Rainforest Action Network (RAN) is an environmental organization located in San Francisco, California, United States. The group was started in 1985 by Randy "Hurricane" Hayes and Mike Roselle. In 1987, RAN became well-known nationwide after a campaign led to Burger King canceling $31 million in contracts for beef that harmed Central American rainforests. Since then, RAN has focused on protecting forests and holding companies accountable. This work has resulted in important changes in rules and practices across industries such as home building, wood purchasing, automobile manufacturing, fashion, paper production, and banking.
History
Rainforest Action Network (RAN) was started in San Francisco, California in 1985 by Mike Roselle and Randy "Hurricane" Hayes. In the early years, RAN worked with Herbert Chao Gunther, who founded the Public Media Center in San Francisco. This center focused on social justice and environmental issues through marketing. RAN partnered with Gunther to create new branding and campaigns targeting large multinational companies in the 1990s. These efforts used grassroots activism and effective media strategies. In 1987, RAN helped convince Burger King to cancel $31 million in contracts for beef that harmed Central American rainforests.
In 1989, RAN encouraged people to stop buying products from Mitsubishi and its companies, such as Kirin beer and Nikon cameras. At that time, Mitsubishi was harming rainforests through its forestry activities. In 1996, Mitsubishi Motors America and Mitsubishi Electric America helped RAN activists meet with Mitsubishi executives. This led to the end of the boycott in 1998.
RAN worked with Global Exchange and the Ruckus Society to organize large protests against the World Trade Organization (WTO) summit in Seattle in 1999. While RAN once had groups called RAGS (Rainforest Action Groups) across the United States, its operations are now based in San Francisco.
RAN’s executive director, Rebecca Tarbotton, died on December 26, 2012, at age 39, while swimming in the Pacific Ocean. Lindsey Allen became the new executive director on August 21, 2013. Allen left RAN in 2019, and Ginger Cassady was elected as the new executive director on February 10, 2020.
About
Rainforest Action Network (RAN) works to protect forests, help the environment, and support human rights by challenging powerful companies and unfair systems. They partner with communities and use planned efforts to create change.
RAN uses methods such as working with local groups, organizing attention-grabbing events, practicing non-violent civil disobedience, and holding private meetings with company leaders. These actions encourage major corporations to adopt policies that address problems like cutting down forests and climate change. Studies by experts have examined how activists and businesses interact. RAN collaborates closely with a growing group of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
The organization’s board of directors includes André Carothers, Anna Hawken McKay, Allan Badiner, Anna Lappé of the Small Planet Institute, and James Gollin, who is the board president and a member who started the Social Venture Network. Honorary members of RAN’s board include Ali MacGraw, Bob Weir, Bonnie Raitt, Chris Noth, John Densmore, and Woody Harrelson.
Programs
RAN's Tropical Forests Program works to stop the destruction of rainforests and the harm caused to people living in these forests in Indonesia. Because of deforestation and the damage to peatlands for farming and paper industries, Indonesia is now the third largest source of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
RAN's Rainforest Agribusiness campaign, called The Problem With Palm Oil, focuses on the effects of palm oil plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia. These plantations lead to the cutting down of tropical trees, harm to wildlife, the forced movement of local communities, and increased greenhouse gas emissions. The campaign mainly targets Cargill, the largest supplier of palm oil to the United States. In 2010, RAN also began working with General Mills, a major food company, to ensure its palm oil comes from responsible sources. After eight months of efforts, General Mills created a strong policy to use only responsibly sourced palm oil by 2015. At the same time, RAN supported teenagers Madison Vorva and Rhiannon Tomtishen in their effort to make Girl Scout Cookies free of palm oil. The two girls received the Brower Youth Award for their work.
RAN's Energy and Finance campaign focuses on banks that fund harmful forestry and fossil fuel projects. In the past, the campaign helped banks like Citi, Bank of America, and JP Morgan Chase create strong environmental policies. Today, the campaign works to stop banks from funding coal projects, especially mountaintop removal mining (MTR), which is a type of surface mining that uses explosives to remove mountain tops to reach coal. According to RAN, eight of nine banks that previously funded MTR have now created policies to limit their support for this destructive practice. Since 2011, RAN has pushed Bank of America, the leading U.S. financier of the coal industry, to stop investing in coal and instead support renewable energy.
Launched in December 2009, the We Can Change Chevron campaign targets Chevron, a California-based oil company, for its subsidiary Texaco's release of 18 billion gallons (68 million cubic meters) of waste oil into the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador. The campaign seeks to make Chevron pay for cleaning up the waste and to create policies that prevent similar harm in the future. Chevron bought Texaco in 2001 and claims Texaco completed its agreement to clean up waste from its joint venture with Petroecuador, the state-owned oil company. Chevron says it cleaned up one-third of the waste, more than its share of the agreement, and that the remaining responsibility belongs to the Ecuadorian government, which has owned the oil fields since 1992. A court ruled in 2012 that Chevron must pay $18 billion in damages to the people affected, and this decision was upheld after Chevron appealed.
Controversies
In 2003, the RAN organization was asked by the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means to provide all documents and footage related to every protest the group participated in since 1993. This request was made to determine if RAN should be allowed to keep its tax-exempt status. At that time, RAN's Executive Director, Michael Brune, described the investigation as "the latest attempt to intimidate RAN's supporters" and part of a broader effort by corporate interests to stop people from expressing their opinions freely.
RAN has faced criticism from some environmentalists who oppose the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) for being a member of that group. However, RAN explains that joining the FSC is important to help ensure stronger protection for forests and the rights of people living in forest areas.