Environmental Investigation Agency | Be a Seed for Change

A shocking new report shows direct ties between hardwood flooring giant Lumber Liquidators, organized crime, and the illegal logging of the habitat of the last 450 Siberian Tigers. This shameless disregard for the last few remaining members of the species in pursuit of cheap flooring is not only disgusting, it’s illegal under American law and has prompted a federal investigation.
Take Action: Tell Lumber Liquidators to immediately eliminate illegal hardwoods from its products.
Posing undercover as large scale lumber buyers, RAN’s awesome and much admired allies at the Environmental Investigation Agency infiltrated the worst of the worst of a shadowy network of illegal logging operations in Russia’s Far East and tracked their shipments back to their biggest customer, the largest retailer of flooring in the United States, Lumber Liquidators.
The remote area where this rapid deforestation is occurring is the last frontier of old growth hardwoods in the region and the last habitat in Russia for the highly endangered Siberian Tiger. Thanks to the US Lacey Act, amended in 2008 to ban the trade of illegal wood and forest products, this case is now under active investigation by the US Department of Justice.
For the amazing backstory of how this came to be, watch EIA’s video here and then read their recently released report Liquidating the Forests: Hardwood Flooring, Organized Crime and the World’s Last Siberian Tigers.
In order to retain even a shred of credibility, Lumber Liquidators needs to immediately and irrevocably take action to improve due diligence and bring itself into compliance with the Lacey Act. It must eliminate forest illegality, destruction and human rights violations from its supply chain. Lumber Liquidators must cut supply chain ties with Xiangjia, the supplier which is the source of this illegal hardwood, and adopt and implement a comprehensive procurement policy that ensures the company will never again be involved in destroying old growth and endangered forests, abuse of human rights and run away climate change.
The time for action is now—add your name here to send your message directly to Lumber Liquidators.

		For the forests,
		Christy Tennery Rainforest Free Paper campaigner

Tell Amazon.com to ban the sale of dolphin and whale meat on its sites worldwide

Last week, public outcry forced Amazon.com to pull over one hundred whale and dolphin meat products from its Japanese site. Consumers were outraged that the world’s largest online retailer supported the killing of whales and dolphins — and Amazon.com listened.

But now, Amazon.com is refusing to put a permanent ban in place to protect these animals in the future.

Melissa Sehgal, an Amazon.com customer, is in Taiji, Japan — the site of an annual dolphin hunt that was exposed in the documentary The Cove. Every day she is witnessing how dolphins are captured and killed, and she wants Amazon.com to help stop it. That’s why Melissa started a petition calling on Amazon to never again sell meat from dolphins and whales.

Click here to sign Melissa’s petition asking Amazon.com to permanently ban whale, dolphin, and porpoise meat from its sites.

Tens of thousands of dolphins, whales and porpoises are captured and killed for their meat every year in Japan. The method by which they are killed is gruesome. “Rods are hammered into (dolphins) spinal cords to paralyze them,” Melissa says. “And then they are dragged by their tails to the butcher house.”

But Amazon.com has responded positively and quickly to consumer feedback before. Melissa also knows that further action from the online retailer could impact the trade in dolphin and whale meat since hunts are happening right now. Without an official policy, Amazon.com could start selling whale and dolphin meat again at any time.

Sign Melissa’s petition to ask Amazon.com to put a permanent ban in place against selling dolphin, whale, and porpoise meat on its sites.

Thanks for being a change-maker,

– Pulin and the Change.org team