No More Amazon Deforestation for Soya, Says McDonald's
by Mairi Beautyman, Berlin, Germany on 07.26.06
McDonald's has agreed to stop Amazon deforestation for soya farming, a huge move for this fast food giant. Used to feed chicken, soya is one of the main threats to the world's largest rain forest, according to Greenpeace. The decision comes after pressure from Greenpeace and the general public, the independent campaigning organization says. Last April, Greenpeace released Eating up the Amazon, a report that pinpoints McDonald's, as well as Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), as two of the biggest culprits in rain forest destruction (KFC continues to refuse to discuss their role in Amazon destruction, says Greenpeace). So now this soya needs to come from somewhere else. The problem: Where? Soya traders Cargill, ADM, Bunge, Dreyfus, and Amaggi have committed to a limited two year moratorium of buying soya from deforested areas, meaning, in two years, if an alternate way is not found, we could be right back where we started from. More information on soy production in Canada, the U.S., and Argentina is available here. ::Greenpeace via ::Hugg. Thanks tipster Seagull76. Related: ::The 7,000km Journey That Links Amazon Destruction To McDonald's Fast Food
This story is grossly inaccurate. Greenpeace says a ban on soybeans from newly deforested land is insufficient toward protecting the Amazon.
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editor note: I think you might have misread the title. It could have been a bit clearer, and I'll edit it, but it's not "No More Amazon Deforestation, Period." but no more from McDonalds soy farming.
The real solution is to have McDonald's go to a vegan menu or new-harvest, in vitro meat culture production.
I noticed a Google click ad for KFC on your site just underneath an article about McDonalds and KFC being 2 of the biggest culprits in Amazon deforestation.
At first I thought it might be a joke -- why would Treehugger have an ad for KFC on their site? But I clicked through and it's the real thing.
I found this very disturbing. I recommend you scruitinize all your banner and click thru ads more carefully, only including businesses that are not in conflict with your site's stated values.
Thanks.
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editor note: These ads are automatically generated by google adsense. They use keywords on the page, so sometimes ironic (or plain sad) ads can show up. We've tried to block many of them, but obviously we can't block the millions of ads that don't fit on the site. Sorry about that.