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Will ADM Sign the Rainforest Pledge?

Last week, the Rainforest Agribusiness Campaign and children from around the world asked Patricia Woertz, the CEO of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), to sign a pledge to stop clear-cutting rainforests for biofuels. She refused.

Now it's your turn to ask.

Last Thursday, three RAN activists - Levana Saxon, Annie Sartor and I - snuck into the ECO:nomics conference, an ultra-exclusive "executive conference" held in Santa Barbara, Calif. It was a chance for the CEOs of several of the world's most powerful companies - BP, Wal-Mart, etc. - to congratulate themselves and discuss how to increase profits by greening their business.

Dressed in our best corporate gear and sporting craftily designed passes, we easily gained entrance to the conference hall where the CEOs were gathered. After Ms. Woertz spoke, I raised my hand and was handed the microphone.

Watch the video and join me in asking Patricia Woertz to stop destroying rainforests!

Needless to say, the conference organizers got more than they expected when I started to speak.

I asked Ms. Woertz how she could claim that ADM was fighting climate change when the company is responsible for clearing and burning the rainforest for industrial biofuels. Levana, RAN's education coordinator, approached the stage and handed Woertz more than 600 letters and drawings from children asking her to stop cutting down the rainforest. Levana and I then unfurled a poster-sized pledge, asking Woertz to pledge to halt all engagement with companies that destroy the rainforest.

She refused.

But it's not too late for her to sign the pledge. Send Patricia Woertz a letter telling her that it is absurd to claim that ADM is helping the climate when the company is clearing and burning the world's rainforests. Ask her to sign the pledge today.

Brihannala Morgan
Rainforest Agribusiness Campaigner