At SWF:

• Saturday, October 31st, 9:30 - 10:45AM, The Greening of Civilisation: Emerging Models of Environmental Sustainability

Biography:

Randy Hayes is the founder and executive director of the Rainforest Action Network (RAN). A former film-maker, he has successfully turned the rainforest issue into celebrated cause in developed nations.

RAN, founded in 1985, spear-headed many US-based campaigns against corporations and governmental bodies accused of denuding primary forests. RAN - with Hayes as the beating heart within - shot to prominence with its civil disobedience campaign against the World Bank and its lending policies in the 1980s. This was followed by a successful campaign against corporations accused of exploiting rainforests.

These days Hayes and RAN are pursuing grassroots-based tactics to educate and motivate people within the community to take pro-active action against environmentally unsustainable forestry activities. Furthermore Hayes has successfully enlisted the promotional support of celebrities such as Grateful Dead and Steven Seagal. Through RAN, Hayes has also developed a 500-Year Plan that outlines how the world can protect the remaining primary forests.

Links:

Rainforest Action Network
Randy Hayes Interview and Biography