transforming corporate policy and governmental laws in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Stand.earth uses public education, advocacy, protest, negotiation and non-violent

direct action Direct action is a term for economic and political behavior in which participants use agency—for example economic or physical power—to achieve their goals. The aim of direct action is to either obstruct a certain practice (such as a governm ...

tactics to achieve its goals. Stand.earth has offices in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, in Canada, as well as

Bellingham, Washington Bellingham ( ) is the county seat of Whatcom County, Washington, Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It lies south of the Canada–United States border, U.S.–Canada border, between Vancouver, British Columbia, ...

, and

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, in the United States. Todd J. Paglia is the current executive director of the non-profit.

Mission

Stand.earth challenges the fossil fuel industry, protects healthy forests, and reduces global climate emissions.

Campaigns

Stand.earth has campaigned against pipelines and oil trains, protecting forests through consumer campaigns against Starbucks coffee cups, and reducing emissions from the international clothing and shipping industries. As ForestEthics, Stand.earth is most known for its Victoria's Dirty Secret and Do Not Mail junk mail reduction campaigns of the 2000s. Campaigns of the 2010s include efforts to protect North America's

boreal forest Taiga or tayga ( ; , ), also known as boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by pinophyta, coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces, and larches. The taiga, or boreal forest, is the world's largest land biome. I ...

, to stop the Alberta tar sands oil development project, to change the paper industry in the United States, and to expose the

Sustainable Forestry Initiative The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) is a sustainability organization operating in the United States and Canada. SFI was founded in 1994 by the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), a wood and paper products trade association. SFI ...

as a false

greenwashing Greenwashing (a compound word modeled on "whitewash"), also called green sheen, is a form of advertising or marketing spin that deceptively uses green PR and green marketing to persuade the public that an organization's products, goals, or ...

scheme of the U.S.

timber industry Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

. In 2013, ForestEthics' Honor the Sacred Headwaters campaign led by the Tahltan Nation resulted in

Shell oil company Shell USA, Inc. (formerly Shell Oil Company, Inc.) is the United States–based wholly owned subsidiary of Shell plc, a UK-based transnational corporation " oil major" which is among the largest oil companies in the world. Approximately 18,000 ...

withdrawing its plans for

hydraulic fracturing Fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing, fracing, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of Formation (geology), formations in bedrock by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the ...

, or "

fracking Fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing, fracing, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of formations in bedrock by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure inje ...

," to extract coal-bed methane gas at the convergence of three watersheds in the Klappan Valley of northwest British Columbia Another result of the campaign included the B.C. government declaring the 4,000 square kilometre area permanently off-limits to gas development.

History

ForestEthics was born out of Friends of Clayoquot Sound (FOCS) —a group of residents on

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest ...

who originally organized themselves in 1979 to block logging company Macmillan Bloedel from clearcutting a local mountain range— which then became a part of Clayoquot Rainforest Coalition in 1994. ForestEthics was officially founded in 2000. The organization has affected the environmental and paper policies of corporations including Staples,

Office Depot The ODP Corporation is an American office supply retailer headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. The company operates 922 retail stores in the United States under the Office Depot and OfficeMax brands, as well as e-commerce sites and a business ...

Victoria's Secret Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing and beauty products, beauty retailer. Founded in 1977 by a Stanford graduate student and his wife, Roy Raymond, Roy and Gaye Raymond, the company's five lingerie stores were sold to Les Wexner i ...

Dell Dell Inc. is an American technology company that develops, sells, repairs, and supports personal computers (PCs), Server (computing), servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals including printers and webcam ...

, and Williams-Sonoma, Inc. ForestEthics was rebranded as Stand.earth in 2016.

Controversy

In January 2012, when Stand.earth was still known as ForestEthics, Senior Communications Manager Andrew Frank claimed through an

affidavit An ( ; Medieval Latin for "he has declared under oath") is a written statement voluntarily made by an ''affiant'' or ''deposition (law), deponent'' under an oath or affirmation which is administered by a person who is authorized to do so by la ...

The Canadian Press The Canadian Press (CP; , ) is a Canadian national news agency headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Established in 1917 as a vehicle for Canadian newspapers to exchange news and information, The Canadian Press has been a privately-held company, pr ...

that the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) of Canada, under Stephen Harper, had instructed the CEO of funding organization Tides Canada Foundation to remove financial support for ForestEthics or face the "take down" of all of Tides's charitable projects. According to Frank, the PMO representatives referred to ForestEthics as an "enemy of the government of Canada" and "an enemy of the people of Canada." Andrew Frank stated that the threats of the PMO's office were a direct result of ForestEthics' role in protesting the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline.

Notes

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External links

Stand.earth, Official site

Facebook page

Twitter account

Huffingtonpost news Organizations established in 2000 Environmental charities Environmental organizations based in British Columbia Environmental organizations based in the United States