Plight of the Redwoods Campaign

July 17, 2000


Plight of the Redwoods Campaign (PRC) was conceived in November 1998 and hit the road in December of that year. Redwood Mary took a leave from her studies at the College of the Redwoods, gave up her home, put her belongings in storage and took the PRC Tour to both national and international venues in partnership with Julia Butterfly Hill (via cell phone) from her historic tree occupation of Luna. In August 1999, Nate Madsen joined the campaign, calling in from his occupation of Mariah in the Freshwater area near Eureka. The PRC has assisted in bringing more visibility to Nate Madsen?s non-violent action.

Now that Julia Butterfly has triumphed, the saga to save the redwoods is not over. ?Exploitation of Forests and Labor? is the theme of the Tour featuring Nate via cell phone. We focus on current local Redwood Empire issues and connect them to the bigger picture of multinational corporations. PRC is also helping with the Old Growth Petition Campaign to ask Governor Gray Davis to fulfill his promise to ?save the redwoods from the lumberjack?s ax.? This spring, PRC co-sponsored ?Creating Bridges,? an effort to bring urban citizens to meet with North Coast activists in Oakland, California.

Since its inception, the PRC and 2000 Tour has reached more than 500
million people via presentations to community groups, church groups, businesses, schools and universities, gatherings in private homes, and through radio programs and public cable TV programs.

Redwood Mary said, ?The history, the ecology, the issues of these degraded and threatened ecosystems are presented in conjunction with how local citizens and communities are rallying gallantly to take a stand for protection of these life-giving ecosystems. Personal narratives and a series of powerful video clips bring home the message that ?we are all responsible for the protections of our forests? and help is needed from outside these rural regions and it starts with education! These forests are key to sustaining life. Their destruction is having damaging impacts on all the communities they harbor ? both wildlife and human. The specific value of forest ecosystems is outlined and compared to their sole market value as timber. The heart as well as the intellect are engaged in taking a stand for the protection of these life-giving ecosystems. We create a ?space? of empowerment ? moving out of feelings of apathy and hopelessness. We explore a key concept: ?that everyday individual actions have impact and can contribute to the collective caring and restoration of the earth?.

This unique tour of presentations ? with more than 100 collaborations ? includes festival information tables, educational street rallies, presentations, redwood ecology guest lecturing, and participation in global meetings and major conferences.

PRC helped solidify a partnership network of East Coast Forest Defenders to help with various letter-writing campaigns of concern here on the North Coast. Redwood Mary and Nate Madsen were panelists at a recent major conference at New York City?s Riverside Church on ?Re-Imagining Politics and Society at The Millenium ? Creating A Just, Caring and Sustainable World.?

PRC helped bring ?Travel Radio? to Madsen?s tree-sit in Freshwater and subsequently to an international audience of more than 20 million. The show included in-depth interviews with Madsen and Susan Maloney of EPIC. This interview includes taped dialogue with Julia Butterfly. Travel Radio has partnered with PRC to make this interview available on cassette tape for a minimum donation.

PRC has distributed more than 25,000 pieces of literature on the issues from organizations such as the Luna Media/Circle of Life Foundation, EPIC, BACH, MEC, Greenwood Watershed Association, Earth First!, Trees Foundation, Sierra Club, Save-the-Redwoods League, Boycott The Gap Campaign, Circle of Life Foundation, and Global Exchange.

PRC, through a network of dedicated volunteers on both coasts, has had information tables at Berkeley Earth Day 2000, 30th Clearwater on the Hudson Reunion (NY), and will be at the 25th Monmouth County Clearwater Festival at Sandy Hook, NJ, and ECO Fest in New York City?s Upper Westside. PRC has helped Headwaters Action Video Collective in making their work visible by presenting more than 100 screenings of LUNA and more than 15 screenings of Fire In The Eyes and helped promote these videos through facilitating their screening on more than two dozen cable TV shows and student film festivals.

PRC has been hosted by student groups at Princeton University, Columbia University, California State University at Monterey, Bard College, Cornell University, various grade and high schools in New York and California, Copperfields Bookstore in Sebastopol, Eco Books in Brooklyn, WBAI Radio in NYC, United Nations 17th Commission On Human Settlements, Nairobi, Kenya, and various United Nations NGO meetings.



For more information, please contact:

Plight of The Redwoods
P.O. Box 2856
Ft. Bragg CA 95437

Web: www.fcinet.com/redwoods/
West Coast Contacts: redwoodmary@pocketmail.com or snoww@pocketmail.com
NYC Contact: The Wetlands Environmental and Social Justice Organization (212) 966-4225
Plight of the Redwoods Campaign?s Fiscal Agent is Media Island International.


This article can be found online at www.treesfoundation.org/publications/article-24

Forest & River News is produced by Trees Foundation.