Monthly Panther: Ford news, Tasmanian forests & more!

Monthly Panther: July 2007

For three years, RAN's Freedom from Oil campaign (formerly Jumpstart Ford) has pressed Ford Motor Company to start building electric vehicles. This week, Ford finally jumped on the plug-in bandwagon! Thanks to pressure from activists like you, Ford has become the first major automaker to commit to a timeline for production of plug-in hybrids by announcing a partnership with Southern California Edison to build as many as 20 Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle prototypes. Ford projects that it will be selling plug-ins to consumers within the next 5-10 years. Consumers have been waiting a long time for an automaker to offer the next generation of ultra-fuel-efficient, gasoline-optional cars. Powering America's cars by electricity rather than oil will help America kick its oil addiction once and for all. While we are encouraged by what appears to be a sincere effort by Ford and Southern California Edison, plenty of work remains. That's where you come in: Tell Ford to take the next step and make plug-ins available to all consumers! Read the press release here. The price of paper: Tasmania's forests? On June 26, RAN released "The Truth Behind Tasmanian Forest Destruction and the Japanese Paper Industry," a report that sets the story straight about how major Japanese paper companies like Nippon Paper, Oji Paper and Chu-etsu Pulp support the egregious logging practices of Gunns Limited in Tasmania. The report follows hot on the heels of RAN's well-attended forums in Tokyo, where experts discussed the impact that the Japanese paper industry's purchasing decisions have on Tasmanian forest destruction. The experts refuted claims by Gunns and Australian government officials that these forests do not contain old-growth trees. You can stay involved in our campaign to save Tasmania's forests: Take action to get Nippon Paper to stop buying old-growth wood from Gunns. Download our report. Read RAN organizer David Lee's blog post about the Japan forums. Help spread the word!

Dialing for dollars -- Vote for RAN! Are you a member of Working Assets? Then take a moment to VOTE for RAN! By filling out the Working Assets 2007 Donations Ballot, you can vote to allocate this year's funding to RAN. The more votes we get, the more funding we receive. Working Assets has been a longtime supporter of RAN campaigns and has raised more than $50 million for worthy groups since 1985. Voting is easy. Just click here. If you're not a Working Assets member, you can join today by visiting www.WorkingAssets.com First Nations' push for Native Rights reaches new heights On June 25, as a ramp-up to the National Day of Action for Indigenous Rights in Canada, RAN joined members of the Grassy Narrows and Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) and erected a 30-foot painted teepee reading "Native Rights Now" on the front lawn of the Ontario Legislature to pressure Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty to honor moratoria declared by Grassy Narrows and KI prohibiting industrial activity without consent in their traditional territories. Check out pictures from the action. Take Action! Call Premiere Dalton McGuinty now. Make sure our challenge to corporate power keeps rolling! Mega-corporations like Gunns Ltd may have deep pockets, but through a lot of ingenuity, heart and small donations from people like you, RAN has successfully challenged corporate power for more than 20 years. We're making progress, but we need your support to sustain our campaigns. Donate any amount to become a RAN member today! Candidates on coal: Check out the Edwards podcast While RAN does not support any specific candidates, it's great to see John Edwards' new podcast, where he comes right out and says there should be no new coal-fired power plants -- a position shared by other presidential candidates like Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd. This adds Edwards' voice to the growing list of scientists, politicians and opinion leaders calling for a moratorium on coal in order to curb climate change. Check out our blog post on Edwards' position at The Understory. Tell Bank of the West: Nukes are no climate solution! 21 years after the catastrophe of Chernobyl, French bank BNP Paribas -- the owner of U.S.'s Bank of the West -- wants to finance the construction of two high-risk Russian nuclear reactors in an earthquake area in Northern Bulgaria, close to the Romanian border. You can help our allies block the construction of these dangerous plants. Write to Bank of the West, the U.S. subsidiary of BNP Paribas, and tell them that you don't approve of projects that risk the health and safety of hundreds of thousands of people. Take action now: tell Bank of the West to say NO to a new Chernobyl! Join Rising Tide's "Convergence for Climate Action" camp this August With extreme weather, massive species extinctions, and melting ice caps becoming a more dire reality each day, it is high time for us to come together to take firm actions against the root causes of climate change. This August, Rising Tide -- a grassroots network of activists attacking the root causes of climate change -- is hosting two action camps to do just that. There will be camps on the West Coast and in the Southeast. Click here to find out more.