Since it’s founding in 1996, Asheville-based Dogwood Alliance has persistently worked to educate people about the importance of Southern forests and the negative environmental impacts of business-as-usual paper production. In the past few years, the organization has achieved systemic change in the paper industry through market campaigns targeting the largest retail paper sellers in the U.S.: office-supply stores.
Dogwood Alliance’s current campaign focuses on packaging reform, centering on the fast-food, beauty and music industries. The Southern U.S. is the world’s largest paper-producing region, with packaging accounting for approximately 25 percent of all of the wood fiber coming from Southern forests.
As Organizing Director Eva Hernandez points out, “Southern forests are amongst the most biodiverse in the world, [and] much too important to be wasted for packaging. Using less packaging [and] more recycled materials, and embracing sustainable sourcing choices all add up to healthy Southern forests and thriving local communities.”
Dogwood Alliance syas it’s the only organization in the South holding corporations accountable for the impact of their industrial-forestry practices on our forests and communities. Through a combination of grassroots pressure and skillful negotiation, the group works to create real and lasting protection for Southern forests. Info: 251-2525 or www.dogwoodalliance.org.
