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SAY NO TO CYPRESS MULCH The Save Our Cypress coalition, a group of environmental groups in Louisiana, is requesting that Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Lowes immediately cease all sales of cypress mulch products. Coalition members contend that Louisianas coastal protection is being harvested for garden mulch. The endangered cypress-tupelo swamps are being clear-cut to feed the mulch industry. As the nations largest retailers, Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Lowes have the power to dramatically reduce needless destruction of cypress forests, says Leslie March, chair of the Delta (Louisiana) Chapter of the Sierra Club. We are calling on these three retailers to live up to their own corporate policies of sustainability and stop selling cypress mulch. The Save Our Cypress Coalition is asking the retailers to stop selling all cypress mulch products until a credible, third-party verification system is operating to ensure that no cypress mulch products are being sourced from non-renewable cypress swamps. At this time, there is no way to tell where the cypress mulch comes from, says March. Mulch that we know was harvested in Louisiana has been sold under the Florida Gold label. Cypress forests are an important barrier to the devastation wrought by hurricanes, says Gary Shafer, Ph.D., professor of biological sciences at Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond. Satellite imagery shows that while many trees were downed in the winds of Katrina and Rita, cypress forests stood strong and protected the rest of the ecosystem. The coastal wetland forests also play an effective role in absorbing storm surge and flooding. Cypress mulch is not the superior product claimed by manufacturers. Alternatives such as pine straw, pine bark nuggets and mulch provide the benefits of mulch without destroying coastal wetlands. Despite other available options, whole cypress trees are being used for mulch and acres of swamps are being clear-cut to produce mulch. Cypress forest in Louisiana already are in danger, says Dr. Shafer. There are many swamps that will never grow back once they are cut. For more information, visit http://www.saveourcypress.org _____________________________ Note: This message comes from the peace-justice-news e-mail mailing list of articles and commentaries about peace and social justice issues, activism, etc. If you do not regularly receive mailings from this list or have received this message as a forward from someone else and would like to be added to the list, send a blank e-mail with the subject "subscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or you can visit: http://lists.enabled.com/mailman/listinfo/peace-justice-news Go to that same web address to view the list's archives or to unsubscribe. E-mail accounts that become full, inactive or out of order for more than a few days will become disabled or deleted from this list. FAIR USE NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the information in this e-mail is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. I am making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of copyrighted material as provided for in the US Copyright Law.
