The Paper Company Threatening Ancient Boreal Forests—And Activists and Journalists
May 20, 2017
Resolute Forest Products provides the paper for the nation’s biggest newspapers and publishers. So it’s up to independent media to speak out.
Suppose, as a writer and climate justice activist, I want to ask you to boycott one of the world’s largest paper companies—Resolute Forest Products—because it is unsustainably cutting trees in the formerly untouched, ancient boreal forests of Canada. Suppose I also wanted to tell you that Resolute practices threaten the survival of the endangered woodland caribou and that the company has lost or had suspended some of its FSC certifications as a result.
Of course, I should tell you those things. That’s my job as a writer, right? And you should probably know. That way you can participate in your democracy: Put pressure on the company to change its behavior, ask your elected representatives to step in, and other actions.
But suppose too that Resolute is right now mounting an aggressive $300 million lawsuit against Greenpeace along with individual activists for publicizing the very same unsustainable forestry practices I want to write about. Suppose I also know that Resolute has a history of mounting specious lawsuits against those who speak out against them that can potentially bankrupt advocacy organizations and individuals by forcing them to mount costly legal defenses.
