The Dogwood Alliance, based out of little ol’ Asheville was featured in yesterday’s New York Times! The entire article is a very intersting read about the relationship of corporations and watchdog groups such as the Dogwood Alliance. I think that the headline is a little cynical in calling groups like Dogwood “critics.” But here’s an exerpt.

In March, the Dogwood Alliance and ForestEthics, two groups that have applauded Staples and Office Depot for curtailing sales of paper products from endangered forests, orchestrated a series of demonstrations at OfficeMax stores, protesting what it said was the chain’s refusal to follow suit.

The Dogwood Alliance works with corporations like Staples, OfficeMax, Bowater, etc. in order to help them adopt policies that protect southern forests. This includes advocacy for ending logging on the Cumberland Plateau, in endangered and extremely sensetive areas throughout the south, and asking distributors to use an increased percentage of recycled materials in their paper products.

OfficeMax has been trying to greenwash their image to the media, and we see them give the same garbage about how one of their stores recycles, etc. We still have yet to see them do something substantial, although they have agreed not to release a proposal for in regards to paper products without the approval of the Dogwood Alliance.

Congratulations to our friends at Dogwood! The cover of Rolling Stone is next! (…or maybe the next green issue of Vanity Fair?) 🙂