October 17, 1997

Charlotte- Activists from UNCC's Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC) and EarthCulture are converging on Home Depot on Highway 49 on Saturday, October 18, from 12 noon- 2 PM. This demonstration is part of World Rainforest Week, and aims to get Home Depot to stop carrying all old growth and rainforest wood products. The protesters will be holding large banners and chanting.

Charlotte's demonstration is one of dozens of Home Depot demonstrations in 30 states going on during World Rainforest Week. Home Depot is the world's largest retailer selling old growth wood products. Earlier this year Home Depot agreed not to sell or purchase old growth redwood lumber; however, the home improvement giant still sells old growth woods from British Columbia, and old growth rainforest wood including mahogany, ramin, virola, and lauan.

Rainforests are of particular concern because they are home to over half the worlds plant and animal species, and 50 million indigenous peoples. "People all over the world are being tortured, displaced, and even murdered for rainforest woods," says SEAC's Jamie Duncan. "We're here to ask consumers if a mahogany toilet seat is worth killing native peoples."
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