"You are what you click!" Sep 4, 2010 Burger King, an American-based hamburger fast food multinational has joined Unilever, Nestle and Kraft Foods also have recently broken ties with Sinar Mas. Associated Press reported the environmental group Greenpeace has accused Sinar Mas companies of destroying down forests that are home to orangutans other endangered species.

www.topix.net | 9/5/10 8:52 PM

Sep 4, 2010- Burger King, an American-based hamburger fast food multinational has joined Unilever, Nestle and Kraft Foods also have recently broken ties with Sinar Mas. Group Greenpeace has accused Sinar Mas companies (Indonesia) of destroying down forests that are home to.....

www.topix.net | 9/4/10 6:42 PM

The U.S. second largest hamburger chain, Burger King Holding Inc., has canceled contract with palm oil supplier, PT SMART tbk., in Indonesia due to environmental concern. Greenpeace has accused the PT SMART has operated by destroying rainforest where many endangered species live. The firm denies the accusation. Burger King in the latest firm canceled contract following the similar act conducted by big buyers including Nestle and Unilever, Greenpeace said in a statement on Friday. Greenp ... english.people.com.cn | 9/3/10 10:43 PM

Yesterday, Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo wrote to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg about the social network's coal use. The full letter was posted on this blog, and in the blog's comments section a Facebook representative wrote an interesting response.

Here is Greenpeace policy analyst Gary Cook's reply:

Dear Barry:

Thanks for your response.

We appreciate your recognition that Facebook has a coal problem with its Oregon data center. However, where we disagree is your claim to be powerless to do anything about it as, like Greenpeace and others, Facebook simply has to buy whatever electricity is available. This is not the case for Greenpeace, and is certainly not the case for Facebook, who is an industrial scale consumer of electricity.

As evidenced by the 500,000 users who have asked Facebook to get off of coal, we expect and demand more leadership from such an innovative company that is a playing an important role in bringing the world together.

Facebook is buying electricity in bulk to meet the needs of 500 million+ users, and is becoming a very influential company both inside and outside the IT sector. The expected power consumption of the Oregon data center alone gives Facebook the purchasing power of 30,000-40,000 homes, which gives you the ability and standing to shape how power is generated in Oregon and far beyond.

As we have seen with other environmental challenges, motivated companies with big purchasing power can make a powerful difference in driving environmental solutions and policy change. Greenpeace’s recent campaign targeting Nestlé (using Facebook no less) over their purchase of palm oil that is destroying the rainforest in Indonesia led the company to change its procurement policy, and has now led Burger King to announce yesterday that they will no longer buy palm oil from this supplier. This is sending a powerful signal both to the marketplace and to the policy makers in Indonesia and well beyond.

Facebook must take responsibility for the significant impact its investment decisions on the location of its own datacenters and the source of electricity that is supplying both its own and those facilities it is renting can have. Efficiency is certainly important, but is only the beginning of taking responsibility for your rapidly growing energy and environmental footprint.

Google, Yahoo and others in the IT sector already understand that while efficiency is important, it is not the whole story. Given the rapid growth in the IT sector, they recognize the source of electricity is also an increasingly important consideration, that they have a responsibility and an important role to play, and are significantly increasing the amount of renewable electricity they are purchasing.

Ultimately, we need Facebook to work with Greenpeace and others in Oregon and elsewhere to push for the policy changes that will rapidly move us off of coal and toward renewable sources of energy.

The world’s top climate scientists tell us that we have as little as 5 years to stabilize global warming pollution globally, which means that we must move off of coal as rapidly as possible. As was highlighted in Greenpeace’s Make IT Green Report, at current growth rates, data centers and telecommunication networks that make up the cloud will consume more than the current electricity consumption of France, Germany, Canada and Brazil combined by 2020. Given this projected growth of energy use, it is essential that Facebook and others in the IT sector show leadership in driving a transformation in our production and use of electricity.

As was recently shown in Portugal, whose electricity grid recently underwent a transformation from 15% to 45% renewable sources in the span of five years, a rapid increase in clean energy is not only possible, it is good for the local economy. The IT sector itself has identified it has an important role in this transformation, estimating its ability to reduce energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions globally 15% by 2020, and Greenpeace is challenging the sector to use their innovation and influence to overcome the opposition of powerful utilities like Pacific Corp and the fossil fuel industry who are slowing this transition down, if not blocking it outright. We need Facebook to stand with us and others to make this transition happen, and happen soon.

