Leadership
Todd Paglia
Executive Director
Todd J. Paglia, J.D., L.L.M. (Executive Director): When Todd Paglia joined ForestEthics in 1999, he saw that major corporations in the office supply industry and the catalog industry were purchasing and selling millions of tons of paper—with no accountability for the environmental devastation that was feeding their demand. Now, as executive director of ForestEthics, Mr. Paglia can be credited with transforming the paper policies of multi-billion-dollar Fortune 500 companies, including Staples, Office Depot, Williams-Sonoma, Dell, Victoria’s Secret, and many more.
Tzeporah Berman
Strategy Director
Tzeporah was one of the founders of the Coastal Rainforest Coalition, serving first as our BC Program Director. In that capacity she was one of three primary negotiators for the Great Bear Rainforest Agreement that protected over 3 million acres of ancient rainforest. Prior to joining ForestEthics, Tzeporah worked for seven years with Greenpeace International and Greenpeace Canada. Tzeporah was also one of the primary organizers of the campaign to protect Clayoquot Sound with the Friends of Clayoquot Sound in the early nineties. Tzeporah received her BA from the University of Toronto and her Masters in Environmental Studies from York University.
Organization’s Objective
Global warming. Clean air. Clean water. Species extinction. We have reached a point in our history where we can no longer ignore such vital issues. As seemingly disparate as these environmental challenges seem, they all have one thing in common: the critical role of forest protection. Our forests absorb global warming pollution, filter the air we breathe and the water we drink, and provide habitat for endangered wildlife.
In 2005, the United Nations released the Millennium Ecosystem Report -- the first time that we as a society have analyzed industrial and other human impacts on the planet. The conclusion of the board, which drew from the contribution of 1600 people, stated that "human activity is putting such a strain on the natural functions of the earth that the ability of the planet's ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted."
Globally, logging (both deforestation and forest management) is responsible for approximately 25% of total anthropogenic carbon emissions -- which is to say that it is one-quarter of the climate change problem.
At long last, there is a growing public awareness that dealing with such environmental issues is an urgent, immediate concern, not some far-off problem.
The question is, how can we focus public awareness in a way that fuels real environmental change? To answer this, we looked at one of the primary strongholds of power in the world today: corporations. No matter what your opinion of them, it's obvious that corporations have a great deal of impact on our lives. Historically, that power has been used to the great detriment of our environment.
But what if corporate power could be used for good? What if that vast source of wealth and influence could be transmuted into a force that protects, rather than destroys, our forests?
Such alchemy forms the core of our work. Put simply, we do not have the luxury of ignoring or directly opposing corporate power. We must transform it.
It's clear that nothing less than a new kind of environmentalism is needed: solutions that unite economic interests and environmental concerns.
