Seven angels brandishing chain saws graced the streets in front of the Wexner Center Thursday in an attempt to defend Mother Nature.
The angels, members of Ohio State’s chapter of Free the Planet, rallied the surrounding passers-by to save the boreal forest that spans much of Canada. They were there to ruin and expose “Victoria’s dirty secret.”
“We need trees, we need trees, more than sexy panties,” the angels chanted.
Victoria’s Secret, a Limited Brands, Inc. brand whose CEO is New Albany resident Leslie Wexner, has been destroying the boreal forest of Canada by printing one million catalogues a day from lumber that comes from Canada, said Kathryn Ivancic, treasurer of OSU Free the Planet and one of the leaders of the rally.
“We’re asking that (Limited Brands) switch over to recycled content and that they do not log anymore in endangered forests. But we realize that there is a need for paper and that not all paper can be recycled, so paper that does come from virgin trees be substantially harder to get,” said Ivancic, a junior in natural resources, specializing in environmental policy.
Ivancic said Victoria’s Secret prints 395 million catalogues a year with the expectation that 95 percent of those will be thrown away. The paper for the catalogue is harvested from Canada’s boreal forest – the trees around the Alberta foothills in particular.
The lumber industry has been using clear-cutting methods to annihilate spans of virgin trees in the forest, Ivancic said. some trees are not even used, left in sacks to rot.
Canada’s boreal forest is 1.4 billion acres, the size of 12 Californias. It is the second largest roadless area on the planet and holds more carbon than any place on Earth, which helps slow global warming, according to the Free the Planet Web site.
“The boreal is the oxygen lung of the world,” Ivancic said.
The “Victoria’s Dirty Secret” campaign began in October of last year as part of a bigger campaign called the “Paper Campaign” to save the world’s forests. The main organization involved, Forest Ethics, has decided to make Nov. 3 a national day of action. OSU’s Free the Planet has targeted Limited Brands for this campaign by writing letters, filing petitions and hosting early morning rallies outside the Limited Brands office in Columbus off of Morse Road. The group has organized a larger rally for Nov. 3 at 7:30 a.m., an ideal time because the employees are coming in for work, Ivancic said.
She said, however, she was happy that Limited is making progress, and for that she praises them.
Limited recently started printing its monthly clearance catalogue on 80 percent post-consumer recycled paper, said Anthony Hebron, a Limited spokesman.
OSU’s Free the Planet is good at raising questions about the environment, but their facts are wrong, Hebron said.
Limited sends catalogues to people they know are truly customers, who want to buy their products, Hebron said. If a customer no longer wants a catalogue they can call, e-mail or write a letter to stop delivery.
“(Limited Brands) doesn’t just send catalogues out willy-nilly,” he said. “Our accuracy rate is 99 percent and we’re proud of that.”
Environmental statistics are also posted on the Limited Brands Web site.
Limited Brands is a big company with a big name, which makes them a big target for organizations such as Free the Planet, Hebron said.
Limited has attempted to please its critics in many ways. The company has set up meetings between International Paper, Inc., a major lumber harvester in the Alberta foothills, and Forest Ethics. The meeting was not successful and others are in the works, Hebron said.
Hebron did mention, however, that he has failed in keeping Ivancic informed in the past.
“It’s an important issue and we respect (Free the Planet). We got to reach out more to (Ivancic),” he said. “We don’t reach out well.”
Groups such as Free the Planet have created a poor concept of Limited and Hebron said he takes the blame.
“Boreal forests are important to the planet,” said Roger Williams, OSU assistant professor in forest ecosystem management.
Boreal forests make up about 20 percent of the world’s forests and are full of organic material that help mitigate green house gases. Although important, boreal forests are not necessarily the oxygen lung of the world, Williams said. As far as land-surface vegetation goes, boreal forests are not as important as tropical rain forests.
The forests are important, yet the lumber is still harvested by a clear-cut method.
“Clear-cutting is a practice that is not always detrimental to the environment,” Williams said.
In fact, International Paper has a good reputation as a well-certified and responsible lumber harvesting company. International Paper is one of the largest land-owners in the world, known to follow strict consumer practices. The company has also been the first to lease land in a boreal forest of Russia where the land is all owned and controlled by the federal government, Williams said.
The possibility for abuse of the forests still remains. Each situation should be handled in a case-by-case manner, Williams said.
When – not if – the day comes that Limited changes its practices, Ivancic said, she and the rest of those under the Forest Ethics banner will certainly be pleased.
“(Limited) will change soon. I think they’re tired of us. And when they do, we’ll praise them for it,” Ivancic said.
