Editing Rainforest Action Network (section)

==History==
Rainforest Action Network was founded in San Francisco, California in 1985 by [[Mike Roselle]] and Randy "Hurricane" Hayes.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Nosowitz|first=Dan|date=2019-09-16|title=How the Save the Rainforest movement gave rise to modern environmentalism|url=https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/9/16/20863152/save-the-rainforest-environmentalism-conservation|access-date=2020-11-13|website=Vox|language=en|archive-date=2020-11-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101083709/https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/9/16/20863152/save-the-rainforest-environmentalism-conservation|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Early on, RAN worked with Herbert Chao Gunther, the founder of the Public Media Center in San Francisco, a marketing firm exclusively on social justice and environmental issues.<ref name=":1" /> This partnership with Gunther included new branding and campaigns against large multinational corporations in the 1990s, using grassroots activism and savvy media work.<ref name=":0" /> They gained national prominence with a grassroots organizing campaign that in 1987 succeeded in convincing [[Burger King]] to cancel $31 million worth of destructive Central American rainforest beef contracts.<ref name=":0" />

In 1989, RAN called for a [[boycott]] of products and services from [[Mitsubishi]] and companies owned by Mitsubishi—including [[Kirin Company|Kirin]] beer and [[Nikon]] cameras—because at the time, Mitsubishi was involved in [[rainforest destruction]] through its forestry activities; in 1996, Mitsubishi Motors America and Mitsubishi Electric America facilitated negotiations between RAN activists and Mitsubishi executives which resulted in an end to this boycott in 1998.<ref>{{cite book|last=Manheim|first=Jarol|title=Death of A Thousand Cuts: Corporate Campaigns and the Attack on the Corporation|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2000|isbn=978-1-135-64857-2|pages=93–98|chapter=Chapter 5}}</ref>

Along with [[Global Exchange]] and the [[Ruckus Society]], RAN played a central role in organizing the [[1999 Seattle WTO protests|1999 mass actions against the WTO]] (World Trade Organization) summit in Seattle. Although the organization once had RAGS (Rainforest Action Groups) around the country, today its operations are centralized in San Francisco.

RAN's executive director, [[Rebecca Tarbotton]], drowned on December 26, 2012, at age 39, while swimming in the Pacific Ocean.<ref name="Becky">{{cite news|last=Yardley|first=William|date=2 January 2013|title=Rebecca Tarbotton, Environmental Activist, Dies at 39|newspaper=New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/us/rebecca-tarbotton-environmental-activist-dies-at-39.html|access-date=10 November 2013|archive-date=3 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130103045153/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/us/rebecca-tarbotton-environmental-activist-dies-at-39.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Lindsey Allen was subsequently named executive director on August 21, 2013.<ref>{{cite news|date=21 August 2013|title=Rainforest Action Network Names Top Campaigner as New Executive Director|newspaper=Rainforest Action Network press release|url=http://ran.org/rainforest-action-network-names-top-campaigner-new-executive-director|access-date=10 November 2013|archive-date=8 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908055203/http://www.ran.org/rainforest-action-network-names-top-campaigner-new-executive-director|url-status=dead}}</ref> Allen departed RAN in 2019 and on February 10, 2020, the board elected Ginger Cassady as the new Executive Director.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWwI2a_ZOTM|access-date=10 February 2020|title=Announcing our new Executive Director|website=[[YouTube]]|archive-date=14 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200214012341/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWwI2a_ZOTM|url-status=live}}</ref>