Tell Wholly Guacamole: Stop Deforestation!

As Climate Rights International has revealed, the forests of Michoacán are being invaded, burned by arsonists and illegally logged to serve our insatiable appetite for guacamole. Not even the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve is safe! Deforestation is expected to double by 2050 if Michuacán’s avocado plantations continue to expand.

U.S. companies like the top-selling guacamole brand Wholly Guacamole are profiting from the “green gold” rush while turning a blind eye to the devastation caused by the avocado boom.

They can stop the deforestation by refusing to buy avocados grown on recently cleared land.

TAKE ACTION: Tell Wholly Guacamole To Stop Deforestation!

If your avocado isn’t organic and fair trade (or from California)…

It came from land that was recently, probably illegally, deforested, land that was stolen or cleared in an act of arson, or land that was stripped of its oak-pine forests or oyamel fir trees (the winter roosts of monarch butterflies).

It was irrigated with water siphoned without a permit away from the local community that now can’t grow their own food or bathe and have to buy water, even to drink, or abandon their land altogether.

It traveled a supply chain that involved cartels that extorted “protection money” from the avocado farm or the packer, or hijacked the truck that was taking it to market, or murdered the indigenous forest guardians who spoke out about the stolen land, the burned forest and the siphoned water.

This is why we should only eat California-grown organic avocados and Mexican-grown organic and fair trade avocados.

Fair trade distributor Equal Exchange is doing what U.S. and Mexican regulators and every avocado business should be doing. They’re refusing to sell avocados from recently deforested land. They have an anti-deforestation policy that excludes farms that have been in operation for less than five years.

Besides choosing what we eat more consciously, what else can we do?

Tell the rest of the avocado industry to follow Equal Exchange’s lead and stop buying avocados grown on deforested land.

TAKE ACTION: Tell Wholly Guacamole to stop deforestation!

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Truth About Avocados

*SAMPLE TEXT TO WHOLLY GUACAMOLE*

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Dear Wholly Guacamole,

I’m concerned about the impact of Mexican avocados after reading the New York Times’ report on Climate Rights International’s “Unholy Guacamole” investigation (“Americans Love Avocados. It’s Killing Mexico’s Forests.”).

As U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar said recently, the United States should place import restrictions on Mexican avocados to prevent companies from profiting from illegal deforestation.

Shamefully, the U.S. hasn’t taken action.

One option is for consumers to boycott, refusing to buy anything but organic and fair trade avocados certified by Equal Exchange, which doesn’t sell avocados grown on newly deforested land.

Even better, Wholly Guacamole could take action, making the same pledge as Equal Exchange.

MegaMex’s Wholly Guacamole, a joint venture of Hormel and Herdez Del Fuerte, financed by Grupo KUO, is the biggest guacamole company in the world.

I appreciate MegaMex’s commitment not to source from the forests bordering the butterfly reserve, but you could go further.

You could eliminate deforestation and water theft from your supply chain altogether.

Please do this. If for no other reason than to assure the sustainability of your own business. There just isn’t enough water in Michoacán to increase the avocado acreage.

As the Associated Press recently reported (“Angry farmers in a once-lush Mexican state target avocado orchards that suck up too much water”), the avocado plantations are already illegally taking more than their fair share. Michoacán’s lakes, including Patzcuaro and Cuitzeo are drying up.

Only avocado companies like Wholly Guacamole can stop this tragedy.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.

[Your Name]

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