Free Screening: "GREEN" & Presentation on "Palm Oil, Rainforest Destruction & the Climate"

There will be a free screening of GREEN, a visually stunning documentary about the corporate conversion of the Indonesian tropical rainforest for palm oil production and the logging of its trees for exotic wood and paper pulp.  Told through the eyes of one of the palm oil industry's greatest victims--a dying orangutan--the film conveys a complex narrative without words.  It is the winner of multiple festival awards.

The screening will be followed by a presentation on "Palm Oil, Rainforest Destruction & the Climate" with a discussion led by Debra Michaud, an activist with the Rainforest Action Network who is based in Chicago.  She will be speaking about RAN's campaign to get Cargill, which imports vast amounts of palm oil used in processed foods, soaps and personal-care products and refined for biofuel, to quit the rainforest.  Cargill is the largest privately owned corporation in the world and the most powerful grain cartel.  Family-run by the McMillan's, its headquarters are located in Wayzata, MN.  The corporate giant is also responsible for vast swaths of the Amazon Rainforest being destroyed for soy cultivation.  This is an oppportunity to learn about RAN's important international campaign to oppose palm oil & save the rainforest and to get involved.  It's time to think globally and act locally.

The program will be held Wednesday, August 12th at Walker Church, 3104 16th Avenue South in South Minneapolis.  The doors open at 6:30 PM, with the film showing at 7:00 PM and the presentation at 8:00 PM.  Refreshments will be provided.  The event is co-sponsored by Rainforest Action Network and the Climate Crisis Coalition of the Twin Cities (3CTC).  For more information, visit:  www.ran.org and www.TheProblemWithPalmOil.org  EMAIL:  christinefrank@visi.com or PHONE:  612-879-8937.

3CTC supports this effort because of the role tropical rainforests play as the lungs of the planet in providing oxygen, as its heart in pumping moisture, as a heat regulator in helping to circulate warmth, as a tremendous source of biodiversity and of course, as an essential carbon sink.  In addition, many Indigenous Peoples depend upon the bounty of the rainforests, which provides them with food, fodder, fiber, fuel, shelter and medicine for their sustenance and well-being.  The burning of Indonesia's tropical rainforests and the continual smodering of its peat bogs make that country the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases.  Overall, rainforest destruction contributes from 20 to 25% of global anthropogenic carbon emissions.  Therefore, it must be halted immediately if we are to prevent climate catastrophe.

SAVE MOTHER EARTH!  SEE YOU THERE!