We look forward to working with Facebook to help it and the rest of the world off of coal and to more renewables sources of energy as rapidly as possible.

feedproxy.google.com | 9/2/10 1:19 PM

FRANKFURT -- Food giant Nestle said Tuesday that Richard Laube, executive vice president in charge of Nestle Nutrition, has decided to leave the company with immediate effect. Nandu Nandkishore, Nestl... story.venezuelastar.com | 8/31/10 8:47 AM

ZURICH -(Dow Jones)- Nestle S.A. (NESN.VX) Tuesday said Richard Laube, the head of the Nestle Nutrition division, has decided to leave the company to pursue personal opportunities. Laube, born 1956, o... story.venezuelastar.com | 8/31/10 8:46 AM

Nestle, the world's biggest food group, said on Friday it would invest $487 million in coffee projects by 2020 to help the company optimize its supply chain. economictimes.indiatimes.com | 8/28/10 2:14 AM

Nestlé is making a $487 million push to increase the quantity and quality of its coffee, training thousands of farmers over 10 years and providing them with new coffee trees. online.wsj.com | 8/27/10 10:50 AM

Nestlé is making a $487 million push to increase the quantity and quality of its coffee, training thousands of farmers over 10 years and providing them with new coffee trees. online.wsj.com | 8/27/10 10:50 AM

Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis AG says it has completed its purchase of Nestle SA's 77 percent stake in eye care firm Alcon Inc.

www.topix.net | 8/26/10 2:44 PM

Nestle SA, the world’s largest food company, said it will “substantially” reduce net debt after completing the sale of 52 percent of eye care specialist Alcon Inc. to Novartis AG for $28.3 billion. www.businessweek.com | 8/26/10 10:24 AM

GENEVA - Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis AG says it has completed its purchase of Nestle SA's 77 percent stake in eye care firm Alcon Inc. at a total cost of $38.7 billion. Novartis says it bo... story.venezuelastar.com | 8/26/10 10:22 AM

The company says it has completed its purchase of Nestle SA's 77 percent stake in eye care firm Alcon Inc. at a total cost of $38.7 billion economictimes.indiatimes.com | 8/26/10 9:33 AM

Nestle Waters North America today announced it is the recipient of a 2010 Gold Connecticut Quality Improvement Award's (CQIA) Innovation Prize for its next-generation Eco-Shape™ half-liter bottle, w... story.venezuelastar.com | 8/23/10 3:44 PM

A coffee war has broken out in Europe pitting the Swiss food giant Nestle against the struggling American food group Sara Lee as well as a former Nestle executive. economictimes.indiatimes.com | 8/22/10 9:35 PM

NestlA©'s decision to invest in the Democratic Republic of Congo by building a new factory has been met with scepticism about how much the local economy will benefit.

www.topix.net | 8/18/10 9:57 AM

NestlA©'s decision to invest in the Democratic Republic of Congo by building a new factory has been met with scepticism about how much the local economy will benefit.

www.topix.net | 8/18/10 9:02 AM

Big names like Walmart, Nestle, and Unilever fall easily and often from Uygur entrepreneur Radil Abla's tongue. "We have set them as our examples in developing business," said Abla, general manager of Xinjiang Arman Industrial Co. Abla's aim is to build Arman into the world's top halal food brand. Today the company has already become the most famous halal food manufacturer in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, with over 200 kinds of products ranging from nutritional powder to milk and cak ... english.people.com.cn | 8/16/10 10:47 PM

Nestlé and other food makers are warning about higher prices for key commodities like tea and cocoa, which could pinch margins and ripple through the grocery store in the remainder of the year. online.wsj.com | 8/11/10 11:40 PM

Nestle India plans to enter the mass segment of infant milk-based nutrition through low-priced products, three people close to the development told ET. economictimes.indiatimes.com | 8/11/10 9:28 PM

Nestle India plans to enter the mass segment of infant milk-based nutrition through low-priced products, three people close to the development told ET. economictimes.indiatimes.com | 8/11/10 9:28 PM

