The Truth Behind the Cover is a five-part series on the destructive legacy of the Victoria's Secret catalog: Forest Destruction, Global Warming, Disappearing Caribou, Wolf Killings, and Toxic Releases.

Forest Destruction

Victoria's Secret is destroying ancient forests. Why? So they can send out more junk mail.

Victoria’s Secret’s catalogs are made mostly of virgin fiber, not recycled content, and Canada’s Boreal Forest is being destroyed in the process. This vast wilderness stretches all the way from Alaska to the Atlantic Ocean. It has more freshwater than anywhere else on earth, and plays a vital role in cleaning our air and in fighting global warming. It’s also home to rare species of wolves, bears, and woodland caribou, as well as half of America’s songbirds. It is one of the three largest intact forests in the world, but it is in danger.

• More than 45% of the Boreal Forest has been allocated to logging companies.
• Close to 650,000 hectares (about 1.6 million acres) of Boreal Forest are logged each year in Canada, and the predominant method of cutting this forest is via clearcutting.
• 90% of logging in Canada occurs within primary and old growth forests—forests of high biodiversity and wilderness value.

Victoria’s Secret could be an industry leader by choosing not to print their catalogs on paper from Endangered Forests. With their contract with International Paper coming up for renewal in June, they have another chance to stop turning Endangered Forests into junk mail.

Global Warming

When its trees are standing they protect. When they're cut, they contribute.

Trees, in addition to all their other wonderful qualities, act as a filter. Their soil traps global warming pollution. So what happens when you cut the trees down?

Well, imagine taking a chainsaw to the bag on your vacuum cleaner.

When the Boreal Forest is destroyed, it’s not just that we lose our global warming pollution filter—we also release all that pollution from the filter back into the atmosphere.

Consider these facts about the vital role the Boreal plays in protecting us against global warming:

• A 50% reduction in logging of North America’s Boreal would be equivalent to taking all the passenger cars in Canada off the road.*
• Logging in the Boreal releases half the amount of global warming pollution as all the vehicles in California. (If California were a country, it would be the 10th largest contributor to global warming.)*
• Second to the ocean, the global boreal ecosystem is the largest storehouse of carbon, making the Boreal Forest region one of the earth’s most important defenses against global warming.

The Boreal’s role in protecting against global warming is only part of its immense value to our planet. It cleans our air, cleans our water, and is home to a vast number of species. So isn’t it more valuable to us standing than as junk mail, toilet paper, and catalogs?

Disappearing Caribou

Endangered woodland caribou live in the forests Victoria's Secret cuts down. As the trees disappear, the caribou go with them.

The paper Victoria’s Secret uses for their catalogs comes from some of the largest undisturbed areas in the Rocky Mountain Foothills of Alberta. The caribou need these extensive areas to live, but clearcuts are destroying their habitat and putting the survival of the caribou at risk.

• Woodland caribou’s numbers have dropped almost 90% since the 1960s.
• There are fewer than 3,000 caribou left in Alberta. If development in the province continues as planned, there will be no caribou left in Alberta in less than 40 years.
• Woodland Caribou populations in West Fraser’s Forest Management Area have declined 20% over the past 20 years and West Fraser’s plans for continued logging threaten their very existence.

Caribou used to live across Canada and the Northeastern United States. Now they live in a few isolated areas. Victoria’s Secret can get their paper products somewhere else, but the caribou can’t pack up and move once their habitat is destroyed. Let Victoria’s Secret know this is a travesty; it’s irresponsible and unnecessary.

Wolf Killings

Wolves are being killed to protect caribou. But the real predators are the companies that are destroying caribou habitat.

The caribou in Alberta are dying off. In a last-ditch effort to save them, Alberta Fish and Wildlife has begun shooting wolves. So far just under 100 of the 160 wolves that live in the Little Smoky region have been shot and killed.

This short-sighted solution could backfire though. In packs, wolves are able to hunt large animals such as moose, but as the wolves are killed their packs break up. Lone wolves can’t bring down large prey on their own, so more pressure is put on smaller prey—like caribou.

Alberta is offering a temporary fix without addressing the major problem. What’s really threatening the caribou is habitat destruction. Even as Alberta acknowledges that the caribou need help, the province continues to sell critical caribou habitat for logging and other industrial uses. If the logging in the Endangered Forests of Alberta continues, there will be nowhere for the caribou—or the moose, or the wolves—to live, and soon enough they’ll all be gone.

The information for this article came from the Alberta Wilderness Association.

Toxic Releases

Cutting down trees contributes to pollution. So does dumping toxic chemicals into the water and air. And the paper industry does both.

The devastation caused by the pulp and paper industry starts with forest destruction, but it doesn’t end with trees. It is the third largest industrial polluter in North America, and the pulp manufacturing process is the worst part of the industry.

For example, paper production releases dioxins into the air and water. Dioxins form during the bleaching process when chlorine combines with organic material. They accumulate in the environment and when they enter the food chain they can cause cancer, diabetes, and learning disorders, and disrupt the reproductive, hormonal, and immune systems.

Other chemicals released by pulp mills into the environment are methanol, Ammonia, Hydrochloric Acid, Manganese Compounds, and Sulfuric Acid. In the air these cause respiratory problems, and in water some of these chemicals can cause unusual plant growth. Even with precautions in place, these harmful chemicals leak out into the environment and affect plants, animals, and the communities around them.

Victoria’s Secret can help alleviate the problems that mills make by using more recycled content in their catalogs, and by buying paper from mills that are more ecologically sound. Right now, by sending out 395 million catalogs a year with very low recycled content, they are big contributors to the problem. But they do not have to be such a large part of this destructive and irresponsible process. They can sign a new paper contract with responsible mills and help protect the Boreal Forest rather than pollute it.

The information for this article came from the EPA report Profile of the Pulp and Paper Industry, 2nd Edition.