Environmental Group Says Builders Can't See the Forest For the Trees by Lew Sichelman The nation's home builders are now squarely in the Rainforest Action Network's cross hairs. The San Francisco-based environmental group wants builders to stop using old growth wood in their houses, and if its success with similar campaigns targeted at the home improvement business is any indication, Western Red Cedar shingles, Hemlock decks, Douglas Fir studs, Mahogany and Luan doors and Redwood siding could soon be a thing of the past. Five of the country's most recognizable home improvement chains -- Home Depot, Lowe's, Wickes, Menard's and HomeBase -- have committed to go "old growth free" by ceasing to sell old growth wood products. Kaufman & Broad, the big Los Angeles-based builder, has done the same. And now RAN says its is going after Centex, the large Houston-based building company. The U.S. home building industry is the largest consumer of wood products in the world, accounting for almost 72 percent of all the lumber used in this country. American builders, which RAN, in its latest propaganda, calls "rainforest butchers," import lumber from all over the world, including endangered woods from the Amazon and tropical hardwoods from Southeast Asia. "Industrial logging is devastating the habitat of the majority of the Earth's planet and animal species and displacing thousands of indigenous people around the world," says the group the Wall Street Journal has called "the most savvy environmental agitators in the business." "This destruction is fueled in large part by the demand for old growth wood products created by the home building industry. Ironically, by building our own homes out of old growth wood, we are leaving others homeless." What can builders expect from RAN? Here's some of the tactics used by the environmental group to force Home Depot to capitulate: Activists joined the popular Dave Mathews Band on its 1999 tour to generate 50,000 signatures on a petition demanding that the chain go old growth free. Members and supporters organized more than 500 grassroots demonstrations at stores around the country, and sent thousands of postcards, e-mails, and faxes to Home Depot headquarters. As a result of these and other strategies, 12 percent of the chain's shareholders voted against management in support of a resolution forcing the company to stop selling products made from old growth trees. That's four times the percentage of McDonalds Corp. stockholders who told the fast food giant to cease using styrofoam packaging. Last August, Home Depot said it will no longer carry wood or wood products coming from endangered areas by 2002. And once Home Depot caved, the other chains followed suit. "Home Depot is the largest retailer of lumber in the world," says RAN Executive Director Kelly Quirke. "Getting them out of the business of selling rain forest wood was a major coup and sent shock waves through the timber industry." The Rainforest Action Network's victory in the home improvement sector creates what the organization believes is "an exceptional opportunity" to force home builders to follow suit. But Quirke says her group isn't through with the Home Depot and other suppliers, not by a long shot. It intends to make sure they honor their pledges by canceling contracts and developing new environmental programs. "You can be sure," says Quirke, "will be checking up on them every step of the way." | 
