Rainforest Action Network: Sustainable Economies

Sustainable Economies

Small family farmers have farmed for centuries without slashing and burning woodlands or destroying habitat. Healthy forests can be logged sustainably and without harming Indigenous communities. Renewable energy sources can meet four-fifths of America’s energy demands. American automakers can produce clean vehicles such as plug-in hybrids, and mass transit systems can be made more accessible to all. Implementing these solutions will create jobs, boost our economy, and save the environment and climate.

Support small-scale family farmers

Small family farms can coexist with healthy ecosystems; factory farms can’t.

The massive soy and palm plantations U.S. agribusinesses are establishing in rainforests around the world squelch nearby subsistence farming and deprive local and Indigenous farmers of their traditional means of feeding themselves. Industrial farming does far more damage to the environment than small-scale family farming; it also displaces communities and corrodes traditional cultures. Support small-scale family farming in your purchases.

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Buy good wood

RAN encourages wood and paper buyers to understand the origin of the products they buy. Look for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) logo as a tool to promote environmentally, socially and economically responsible management of the world's forests.

Beware of imitations. Multinational loggers armed with multi-million dollar Public Relations contracts are pushing imitations, such as the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), designed to evade higher standards and mislead consumers.

Learn more about certification standards at the links below.

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Support Indigenous land rights in Canadian forests

Indigenous communities are often the best stewards of land they've inhabited for centuries and must always play an active role in developing plans for sustainable use.

Canada’s treaties with First Nations guarantee them the right to practice customary activities like hunting and trapping on their traditional territory. But logging companies like Weyerhaeuser have ignored the right of northwestern Ontario’s Grassy Narrows First Nation to give free, prior and informed consent for any industrial activities on its land. RAN is working closely with the Grassy Narrows community to ensure that Canada’s government and companies like Weyerhaeuser respect treaty obligations.

Free Grassy Narrows

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Banking as if climate mattered

Dirty coal plants, industrial agrifuels, destructive oil extraction and pipelines, and unsustainable logging operations all depend on one thing: the financial support of major banks.

By balancing boardroom negotiations with grassroots pressure, RAN’s Global Finance team is holding banks accountable for the climate-changing industries they finance. Don’t let Wall Street use your money to bankroll climate change. See how you can become a part of the solution.

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Support labor by creating green jobs

The auto industry’s oil addiction is devastating the sector's economic vitality. American autoworkers are losing jobs as nationwide vehicle sales decline – a trend the industry could reverse by going green.

Autoworkers are the ones most impacted by the poor decisions of the auto industry. With public desire for gas-guzzling vehicles dwindling, auto companies are recouping their lost profits by laying off workers by the thousands, closing down plants, cutting retiree pensions, and reducing health care benefits. Learn how we can break the auto industry's oil addiction and save jobs for American workers.