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Citing the significant environmental degradation caused by salmon farming, Target announced today that it will discontinue sales of all farmed salmon products in its stores. Salmon is second only to shrimp in seafood purchases in the United States and the announcement is a first by a major seafood retailer.

Thousands of people in dozens of countries marched today to call for whale protection as the International Whaling Commission (IWC) starts its annual meeting, part of Greenpeace’s "Big Blue March" taking place in over 50 cities. In Anchorage, venue for the IWC meeting, the parade was led by whale campaigners, "Heroes" star Hayden Panettiere, Stephen Colletti, host of MTV’s "Total Request Live," Esai Morales of "NYPD Blue" and the Save the Whales Again campaign, Australian surfer Dave Rastovich and artist Howie Cooke. The march ended with a human aerial art event in downtown Anchorage, the culmination of a series of art events which began in Mexico last week.

California state policymakers and legislators traveled with Greenpeace to the proposed site of ChevronTexaco's liquid natural gas (LNG) facilities on the Coronado Islands. Located off the Baja California Coast of Mexico, the islands are an important habitat for wildlife and home to one of the most diverse seabird colonies, gray whales and harbor seals. All face devastation from the construction of a LNG terminal.

Today, eleven Greenpeace activists appeared in court to enter a plea and be sentenced for the protest at Mount Rushmore last July. The activists pleaded guilty to the charge of Climbing Mount Rushmore, and received a fine of $460 each. They will perform 50-100 hours of community service in the National Park system depending on their individual sentence, and the judge requested that some or all of that service be performed at Mount Rushmore. A single activist, Matt Leonard, who has a history of peaceful civil disobedience, was sentenced to 2 days of jail time, which he will begin serving at 3 o’clock in the afternoon today.

The same day the 9/11 Commission report was released, July 22, the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, Chaired by Rep. Chris Cox (R- CA), abandoned homeland security legislation blaming 'scheduling' and 'jurisdictional disputes.'

A diverse coalition of Alaska Native, tourism industry, and environmental organizations took action today to protect some of the last pristine old-growth areas in the Tongass National Forest. These areas are important to Southeast Alaskans for hunting, fishing, customary and traditional subsistence uses, tourism, and recreation. They are also important to the world for their storage of carbon, which combats global warming.

This Forest Rescue Station is highlighting a national crisis - the loss of treasures like the Alaskan rainforest" said Jeremy Paster, Greenpeace Forest Campaigner. "For the sake of future generations, we will not leave.

Three weeks after the Bush administration proposed further gutting of the popular Roadless Area Conservation Rule, Greenpeace activists and local residents stopped roadbuilding and timber operations today in an area of the Alaskan rainforest where clearcutting is taking place. Above a banner reading, “Ancient Forest Protection Starts Here,” activists suspended a specially engineered structure high over logging roads in pristine forest that is slated to be cut. Other volunteers placed themselves in the path of trucks and bulldozers, while a group of Alaskans locked themselves to roadbuilding equipment.

“This new policy represents a tragic missed opportunity for Kimberly-Clark and falls incredibly short of numerous recent procurement policies adopted by companies such Williams Sonoma, Victoria’s Secret and others”, said Lindsey Allen of Greenpeace. Unlike these other respected companies, Kimberly-Clark developed its policy in virtual isolation, refusing meaningful input from environmental groups or other stakeholders. “They just don’t seem to get it,” Allen continued, “the policy represents an outdated, closed-door approach to policy making.” Kimberly-Clark has steadfastly refused requests to meet with Greenpeace to discuss issues pertaining to sustainability. According to Greenpeace, the fiber procurement policy treats any and all forest management certification schemes as equal and acceptable despite major substantive differences. The policy also fails to establish timelines or set goals for increasing the amount of responsibly-produced fiber in its products and includes no measurable commitment to increase use of recycled fiber. Finally, supposed safeguards for protecting endangered forests and wildlife are ambiguous and unenforceable. “The intentional ambiguity and non quantifiable goals in this policy are exceedingly frustrating to see”, said Allen. “Their refusal to engage in meaningful dialogue to improve their sourcing practices leaves us little choice but to ramp up our campaign against the company.” In the past year, Greenpeace has staged protests at K-C operations across the U.S., Canada and in Europe and K-C shareholders have filed shareholder resolutions seeking improvements in the company’s forest policies. Since 2006, 719 businesses have pledged to stop buying from Kimberly-Clark until the company changes its ways. “We have removed Kimberly-Clark’s products from our ski mountains,” said Matt Hamilton of Aspen Ski Company. “We are taking these actions because Kimberly-Clark’s use of pulp from endangered forests and lack of recycled fibre in consumer tissue paper products is contrary to our guiding principles.” Colleges and universities are turning away from Kimberly-Clark as well. Harvard University recently joined Rice University, American University and Skidmore College in taking action through public statements or a phase-out of the company’s products. Kimberly-Clark is the world’s largest tissue product manufacturer. All consumer tissue products it sells in North America, including Kleenex, Scott, and Viva brands, are made from 100% virgin tree fibre, much of it from clear-cut ancient forests including the North American Boreal Forest.

After two long years of deliberations, Greenpeace warns that the issue of deforestation in the climate negotiations could be used to greenwash the UN climate deal.