11th HOUR FOREST ACTIVIST TZEPORAH BERMAN FINALIST FOR SCHWAB SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR

Report on Social Entrepreneurs: TZEPORAH BERMAN: CO-FOUNDER OF FORESTETHICS
If a tree falls in the forest, she knows
CATHRYN ATKINSON

December 4, 2007

VANCOUVER -- November finds Tzeporah Berman spending a few quiet weeks with
her family at their home on Cortes Island, near the haunting Desolation
Sound on British Columbia's Sunshine Coast. She is pleased about the
haphazard cellphone reception and reflects on a busy, successful year for
ForestEthics, the non-profit forest protection group she co-founded in 2000.

SOURCE:  The Globe and Mail

First, there was her appearance in the lauded Leonardo DiCaprio-narrated
environment documentary The 11th Hour, which opened in August. In it, she
describes the perilous state of the world's forest system, 80 per cent of
which has already disappeared.

Then there was October's announcement by B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell about
the province's plan to protect 2.2 million hectares of old-growth forests to
help the dwindling numbers of mountain caribou rally from an all-time
population low of about 1,900 animals. Saving this globally unique inland
temperate rainforest had been a ForestEthics cornerstone project for the
past five years.

ForestEthics sprang from the Clayoquot Sound anti-logging protests on
Vancouver Island in the 1990s, which she took part in. With staff in Canada,
the United States and Chile, the organization aims to protect endangered
forests by determining which are endangered and approaching companies that
buy the products made from logged trees in those forests. ForestEthics asks
the companies to stop purchasing those products; if the firms refuse, they
are met with protests on websites and in advertisements.

 "The caribou story is a perfect example of what we do," said the
38-year-old mother of two boys. "The victory in protecting caribou habitat
in British Columbia is, in part, a direct result of the growing green
marketplace. There is a willingness on behalf of major [companies] to engage
in these issues."

She refers to Lowe's Companies Inc., the U.S. home improvement retailer, as
an example of businesses stepping up to the ecological plate. "Lowe's buys
close to a billion dollars worth of forestry products from British Columbia
every year," she said, adding that it changed its policy of buying lumber
from unsustainable northern forests in 2005.

"That is a perfect example of what we've created at ForestEthics: an
environmental watchdog that does the science and research necessary to
identify which forests need to be protected, and that is connected to a
sophisticated financial and marketplace strategy."