According to a recent report from The Elkhart Truth, a billboard at the south edge of Goshen highlights the deforestation and habitat loss in southeast Asia driven in part, it claims, by recreational vehicle manufacturing.
The sign at the corner of U.S. 33 and C.R. 138 is one of six placed throughout Elkhart and St. Joseph counties this month by the environmentalist group Mighty Earth. The D.C.-based group wants to highlight the use of wood culled from Indonesia in the making of RVs and to pressure RV companies to adopt sustainable wood sourcing policies.
Lauan or meranti plywood is frequently used in RV interiors because it is lightweight and can be cut thinly. Mighty Earth says it worked with partners to trace lauan plywood from West Kalimantan in Indonesian Borneo to the American RV sector.
“We’ve put these billboards up in the RV capital of the United States to spotlight an uncomfortable truth: an industry that promotes the love of nature is driving its destruction overseas,” Mike Oles, Indiana director with Mighty Earth, said in announcing the billboard campaign.
The results of Mighty Earth’s investigation were detailed in an Aug. 19 New York Times article, “The Rainforests Being Cleared to Build Your R.V.” It reports that the demand for lauan has accelerated deforestation in Borneo, with tens of thousands of acres of forests being lost in the last five years.
Click here to read the full report from The Elkhart Truth. Please note there is a paywall.
