Algonquin Park, Ontario

The letter below was sent to the Superintendent of Algonquin Park as well as Greenpeace by challenger Leigh.

Hello there. I arrived home last night from five days in Algonquin Park. It was stunningly beautiful and so much fun. My Dad and I stayed at the Lake of Two Rivers campground. Algonquin Park makes me proud to be a Canadian. I love the fact that we have preserved this wonderful wild area so that generations of Canadians and others can enjoy and appreciate our natural heritage.

I have one large complaint, however. I was sooooo diappointed to see that Kimberly Clark products are used in the bathrooms!!!! Kimberly Clark makes Kleenex and provides toilet tissue for many many public bathrooms but what a lot of the public is not aware of is that they use 100% virgin growth forest in their tissue paper. They are currently clearcutting Canada's own Boreal Forest while there are many many alternatives to this, and loads of tissue companies haved jumped on board using recyclable materials or sustainable logging to name just a few of these alternatives.

It was a real blow to see the use of products from a company who is one of the most harmful predators of our own Canadian wilderness, in Canada's most famous and wild provincial park. It is reasonable to assume that the person/s in charge of doing business with Kimberly Clark was/were previously unaware of their atrocities and I do hope that you will take the time to research this further, and make the only sane choice considering what your park represents.

Thank you so much for your time and all the work you do. Please feel free to contact me or Greenpeace if you have any questions or concerns, and be sure to check out the following website.

http://kleercut.net/en/node/26

Our Challenge for July

With summer here and all of us itching to travel, we must not throw all that we've learned away, but rather put our environmentally friendly knowledge to good use. Lets face it, it's easy to forget the small but important things when we travel, but we must not let our greed and materialistic ways impede on our ability to reduce our footprints while we're away.

Listed below are some tips to think about while travelling this summer.

1. When you start thinking about where you want to go this summer, consider taking the train if it's possible. In North America it can be very pricey, but if you already know that you're going to Europe, don't fly from country to country. Take to train and enjoy the view.

2. If you're not one to pitch a tent while travelling, here are some things to think about while you're staying in hotels.
- Turn down the A/C when you're in the room and turn it off when you're gone
- Reuse your towels
- Unplug TVs and appliances when you go out
- Turn off lights when you leave a room
- Take showers instead of baths

3. If you're going to renting a car during your travels, look around an choose a car company that rents eco-friendly and low-emission vehicles like Toyotas, Renault and Skoda. If you're daring enough, rent a scooter instead of a car to really reduce your footprint. Also look for taxi companies that use hybrids... go ahead and request it!

4. When eating out, think authentic. Try to eat foods that are local. Why would you go travel to Greece and order lobster from Atlantic Canada??

5. When we travel, we always want to buy souvenirs. Look to see where the souvenirs are made before you impulsively buy them. Giving someone a gift that was made locally will be much more adored than one that was made in China (well unless you go to China this summer). Also consider fair-trade when you visit certain countries.

Bon Voyage!