HOLLYWOOD SUPERSTARS DENOUNCE
B.C. CLEARCUTS IN NEW YORK TIMES AD
Some of the biggest names in Hollywood have signed on to support Clayoquot
Rainforest Coalitions campaign to save British Columbias temperate
rainforests from clearcutting. In a full-page ad in the West Coast edition
of todays New York TimesMonday, May 13film makers and environmental
groups urge B.C. lawmakers to take real measures to end forest
destruction. The ad is timed to correspond with B.C. elections. Annually,
major Hollywood studios spend over $400 million in B.C. while filming on
location in the province.
The following actors, producers, and directors have signed on to the ad:
Ed Asner, Ed Begley Jr., Tom Cruise, Ted Danson, Dana Delany, Laura Dern,
Richard Donner, Lauren Shuler Donner, Ted Field, Matt Frewer, R.W.
Goodwin, Daryl Hannah, Woody Harrelson, Lisa Henson, Paul Jackson,
Kathleen Kennedy, Nicole Kidman, Ali McGraw, Frank Marshall, Penny
Marshall, Mike Medavoy, Donna Mills, Robert Redford, Rob Reiner, Tim
Robbins, Alex Rose, Steven Seagal, Martin Sheen, Mary Steenbergen, Oliver
Stone, Barbra Streisand, Harvey Weinstein, Paula Weinstein, Barbara
Williams, Lili Fini Zanuck, and Richard D. Zanuck.
Whats going on in the rainforests of British Columbia is a travesty of
nature, says director Oliver Stone. Every minute, another acre of
forest is cut down. I personally have become involved with this issue
because it outrages me to see thousand year old trees decimated for
newspapers and disposable Yellow Pages.
B.C.s natural crown jewel, Clayoquot Sound, has been at the center of an
international controversy over the past few years. As of last year,
logging in Clayoquot Sound is supposed to adhere to recommendations by a
B.C. government-appointed science panel, including reductions in the size
of clearcuts. However, the most important parts of Clayoquot Soundits
pristine rainforest valleys are still slated for logging and clearcutting
continues, inflicting extensive damage on the delicate rainforest
ecosystem. The partial protection applies only to Clayoquot Sound, which
comprises .1 per cent of B.C.s total forests. The rest of B.C.s forests
enjoy no authentic protection at all.
The Hollywood celebrities outline concrete measures which British Columbia
lawmakers could undertake to address the destruction of these great
forests which are among the last remaining natural forests anywhere in the
world. These include protection for Clayoquot Sounds pristine areas,
drastically reducing the rate of logging in B.C. and dramatically
increasing the percentage of rainforest protected.
The Clayoquot Rainforest Coalition, which includes Rainforest Action
Network, Greenpeace, Natural Resources Defense Council, Coalition for
Forests, Pacific Environment and Resource Center, and Friends of Clayoquot
Sound, has been working to protect the ancient rainforests of Clayoquot
Sound on Vancouver Island, and throughout British Columbia.
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