Take a leaf from Gunns
IT’S not easy being seen to be green when you’re an old growth and native forest logger. Just ask Gunns, the Tasmanian pulp mill proponent that is going to great expense to improve its image. First there was the change of logo (revealed by Strewth months ago) and website redesign. Now the company is distributing The Little Green Book: Facts about Gunns and the Environment. This 20-page booklet sets out how Gunns “looks after our forests and the environment”. Tasmanians have noticed copies floating around in some cafes. Yesterday, readers of The Sydney Morning Herald received one with their newspaper. While Gunns undoubtedly deserves a wrap for some of its activities, such as conserving grasslands and funding a program to help the Tassie devil, the booklet is oddly devoid of the words “logging”, “woodchips”, “old growth” or “pulp mill”. Nor is there any mention of Gunns’ damages claims against environmentalists. Gunns says the Little Green Book’s timing, as the company tries to reassure financiers and a joint venture partner for its proposed $2 billion Tamar Valley pulp mill, is purely coincidental.
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Natasha Robinson, The Australian
