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Rainforest Action Network

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This article is part of the Coal Issues portal on SourceWatch, a project of CoalSwarm and the Center for Media and Democracy.

The Rainforest Action Network is a U.S.-based group advocating the protection of tropical rainforests and "the human rights of those living in and around those forests." Its current campaigns focus on stopping logging companies from cutting down old growth forests and criticizing Ford for its opposition in the U.S. to mandatory increased mileage-per-gallon standards.

Rainforest Action Network is a member of the Business Ethics Network and profiled in the WiserEarth database here.

Founded by Randall Hayes and Mike Roselle.

Contents

History

RAN was founded in 1985 and has run campaigns employing civil disobedience and consumer boycotts against companies including Boise Cascade, Burger King, Citigroup, Mitsubishi and Ford. [1]

Nonviolent direct actions

April 1, 2008: Rainforest Action Network blockade of NYC Citibank office

On April 1, 2008, as part of the Fossil Fools International Day of Action, 25 "billionaires for coal" blockaded Citibank's Upper West Side headquarters in New York City. Two people chained themselves to the door, while others - dressed in tuxedos and top hats - drew attention to Citi's funding of new coal power plant development and mountaintop removal mining. Police cut through the chains locking the two billionaires to Citibank's door, and arrested them.[2]

September 15, 2008: Dominion CEO's presentation replaced with images for Wise County lock-down

In San Francisco, activists with the Rainforest Action Network infiltrated Dominion CEO Thomas F. Farrell’s presentation at Bank of America’s Annual Investment Conference. Farrell’s PowerPoint presentation was replaced with a slideshow of the Wise County Plant protest. [3]

November 14-15, 2008: National Day of Action Against Coal Finance

Thousands of activists around the United States mobilized to protest coal mining, coal-fueled power plants, and coal financiers. The grassroots groups involved in the action included Rainforest Action Network, Greenpeace, Rising Tide North America, Mountain Justice, Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC), Coal River Mountain Watch, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Southern Energy Network, and Earth First. Activists placed anti-coal banners in strategic locations across the country, protested at Bank of America and Citibank branches and shut down ATMs shut with crime scene tape, and infiltrated Bank of America's Energy Conference.[4]

Activists march against Bank of America on November 30, 2009.

October 30, 2009: Activists protest mountaintop removal at EPA offices throughout the U.S.

Activists from Mountain Justice, Rainforest Action Network, and other groups protested outside EPA's D.C. headquarters and outside other EPA offices throughout the country.[5] More than 50 people staged a sit-in and rally at EPA headquarters. More than two dozen events took place on the same day, including actions in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Kansas City, and San Francisco. The activists are calling for immediate action to stop mountaintop removal coal mining, particularly targeting the Massey Energy blasting site at West Virginia's Coal River Mountain.[6]

November 30, 2009: 200 rally over global warming at Bank of America: San Francisco, CA

More than 200 activists from Rainforest Action Network and other environmental groups marched to the Bank of America skyscraper in San Francisco to protest the bank's coal financing and interference in climate legislation. Dozens of protesters blockaded the building, some of whom locked themselves inside the building's revolving doors to disrupt business. 22 activists were arrested.[7]

Funding

According to their 2005 Annual Report, the following groups gave them more than $30,000 each:

$100,000

$30,000–99,999

Directors

Accessed October 2009: [8]

Honorary

Directors (from 2007)

Source

Directors (from 2005)

Accessed October 2009: [9]

Directors (from 2002)

Accessed October 2009: [10]

Directors (from 2000)

Accessed October 2009: [11]

Advisory Board (2002)

Accessed October 2009: [12]

Advisory Board (from 2000)

Accessed October 2009: [13]

  • David Brower, In Memoriam, Catherine Caufield, Alan Collenette, Judy Diamond, Anne Ehrlich, Hugh Iltis, Norman Myers, Gary Snyder, Vivienne Verdon-Roe

Critical Resources

Contact details

Rainforest Action Network
221 Pine St., Suite 500
San Francisco, CA 94104 USA
Tel: 415-398-4404
Fax: 415-398-2732
Email: rainforest AT ran.org
Web: http://www.ran.org/

Resources

References

  1. ↑ Rainforest Action Network, "Our Mission", accessed December 2007.
  2. ↑ "Billionaires for Dirty Energy Blockade Citibank in New York, Two Arrested", Fossil Fools Day blog, April 1, 2008.
  3. ↑ “Dominion CEO Punk’d!”, Rainforest Action Network’s Understory blog, September 15, 2008.
  4. ↑ Coal Finance Day of Action
  5. ↑ Suzanne Bopp, "Mountaintop Removal Protests at EPA Offices in D.C. and Several States," U.S. Climate Action Network, October 30, 2009.
  6. ↑ "DC Mountaintop Removal Protest Heats Up," The Understory, October 30, 2009.
  7. ↑ "San Francisco Climate Justice Action at Bank of America; 200 Rally with at least 22 Arrested," The Understory, November 30, 2009.
  8. ↑ Directors, Rainforest Action Network, accessed October 16, 2009.
  9. ↑ 2005 Annual Report, Rainforest Action Network, accessed October 16, 2009.
  10. ↑ 2002 Annual Report, Rainforest Action Network, accessed October 16, 2009.
  11. ↑ 2000 Annual Report, Rainforest Action Network, accessed October 16, 2009.
  12. ↑ 2002 Annual Report, Rainforest Action Network, accessed October 16, 2009.
  13. ↑ 2000 Annual Report, Rainforest Action Network, accessed October 16, 2009.

Other SourceWatch resources

External links

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