RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK

For immediate release - April 16, 1999

HOME DEPOT TO BRAINWASH CHILDREN
IN CLASSIC EARTHDAY "GREENWASH"

TREE-PLANTING SCHEME IS DESIGNED
TO DIVERT FOCUS FROM OLD GROWTH WOOD SALES

"Home Depot is at it again. Rather than moving forward and phasing out sales of old growth wood products, the company has
devised yet another PR trick to draw the public's attention away from the issue. What's particularly insidious about this latest
ploy is that it is aimed at our children - and on Earth Day of all days! Planting trees is a nice thing to do, but an urban seedling is
no substitute for a 2,000-year-old primordial forest."

- Michael Brune, Old Growth Campaign Director


Environmentalists reacted with indignation at news of Home Depot's plans to sponsor Earth Day tree-planting workshops for
children, which the company is touting as a form of environmental education. "The kids would learn a lot more about the need
for forest conservation by taking a tour of the dead rainforests for sale on Home Depot's shelves than by planting a seedling in
the parking lot," said Michael Brune, RAN's Old Growth Campaign Director. "The children would see the final resting-places
of ancient trees - now lumber, paneling and plywood - from the Amazon, British Columbia and Southeast Asia," he added. The
retail behemoth, with nearly 800 stores worldwide, is the planet's largest retailer of old growth forest products.

Last month activists staged protests at Home Depot stores in over 150 communities across the U.S. and Canada asking the
mega-chain to stop selling old growth wood. Home Depot's West Coast Division president Mr. Lynn Martineau commented in
a company press release announcing the Earth Day Kids Workshops: "I'd like to see the environmental groups join us to teach
children the importance of conserving our natural resources."

"We're not about to join Home Depot's disinformation campaign," said RAN's Brune. "The company is brainwashing our
children, and they seem proud of it. Home Depot still sells products made from the planet's last remaining old growth forests,
and that's simply barbaric when a scant 20 percent of these ancient forests still survive"

The company release also alluded to recently announced plans to offer environmentally certified wood, a half-measure of which
environmentalists are dubious. "Home Depot would rather skirt an issue than deal with it head-on," said Brune. ""It's cynical for
Home Depot to peddle small amounts of eco-friendly wood while it freely continues selling wood products ripped from the
oldest, most endangered forests on the planet. It's time for Home Depot to catch up with industry leaders and phase out of old
growth sales immediately."

In December 1998, 27 U.S. corporations - including IBM, Dell, Kinko's, Nike, 3M, Levi-Strauss, Mitsubishi Motors
America, Mitsubishi Electric America, and others - announced their commitment to stop selling or using old growth wood.
Europe's largest home improvement center, B&Q, has nearly completed removing old growth wood from its shelves.