Two big European food companies, Nestlé and CSM, said they would respond to rising costs for wheat and other commodities by raising their own prices. www.nytimes.com | 8/11/10 8:33 PM

The results from the maker of Nescafe, Jenny Craig and Haagen-Dazs beat analyst expectations and compared with a 5.1 billion francs profit a year earlier. economictimes.indiatimes.com | 8/11/10 5:38 PM

Nestle SA, the world’s largest food company, lifted its full-year forecast after sales rose faster than analysts anticipated in the first half as the company sold more Nescafe and Pure Life water in emerging markets. www.businessweek.com | 8/11/10 10:50 AM

Swiss food and drinks company Nestle SA reported Wednesday a 7.5 percent rise in half-year net profit to 5.45 billion Swiss francs ($5 billion) and raised its full-year outlook as global sales increas... story.venezuelastar.com | 8/11/10 9:36 AM

Swiss food and drinks company Nestle SA posted a half-year net profit of 5.45 billion Swiss francs ($5 billion) Wednesday as global sales increased despite adverse currency exchange rates. economictimes.indiatimes.com | 8/11/10 9:36 AM

Swiss food and drinks company Nestle SA posted a half-year net profit of 5 billion dollars as global sales increased despite adverse currency exchange rates. www.nytimes.com | 8/11/10 9:00 AM

An important fact about the Sinar Mas group: it is destroying carbon-rich rainforests and peatlands in Indonesia, including endangered wildlife habitat.

If you take away one thing from this post - that’s the most important.

Today, the notorious forest destroyer tried to clear its name as it released an audit it commissioned to examine Greenpeace investigations of its oil palm plantations . Ironically, the audit confirms that Sinar Mas has been clearing forests and peatland, but rather than acknowledging this Sinar Mas is trying to hide the audit through a greenwash exercise. Here are a few examples of our claims, published in numerous reports, being confirmed by Sinar Mas’s own audit:

•    Sinar Mas says ‘it is not responsible for the destruction of orang-utan habitat’. What they don’t say is that in seven out of the eleven concessions Sinar Mas’s auditors visited, clearance took place prior to independent high conservation value (HCV) assessments. This is essential for identifying areas that are important for orang-utans and such clearance before these assessments violates Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) rules.

•    Sinar Mas says it ‘operates responsibly and within the law’, yet the auditors found that at eight out of the eleven concessions they visited, clearance had taken place without the necessary environmental permits. This is illegal under Indonesian law.

•    Sinar Mas says that Greenpeace claims about its clearing of peatland are ‘exaggerated or wrong’. But, not only did the auditors find that Sinar Mas had cleared deep peat, they also found that peat clearance had taken place during 2010 – contravening Sinar Mas’s own ‘no peat development policy’, which was put in place in November 2009. Clearing deep peat violates Indonesian law.

As well, Sinar Mas’s auditors appear to have made some very basic errors in the way they have interpreted the claims they were paid to verify. In one example, the auditors claim that Greenpeace reports allege Sinar Mas ‘destroyed primary forests’*. Greenpeace makes no such claims in these reports.

Instead of Sinar Mas acting on the audit’s findings and halting their destructive practices, it is spinning the results in an attempt to make their brand look ‘green’. This includes the fact that even as Sinar Mas was completing this audit, it was continuing to clear mapped forests and peatland in breach of its own company policy.

The truth is that time and again the Sinar Mas group has demonstrated that it will say one thing while doing another. It will say that protecting the environment is important while it destroys orang-utan habitat and announces plans to expand its operations even further into Indonesia’s carbon-rich rainforests and peatlands.

The truth is that the Sinar Mas group is still selling rainforest destruction while portraying itself as a ‘green’ company.

Here are some images that expose the reality behind the Sinar Mas group’s myths:

What the audit released today really shows is that companies – like Cargill - need to follow in the footsteps of Kraft, Unilever and Nestle and stop buying from Sinar Mas while it continues wrecking critical forests and peatland habitats, and driving climate change. Additionally, the Indonesian Government must ensure that their promised moratorium includes a halt to all forest clearance, including within existing concessions, and ensures the immediate protection of all peatlands.

