Farmers Unite with RAN To Fight Cargill And Challenge Corporate Control Of Our Food System

Last week, over 40 Minnesota residents made a citizens’ arrest of Cargill, Inc. in front of the company’s downtown Minneapolis office at the Grain Exchange. I walked away from the event struck with inspiration and hope. Why? In addition to being amazed that so many enthusiastic people braved below-freezing weather to hold Cargill accountable for [...]

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Benefit Corporations Show California What Good Business Looks Like

RAN applauds those businesses that have formalized their commitment to social and environmental sustainability by becoming California’s first benefit corporations. With the enactment of California Assembly Bill AB 361 on January 1st, California became the seventh state to legalize this new corporate framework enabling businesses to take social and environmental impacts into consideration in their [...]

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Top Five Ways to Change the World in 2012

2011 saw more people power than I could have dared to hope. Last New Year’s Eve, who could have predicted that the protests in Tunisia, just then making the news, would lead to the ousting of its president of 23 years not two weeks later; that this would inspire citizens throughout the Arab World to [...]

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Santa Delivers Coal to CEO at Bank of America Headquarters

On Monday, Bank of America CEO Bryan Moynihan and Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers were both delivered much-deserved lumps of coal by North Carolina activists with Rainforest Action Network and Greenpeace during the 2011 Economic Outlook Conference, presented by the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce. While one-percenters gathered for their $175-per-plate luncheon, more than 30 festively [...]

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Dismantling Corporate Power: A Call to Action on the Anniversary of Citizens United

The anniversary of the Citizens United ruling this January 21 promises to be monumental. For all of us working day and night on behalf of people and the environment, January 21, 2012 marks two years to the day since the advent of one of the most egregious ‘rules of the game’ weighting our economy and [...]

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From The Field: Borneo’s Tanjung Puting National Park And The High Stakes Of The Palm Oil Crisis

Since joining RAN’s forest program over two years ago, I have read and written about the many dire consequences of industrial scale palm oil plantations in Indonesia: one of the highest deforestation rates in the world, critical habitat for endangered species like orangutans destroyed, gross human rights abuses and labor conditions, and social conflict between [...]

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Massey’s Parent Company Accepts Financial Responsibility For Upper Big Branch Disaster

No amount of money will bring back the 29 men who died because of Massey Energy’s gross disregard for safety, but hopefully this will help their families start to feel a sense of justice. According to the Charleston Gazette: “Alpha Natural Resources will spend $200 million on fines, victim restitution and mine safety improvements to [...]

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Occupy Movement Starts Showing Up on Bank of America Doorsteps

As the authorities attempt to evict Occupy protestors from public spaces, they are  showing up at Bank of America doorsteps across the country. Yesterday, in Charlotte, environmental activists showed up and were arrested at BoA’s Corporate HQ to demand the bank end their financing of coal – the primary driver of climate change. Today, in [...]

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ADM vs. Responsible Palm Oil & Human Rights

Unlike 2008′s showdown, nobody from RAN attended this year’s Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) shareholder meeting to hold CEO Patricia Woertz’ ass to the fire. Nonetheless, ADM did not get away without responding to tough questions about the company’s irresponsible palm oil supply chain. ADM, one of the world’s largest agricultural processors with operations in more [...]

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Occupy Oakland: RAN Deplores Violence — But Come On Media, Get It Right

Most of RAN’s staff joined the call from Occupy Oakland for the general strike yesterday. We had an energizing and inspiring time marching in the streets in solidarity with the emerging Occupy movement. We were there, we took part, and we are against any violence. But the issue galling many of us today is how [...]

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