media
Eugene Register Guard
6.06.09
Letters to the editor
http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/opinion/14851675-47/story.csp
Is bank giving or taking?
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I learned that Umpqua Bank (Register-Guard, April 12) — whose chairman of the board, Allyn Ford, is the most powerful timber baron in the Pacific Northwest — had opened an “eco-banking” division.
How can we take Umpqua Bank’s newfound “green” conscience seriously when the individual running the show is responsible for unsustainable clear-cutting and toxic pesticide spraying across his 800,000 acres of industrial forestlands in Oregon and California — not to mention logging some of the last 5 percent of public land native forests left in the United States, such as the Elliott State Forest?
As president of Roseburg Forest Products, Ford’s name is written all over every one of his clear-cuts — with the blame for the resulting global warming gases, topsoil erosion and depletion, and smothered salmon laid squarely on his shoulders.
Ford is also responsible for the contamination of drinking water sources and the poisoning of rural Oregon families (on their own properties!) through the aerial spray of pesticides over his clear-cuts, spray that drifts for miles through the air.
No one denies that to survive day to day, humans must take something from the natural world. But for long-term survival, we’ve got to give back as much as we take (at least). If we’re serious about balancing the survival “budget,” we have to be honest about when we’re giving and when we’re taking.
Allyn Ford and his Umpqua Bank want to keep taking while calling it giving. Should Oregonians support such hypocrisy?
Josh Schlossberg
Co-director, Eco Advocates
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Eugene Weekly
5.14.09
Letters to the editor
http://eugeneweekly.com/2009/05/14/letters.html
STUMPED BY UMPQUA
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I learned that Umpqua Bank — whose chairman of the board, Allyn Ford, is the most powerful timber baron in the Pacific Northwest — had opened an “eco-banking” division.
How can we take Umpqua Bank’s newfound “green” conscience seriously when the individual running the show is personally responsible for unsustainable toxic clearcutting across his 800,000 acres of industrial forestlands in Oregon and California — not to mention logging public land native forests, such as the Elliott State Forest and Umpqua National Forest?
As sole owner of Roseburg Forest Products, Ford’s name is written all over every one of his clearcuts — with the blame for the resulting global warming gases, topsoil erosion and depletion and smothered salmon laid squarely on his shoulders.
Ford is also responsible for the toxic contamination of drinking water sources and for the poisoning of rural Oregon families (on their own properties!) through the aerial spraying of pesticides over his clearcuts that drift for miles through the air.
To learn more about the boycott of Umpqua Bank, go to stumpquabank.com
Josh Schlossberg
Eco Advocates
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Eugene Weekly
4.2.09
Letters to the editor
http://www.eugeneweekly.com/2009/04/02/letters.html
TAKE BACK BAILOUTS
To those still upset about the $700 billion taxpayer bailout of U.S. banks: it's not too late to do something about it.
$214 million of our taxes have gone to "bail out" Umpqua Bank — whose executives admitted they didn't need the money but would take it to "increase our footprint" bringing us Umpqua's latest round of "hip" advertising.
The ads (and cute tree logo) suggest we "save paper." Ironically, Umpqua's chairman of the board is none other than Allyn Ford, owner of Roseburg Forest Products and the most powerful timber baron in Oregon. Ford's primitive style of slash-and-spray (de)forestry is to blame for horizon-to-horizon clearcuts, poisoned families, polluted drinking water, landslides, dead salmon and tons of global warming gases. Over the past decade, Ford has ignored requests to adopt responsible forestry practices to set a new model for Oregon's backward timber industry.
It's clear we need to speak to Ford in a language he understands: cold hard cash. Please encourage friends and family — and businesses you shop at or work for — to send Allyn Ford a message with your money by withdrawing all accounts from (St)Umpqua Bank. $214 million worth sounds like a nice round number to me.
Josh Schlossberg
Eco Advocates