May 16, 2002
Home Depot Board Members, Leadership and all Stakeholders:
Home Depot’s annual shareholder meeting is this week. We are all shareholders in planet Earth, and we all have a stake in getting Home Depot to stop destroying the rainforest.
Home Depot sells Sandeply plywood, whose label claims it “comes from sustainably managed forests and plantations.” But the manufacturer Endesa-Botrosa logs old-growth Ecuadorian rainforest to make the plywood’s top layer veneer.By selling Sandeply, Home Depot’s sourcing practice drives deforestation of one of the world’s most biodiverse rainforests, generating carbon emissions, decimating endangered wildlife habitat, and destroying the Indigenous Chachi community’s forest home.
Friends of the Chocó founder Brian Rodgers brought this to the attention of Home Depot’s CEO Craig Menear and VP of Sustainability Ron Jarvis four years ago. Since then, apparently nothing has changed. The deforestation is still underway, and you’ll still find Sandeply on Home Depot’s shelves, with the same false labeling.
“Doing the right thing” is one of Home Depot’s stated values. This week’s shareholder meeting is a chance to live up to it.
Whether or not you own shares in the company, we all have a stake in planet Earth. Watch our investigative documentary, and demand Home Depot commit to ending deforestation in the Chocó.
Sincerely,
Brian Rodgers
Friends of the Chocó, LLC