Help us continue exposing Sinar Mas’s environmentally destructive practices. Share this post and the video Sinar Mas: Myths and Realities. Let’s ensure that the image associated with the Sinar Mas group isn’t the ‘green-washed’ version it is trying to sell - but one that shows how it is devastating Indonesia’s last remaining forests and peatlands.

Tweet the truth about Sinar Mas
Share the truth on Facebook

*In fact, we challenge Sinar Mas’s frequent claims that their concession areas do not contain primary forests, because they try to present ‘primary’ forests as the only ones worth saving. This enables the company to draw attention away from the fact that they are destroying other important forests, which are often critical orang-utan habitat, and are vital to tackling climate change.

feedproxy.google.com | 8/10/10 2:42 PM

Remember this?

“Social media: as you can see, we’re learning as we go. Thanks for the comments.” On March 19th that was the status message on Nestlé’s Facebook fan page - which had already been under siege for three days. The message didn’t stay up there for long but it was obviously in recognition of the page administrator’s poor handling of the comments and criticisms that had been streaming in since the launch of our Kit Kat ad spoof.

Those of us following social media/marketing blogs know what happened to Nestlé’s online reputation - it quickly became synonomous with words like: “disaster”, “kitkatastrophe”, “nightmare”, “meltdown” and so on. But what did all of those Facebook comments do for Indonesia’s rainforests?

Those comments you left were the beginning of a string of successes in the long running campaign to protect Indonesian rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands. The strong reaction of Nestlé’s customers and concerned people (both online and offline) to the information that Nestlé was buying products from rainforest destruction, combined with the publicity that Nestlé’s online faux pas achieved, pushed the company to finally act on evidence we’d presented them over several years. They committed to investigating their supply chains and dropping contracts with companies whose products (palm oil and pulp and paper) were coming from destroyed rainforests and peatlands in Indonesia.

This is where notorious forest destroyer, the Sinar Mas group, comes in - an Indonesian conglomerate mainly involved in palm oil and pulp and paper production - but also beginning to enter into coal mining. The Sinar Mas group was an indirect and direct supplier of Nestlé and is involved in the clearance of vast areas of Indonesia’s rainforests and peatlands to make way for its palm plantations and pulp and paper operations. These areas not only include habitat for the endangered orang-utan and Sumatran tiger, but also peatlands which are huge natural carbon stores. Because massive amounts of carbon builds up in peatlands over time, when they are destroyed a huge amount of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. This  - together with the high rate of deforestation - makes Indonesia the world’s third largest emitter of climate changing greenhouse gases after the United States and China.

Shortly after the Nestlé success on palm oil we released the report: ‘How Sinar Mas is pulping the planet’ - which focused on the other major arm of the Sinar Mas group’s operations: pulp and paper. Through its subsidiary, Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), we showed that the Sinar Mas group was supplying well-known companies like  KFC, Carrefour, and Walmart. The response to the report was immediate - within days some of the companies named announced cancellations of contracts with Sinar Mas and around the same time HSBC announced it had sold its shares in the Sinar Mas group. The HSBC announcement came after Greenpeace UK supporters created spoof HSBC advertisements - like this one:

Which exposed the bank’s involvement in funding rainforest destruction and over 10,000 people e-mailed the bank directly to complain.

What does all of this mean for deforestation and peatland clearance in Indonesia? It means more scrutiny of the Sinar Mas group, more attention to the plight of Indonesia’s rainforests and peatlands, and increased pressure on the Indonesian President to live up to his commitments to reduce the country’s enormous greenhouse gas emissions by stopping deforestation and protecting peatlands. And part of these latest steps forward was a Facebook fan page fiasco.

Sinar Mas is not well-known outside of Indonesia. It is not an internationally recognized brand. It does not have an active Facebook fan page. It does not disclose full information about its operations to the public and it does not keep its environmental commitments - we recently revealed fresh evidence of this.

If you type ‘sinar mas’ into Google you’ll likely find that its reputation for forest destruction has effectively resulted in the company ‘Google-bombing’ itself. There are links to official Sinar Mas group homepages in the search results of course - but then there are the string of news articles and Greenpeace reports outlining over and over again the environmentally destructive nature of this conglomerate’s business and the impacts on Indonesia’s rainforests and peatlands.

