By Thanks to your support, Rainforest Action Network has made real progress and reached major milestones this year! Yes, the road ahead is daunting — but we are ready and more committed than ever to continue this work, together.
As a non-profit organization, transparency, fiscal responsibility, and best practices are crucial. That’s why we are so proud to have earned the highest ratings from Charity Navigator, Guidestar and Great Nonprofits. But as we face more challenges and tackle more problems, we need our funding to grow with us. Any size tax-deductible donation is imperative to our continued success moving forward.
Here are just a few of the milestones you and our allies made possible in 2016:
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- We pressured the Indonesian government to issue a moratorium on palm oil and mining permits in critical rainforests.
- We helped tens of thousands of consumers directly contact Abercrombie & Fitch, urging them to get deforestation out of their clothing and supply chain.
- We turned up the pressure on PepsiCo to “Cut Conflict Palm Oil” from their supply chains, directly challenging executives, dropping a 100 foot banner off the iconic Pepsi sign on the East River in New York City, and bringing organizers and media to their headquarters — and their home town!
- We raised the profile of the Leuser Ecosystem. RAN’s Lindsey Allen met with actor/environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio at the COP 21 Paris climate talks — resulting in DiCaprio’s visit to the Leuser and his highlighting this issue in his climate documentary, Before the Flood, which quickly became the most-watched documentary film in history.
- We followed the money — all the way the forest. In 2016, RAN launched our Forest and Finance campaign, which now holds the world’s largest financial institutions accountable for financing large-scale environmental destruction.
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- We froze new leasing on federal coal. Thanks to our coalition’s campaigns the Obama Administration and the Department of Interior announced an immediate moratorium and new assessment of the federal coal program.
- We revealed which banks were betting on catastrophe and “Shorting the Climate.” Our latest report on the financial industry and their role in profiting off climate change was our most ambitious report to date — focusing on coal, liquified natural gas (from fracking), extreme oil extraction, and the human rights impacts of these industrial sectors.
- We pushed President Obama to permanently protect wide areas of the Arctic and Atlantic from drilling: A record breaking 1.4 million comments submitted opposing offshore drilling. These comments and years of campaigning resulted in both the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans safeguarded from oil drilling in the next Five Year Plan for offshore drilling, with the most sensitive areas now permanently protected!
- We organized nationwide Keep It In the Ground actions to fight fossil fuels. We worked with local communities and national partners to challenge nearly 30 federal lease sales across the country — from Alaska to Idaho, from Montana to Ohio, from Colorado to Louisiana.
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- We changed the conversation on labor rights and human rights in the palm oil industry. Our groundbreaking report “The Human Cost of Palm Oil” — and our accompanying animated short — exposed the rampant rights abuses that are associated with Conflict Palm Oil. And for the first time, this year’s Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil was focused on these issues.
- In support of the Standing Rock Sioux’s fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline, we pushed out financial research on the banks funding the pipeline to drive pressure to the financial root of the problem. We stand in strong solidarity and deep appreciation with the Standing Rock Sioux leadership and the hundreds of other tribes and allies that fought against the Dakota Access Pipeline, through coordinated local action, media support, and direct support on the ground.
With 2017 right around the corner, we know the road ahead is rough. We are rapidly assessing what will be necessary to continue our work going forward. But we have been here before. For three decades — including during some very unfriendly administrations — Rainforest Action Network has made significant progress to protect people and planet.
We have decades of experience when it comes to taking on the logging industry, the banking industry, the coal mining industry, the biggest snack food companies on the planet — there’s never really an easy time to do this work. In order to elevate our efforts in the coming year to assure we continue achieving milestones and victories like those above, we need your support. Please consider ending 2016 with a tax-deductible donation so we can start the new year off like never before.
As always, thank you so much for your support. We need it now more than ever.
For people and planet,
Lindsey
Lindsey Allen
Executive Director
Rainforest Action Network
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