Friday, December 08, 2006

Victoria's Secret is a Little Less Naughty.


As something of a follow-up to an earlier post in which Forest Ethics claimed censorship in regards to a magazine (I believe Rolling Stone) refusing to run one of their ads, those very same Forest Ethics folks have now proudly sent out an e-mail celebrating a significant victory.

The message they wanted to run was about how much (and the kind of) paper Victoria's Secret catalogs used. Well, they've finally reached a compromise, it appears:

Today, Victoria's Secret's parent company, Limited Brands, announced it will stop using paper from Endangered Forests like critical caribou habitat in the Albertan Foothills for its catalog. After two years of campaigning, Victoria's Secret started to and will continue to work to phase out the use of any Endangered Forests products. The company has ensured that at least 10 percent post-consumer waste paper will be used in it's main catalog.
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When we began this campaign, two years ago, Victoria's Secret was printing 395 million catalogs every year on paper that contained NO recycled content. We made it clear that we were not going to stand by and watch one of our planet's most vital resources be destroyed to sell panties.
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The impact of Victoria's Secret's decision will be seen in the protection of North America's Great Boreal Forest, which contains 25% of the world's remaining intact forest. Stretching from Alaska to Canada's Atlantic coast, the Boreal is a key regulator of global climate, providing one of our first lines of defense against global warming. It is also a vital source of clean air and water, and provides critical habitat for many species from endangered mountain caribou and to half of North America's songbirds.

A vast majority of catalogs and junk mail that flood U.S. households come directly from the Boreal Forest. Currently, the Boreal is being logged at a rate of two acres per minute, 24 hours a day. And nearly 50% of that logging is going to produce paper. Victoria's Secret's new policy prohibits immediately paper coming from the Albertan Foothills and is working to end sourcing paper fiber from other Endangered Forests. The policy sets a new standard for the catalog industry.

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