This week Sinar Mas group is releasing an audit into a limited number of its many concessions in Indonesia. This audit is a result of the storm that was created through the Nestlé campaign and we expect that Sinar Mas will have nothing new to say. It has made and broken so many public promises to protect the environment - if it wants people to believe any of its statements it needs to stop promising and start implementing policies that stop the destruction of Indonesia’s remaining rainforests and peatlands. Until then Sinar Mas group is still selling rainforest destruction in its products and Greenpeace will continue to investigate and expose its malpractices and urge other companies to cancel contracts with this group - as Nestlé and Unilever already have.

When the audit is released we need to ensure Sinar Mas group gets the kind of scrutiny it tries to avoid - follow us to hear the results and help us keep the spotlight on the plight of Indonesia’s remaining rainforests and peatlands:

• Twitter
• Facebook

feedproxy.google.com | 8/9/10 10:42 AM

Fathiiah Hamzah, Khoo Kar Khoon, Karis Lim, Datuk Lam Peng Chong and Datuk Rafiah Salim at the launch of the campaign.

www.topix.net | 8/9/10 6:20 AM

Tokyoites inhabit a singular capital inimitably yoking past and future, where Zen temples nestle in sci-fi cityscapes and centuries-old madness for cherry blossoms coexists with an insatiable desire for non-stop novelty.

www.topix.net | 8/8/10 9:01 PM

If you're watchA ing the TarA get FaceA book page right now, you're seeA ing another social media disA asA ter on par with Nestle's dA©bA A cle back in March .

www.topix.net | 8/4/10 3:41 PM

Food giant Nestle said on Monday it had purchased for an undisclosed price British company Vitaflo,... www.naharnet.com | 8/2/10 11:23 AM

The short answer: not likely.

In fact, not only will they not be likely to come ‘clean’, but today we are releasing fresh evidence that Sinar Mas’s notorious forest destroying practices continue unabated and in direct violation of the company’s own environmental commitments on protecting forests and peatlands.

Sinar Mas is Indonesia’s largest palm oil, and pulp and paper group. The recent KitKat campaign saw hundreds of thousands of you ask Nestlé to stop buying palm oil and pulp and paper products from Sinar Mas because of their involvement in rainforest and peatland destruction in Indonesia.

New photographic evidence shows Sinar Mas clearing rainforest in peatland areas on the island of Borneo. Further photographic evidence shows Sinar Mas has cleared rainforest that has been identified as orang-utan habitat by a United Nations Environment Program study.

While Sinar Mas makes public promises to protect Indonesian forests and peatlands - it does just the opposite. In addition to these broken promises the company plans to expand its empire of destruction ever further. Last week the head of Sinar Mas’s palm oil division confirmed intentions to expand into an additional 1 million hectares, including the untouched forests of Papua.

Indonesia’s rainforests and peatlands cannot afford to continue to be the victim of Sinar Mas’s ever expanding ambitions - after all, this is a country with one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world.

Recently we’ve seen positive steps - multinational companies like Unilever, Kraft and Nestlé have responded to evidence of Sinar Mas’s destructive practices by dropping contracts. Until this company is no longer involved in destroying rainforest and peatland , other companies who still purchase from them - like palm oil supplier Cargill - should know that they are purchasing environmental destruction. Other companies (ahem, Nestlé) have already learned that this is not good for business.

feedproxy.google.com | 7/29/10 3:43 AM

The Swiss food giant Nestle has announced that it will invest $138.32 million in East, Central and Southern Africa over the next three years to enhance its competitiveness in the food industry. allafrica.com | 7/19/10 1:38 PM

The British company has won a landmark ruling that ends close rival Nestl's 30-year dominance of ice cream sales in the Brazilian city's public spaces.

www.topix.net | 7/19/10 1:41 AM

Unions decide to ballot Nestle staff at sites across the UK for the first time on industrial action over pay. www.bbc.co.uk | 7/18/10 8:56 AM

According to a recent Nestle ad campaign aimed at parents, a drink called Boost Kid Essentials was so good for children that it could keep them from getting colds and missing school. economictimes.indiatimes.com | 7/15/10 8:32 PM

