In Madison Wisconsin, the Greenpeace Organizing Term (GOT) set up shop on the University of Wisconsin’s progressive campus. We left Washington, DC on June 17th and two days later Wisconsin greeted the sleepy, strung-out, mis-matched group of all-trained, not yet real action, college organizers of the GOT. We had traveled this long distance not just because we were a band of Greenpeace students that decided our summer be better spent learning the “how-to’s” of a successful campaign, rather than learning the finer points of dreary summer-jobs and “successful” drinking campaigns, but we came to Wisconsin for a purpose; pressure Kimberly Clark.
Kimberly Clark, the makers of Kleenex and Scott Tissue, are “kleercutting” the last ancient forest of North America for products that we wipe our nose and toss in the trash. The Boreal Forest is rapidly disappearing as each day the size of Connecticut is wiped off the map and, Kimberly Clark purchases a little less than 15% of all of its wood from the Boreal Forest. To give you a sense of how much wood that is, 1 out of every 4 homes has Kimberly Clark products in it. Now all of these components are disturbing enough, however the tremendously scary factor lies in the soil. This forest is the largest carbon-sink in the world… this forest, is the largest carbon sink in the world. The preservation of the Boreal Forest is more than imperative in our fight against climate change.
So, as we prepared to organize the students of Madison, two opportunities arose involving a Kleenex sponsored race car. In two different locations and times on June 21st, our GOT students prepared to meet this Kleenex race-car. We decided that whatever action we took needed to remain understanding of whoever was in with the race-car at the grocery stores, was not Kimberly Clark. In our simulated race car (blue dodge charger), we pulled in front of the grocery store where the Kleenex Car was on display. We had our very own Kleecut race-car driver, Christine Irvine, pull up our magnificent car as five others, pretending to be the pit-crew, dramatically ran around the car “fixing” any mishaps. Banners unleashed said: Wanted: Kimberly-Clark for the destruction of ancient forests, as a few students walked over to talk with the race-car rep. They were met, the first time, with, “I’m an environmentalist too!” and “I agree, we need the trees. Your cause is a good one.” By the time the second simulation came around, the race-car rep’s patience had dried up and his tongue no longer sang of the environment but lashed out with, “Get outta here, or I’m gonna run you over!” We knew our time was up, so after the last photos were shot, we hopped in our car and waved farewell to our Kleenex friends.
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