Rainforest Action Network (RAN), founded in 1985, is an activist group that works to protect rain forests and their inhabitants worldwide. Its strategy includes imposing public pressure on those corporations, agencies, nations, and politicians whom the group believes are responsible for the destruction of the world's rain forests by organizing letterwriting campaigns and consumer boycotts. In addition to mobilizing consumer and environmental groups in the United States, RAN organizes and supports conservationists committed to rain forest protection around the world.

RAN's first direct action campaign was the boycott of Burger King. The fast-food restaurant chain was importing much of its beef from Central and South America, where large areas of forests have been turned into pastureland for cattle. RAN contends that "after sales dropped 12% during the boycott in 1987, Burger King canceled $35 million worth of beef contracts in Central America and announced that it had stopped...