Empowerment

Armchair activists-Results

In the UK, working in partnership with our sister org in England & Wales, here's our effect in 2017 HERE

Tens of thousands of us worked together to tell the high street bank Santander to stop funding a paper company called APRIL.  It was turning Indonesia’s rainforest into throwaway paper, bankrolled by the bank - even though these beautiful forests are home to animals like the critically endangered Sumatran tiger.

160,000 of us signed the petition including about 30,000 Santander customers. 14,000 of us emailed the CEO direct and demanded his action.

Hundreds of us visited Santander branches all over the country to complain to the manager. Sometimes, we even left leaflets disguised as Santander’s own promotional material, blowing the whistle on the rainforest scandal.

Santander quickly decided to cancel the financing. They wouldn’t loan the paper giant APRIL any more money until it stopped destroying the rainforest.  This was just one part in a global campaign. All over the world, Greenpeace activists and campaigners challenged APRIL’s customers to take their business elsewhere.  The pressure kept piling up until APRIL couldn’t take it anymore. Last week we got the good news. APRIL - one of the biggest paper companies in the world - had ended their deforestation. From now on, they promise to protect Indonesia’s forests.

This couldn’t have happened without us and thousands of other Greenpeace activists standing up for what we believe in. Together we’re protecting the forests where endangered Sumatran tigers, orangutans and sun bears roam.  People have Power.

The term ‘armchair activists’ tends to be used in a dismissive way, implying that people who campaign through social media are not doing anything that has significance for impact in the real world. This fails to acknowledge the potential for many people who, perhaps because of health, mobility issues or caring responsibilities, are unable to take part in things outside their home.

The truth is that they have as much to contribute as anyone else. Advances in technology now allow people, without leaving or venturing far from home, to do things that make a real difference – even to saving lives