The Federal Trade Commission says claims that a drink for kids can keep kids from missing school were not substantiated. www.npr.org | 7/15/10 4:34 PM

According to a recent Nestle ad campaign aimed at parents, a drink called Boost Kid Essentials was so good for children that it could keep them from getting colds and missing school. economictimes.indiatimes.com | 7/15/10 9:12 AM

A Nestle subsidiary has agreed to stop advertising that its children's drink Boost Kid Essentials can prevent illness, increase immunity and reduce school absences, the Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday in announcing two settlements.

www.topix.net | 7/14/10 11:47 PM

Nestlé agreed to drop an advertising claim about the health benefits of its Boost Kid Essentials drink, following FTC objections. online.wsj.com | 7/14/10 10:56 PM

A Nestle subsidiary has agreed to stop advertising that its children's drink Boost Kid Essentials can prevent illness, increase immunity and reduce school absences, the Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday in announcing two settlements.

www.topix.net | 7/14/10 8:28 PM

Marion Nestle is Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University.

www.topix.net | 7/14/10 4:04 PM

The organiser of the Winter Jazz Festival Josh Hozheri recently announced that this year's edition would be the final, a decision which he said he undertook after realising that there were no adequate venues from which the event can be held. However, there have been reports that the winter jazz festival has been hit by serious financial problems after one of its sponsors, Nescafe (Nestle) pulled out. As a result the festival can no longer afford to lure big names in jazz both local and international. Our Entertainment Editor Ruth Butaumocho talks to Josh Hozheri on the issue. allafrica.com | 7/14/10 11:04 AM

Publicis Groupe has strengthened its hold on its Nestle account in China by acquiring the Chinese full-service advertising agency, G4.

www.topix.net | 7/12/10 8:48 AM

Due to extraordinary demand for the impending .CO domain launch, .CO Internet S.A.S., the registry operator of the .CO domain, today announced it has officially extended the deadline for people and companies to secure high-priority .CO domain names prior to their availability to the general public on July 20. The deadline for the "Landrush" phase will be extended through Friday, July 16th at 12:00 pm (Noon) EDT.

The new .CO domain offering presents unprecedented opportunities for corporations, brands, web developers, agencies, entrepreneurs and others to secure high-priority, high-value domain names that have long been "unavailable" in the .com domain. To date, .CO Internet has registered or taken applications for more than 26,000 .CO domain names, many of which have been secured by the world's top global brands and Fortune 500 companies, such as: Amazon, American Express, Apple, BMW, Cartier, Canon, CNN, Coca-Cola, Disney, Ebay, Exxon, Facebook, Ford, Google, Hilton, Honda, IBM, IKEA, Kodak, McDonalds, Microsoft, MTV, Nestle, Nike, Nokia, Panasonic, Pfizer, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, Toyota, Twitter, Unilever, Visa, Yahoo and many more. The company expects to receive several thousand more applications prior to the end of the Landrush period.

"The response to the new .CO domain offering has been overwhelming. To keep up with the demand, our registrar partners have asked us to extend the deadline for the Landrush phase to give more people the opportunity to secure their desired domains before they are released to the general public," said Nicolai Bezsonoff, chief operating officer of .CO Internet. "July 16th will be the last opportunity for corporations, major brands, start-ups and individuals to secure their desired domains early. On July 20, all unclaimed domains will be added to the general pool and released on a first-come, first-served basis."

Pricing and Availability

During the Landrush phase, organizations and individuals wishing to secure early access to high-priority, high-value .CO domain names may do so—for a premium—through one of 10 .CO Accredited Registrar partners, including GoDaddy.com, Register.com, Network Solutions, eNom, InternetX, Dotster, Melbourne IT, OpenSRS, My.co, and Dominio Amigo, or any of the resellers within each registrar's extended networks.

.CO domains registered during the Landrush phase are priced at a premium to reflect their high value and high demand, with prices averaging between $250 to $300, depending on the registrar. If more than one Landrush application is received for a particular domain name, it will be auctioned to the highest bidder.

www.circleid.com | 7/9/10 6:58 PM

It's hard to imagine that only a couple years ago, Honda made just two scooters for the US market; the Japanese manufacturer has since stepped up its scooter game, offering the Metropolitan , Ruckus , Silver Wing , SH150i , Elite , and most recently, the PCX for stateside buyers.

How does PCX nestle itself into Honda's lineup, and what compromises are made for its big scooter styling? Read my 2011 Honda PCX Scooter Review to find out.

Related:

• 2009/2010 Honda Lineup
• Honda Announces 2011 PCX Scooter, Includes Lil' Ruckus in '11 Lineup
• Honda Drops Prices Like it's 2000
• 2010 Honda Elite Scooter Review
• 2010 Honda SH150i Review
• 2009 Yamaha Zuma 125 Review

Photos © Honda; click to enlarge

motorcycles.about.com | 7/9/10 4:59 AM

Swiss food company will expand operations in Kenya, Mozambique and Democratic Republic of Congo.

www.topix.net | 7/6/10 3:34 PM

Even though we've had huge success in turning companies like Unilever, Nestlé and Kraft off palm oil produced by Sinar Mas, that only represents one part of the jigsaw and Sinar Mas is still chewing its way through Indonesia's rainforests.

Palm oil is one of two plantation products which are driving deforestation in Indonesia, paper being the other big hitter. Needless to say, Sinar Mas is a major player in the paper business and we've compiled new evidence which shows exactly how its pulp and paper operations are threatening the forests just as much as its palm oil business is.

The latest Greenpeace investigation into the links between Sinar Mas and deforestation is Pulping the Planet, and as the title suggests it focuses on the paper side of the story. Extensive research, documentation and on-the-ground work reveals that one arm of the hydra-like Sinar Mas group - Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) - is supplying paper to big name companies like Tesco, Walmart, KFC and Hewlett Packard.

As we published our investigation and the day unfolded - a team of Greenpeace activists in China took action against supermarket chain Auchan to highlight their links to APP.

Yet despite repeated promises that it is pursuing a "path toward sustainability" and that it would only use plantation trees for its pulp by 2009, APP is still using rainforest timber to feed two of its paper mills in Sumatra. Sinar Mas has large areas of intact rainforest under concession waiting to be cleared for acacia plantations, including areas around Bukit Tigapuluh National Park which is a vitally important habitat for the highly endangered Sumatran tiger, as well as being one of the only sites where equally threatened orang-utans are reintroduced to the wild.

Some of this land also includes rich peatlands which release huge amounts of greenhouse gases when they're drained and burnt - one reason why Indonesia is the third largest emitter in the world. Incidentally, it's illegal to clear peat which is deeper than three metres, but Sinar Mas has a track record of ignoring that particular regulation.

Last year - Greenpeace activists occuped a loading crane in the port of a major pulp mill facility operated by Sinar Mas-owned pulp and paper company APP in the heart of Indonesia's rainforests.

As a result of our earlier work, which has been summed up on this month's Economist magazine, many companies have already put clear blue water between themselves and various parts of the Sinar Mas group:

• Unilever, Nestlé and Kraft have all suspended their dealings with the palm oil side of the company;
• Kimberly Clark, Kraft, Nestlé and Unilever are all in the process of implementing global paper policies that will rule out suppliers from APP, unless substantial changes are made by the company and its suppliers
• And only yesterday, Carrefour confirmed that it has already stopped buying from APP for its own brands and Tesco has announced that it will do the same by the end of the year.

APP is on the march with similar expansion plans elsewhere and a shiny new greenwash advertising campaign to persuade us it really does care about trees, including a number of spots seen on CNN.

To stop all this madness, two things need to happen. Other companies with Sinar Mas or APP contracts must drop them and no doubt we'll be asking for your assistance when it becomes clear who the more stubborn ones are. Second, the freeze on new deforestation licenses recently promised by Indonesia's President needs to be extended to cover existing concessions that are currently slated for destruction by Sinar Mas and other companies. Only with such a blanket halt on deforestation can the problems facing Indonesia's rainforests really be tackled.

Download the new report "How Sinar Mas is Pulping the Planet"

Image: Acacia plantations which provide timber for paper mills are threatening Indonesia's rainforests just as much as palm oil © Greenpeace/Rante

feedproxy.google.com | 7/6/10 10:04 AM