I make no apologies for advocating paper

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Using paper is an anathema for many in the green environmental movement but there is nothing wrong with paper, nothing whatsoever. Not even with paper made from wood pulp.

There is nothing wrong with paper for books or with using it for communications whether as letter or memo. In the same way as there is nothing wrong with wood in the form of products whatsoever. Better than using plastic by a long shot. Wooden kitchen utensils are way more hygienic than are plastic ones as the woods used for making them contain high amounts of antibacterial, antiseptic and antiviral properties.

When it comes to paper we are all being lied to left, right and center by people who either do not know what they are talking about and thus know no better or who have some other vested interest. Paper is not made from (tropical) rainforest trees. They are hardwood and the hardness of the wood simply makes them unsuitable for paper pulp, period!

Most paper is produced from spruce and other conifers specifically grown for this purpose and which are replanted after each felling and thus the entire operation is sustainable. And that ad infinitum. Most of those forests are owned by the paper industry and would not exist were it not for us using paper.

In fact, reducing the use of paper or doing without it all together would mean that the industry would no longer have any use for those forests and they would, in the end, be clear cut and turned over to some other use. And the size of those forests going in the hundreds of thousands of hectares if not more and they would be lost as forests without paper being produced and used. In addition to that millions of jobs would also be put in jeopardy if the industry would cease to exist or even would have to scale down significantly.

Then, when using paper as opposed to computer and the cloud there is the added security factor that, as long as the document is in your possession, in your filing cabinet or safe, or whatever, it is secure. The same cannot be said when held on a computer and especially not when held “in the cloud”.

It is for that reason that the Russian intelligence community is returning to the use of typewriters and paper for sensitive documents and a paper-based circulation list.

It is true that paper can be made from pulp other than wood pulp, such as from hemp – it used to be made from this plant until the early part of the 20th century, as well as from rags, as long as those are from natural fibers. In fact the Chinese, who invented paper, did make that paper from just that stuff, that is to say from rags. And that was all the while the Europeans still used vellum made from animal skins.

However, today most paper is being made from wood-pulp, predominately from coniferous trees such as spruce and fir with the occasional deciduous ones in the form of poplar and birch. Most other deciduous and even coniferous woods are too hard for the creation of pulp for the making of paper.

It is true, however, that acre for acre hemp is much more productive for fiber for the making of paper as is wood but, alas, the growing of hemp (Canabis sativa) is outlawed in most places, or strictly controlled because of the hallucinogenic properties of hemp due to its contents of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). In times past, however, it was compulsory – yes, compulsory – for farmers to give over part of the farm to the growing of hemp for making of sails and other canvas products as well as and especially for the making of paper.

The New York Times in 2012 had a great article entitled “In Defense of the Power of Paper” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/jobs/pen-and-paper-still-practical-in-the-office-workstation.htmwhere even Joel Makover of the Green Business Group says that while he uses paper not that much he still prints out reports for proofreading as he finds it easier to read things on paper than on the screen and this, in fact, goes for many people.

© 2014

Don’t write handwriting off yet!

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Writing by hand is becoming fashionable again, and stationery and pens have never looked so good.

There are pens, including and especially fountain pens (again) of all kinds and notebooks in all manner of funky colors and designs. And many of those – pens and notebooks – could be seen at the London Stationery Show held from April 1 to April 2, 2014.

It was – in my opinion – good to see that fountain pens are back again (with a vengeance) and paper notebooks in all manner of forms and those notebooks that are made by Castelli in Italy (and yes, Made in Italy) or Leuchtturm1917 (Made in Germany) are FSC certified and as far as Castelli is concerned all the workers are unionized and thus conditions for the workers thus are good. The same cannot be said in places where many other notebooks and such like are produced, such as in a number of countries of the Far East.

Pen and paper are far from dead. In fact both are having a revival and a ball and there is nothing whatsoever wrong with paper and using it. It does not cause the destruction of the rainforest. It is a myth that must be put to bed or better still buried. Palm oil, on the other hand, does cause serious destruction to the rainforest as do certain farming practices in Brazil and other countries near the equator.

Quality paper notebooks and high quality writing instruments, including and especially fountain pens, are in demand by the new generation of hipsters. What to the Sloane Ranger generation was the Lefax and the Filofax to the new hipster generation is the Moleskine (and similar) notebooks and the fountain pen.

Despite the fact that we are in the so-called digital age pen and paper more than have their place here and with the revelations that our online communications and things that we store there – and even on our computers – are not safe from prying eyes, the letter, the notebook, the pen and the typewriter even, have their place and are even been given a pride of importance – paper and typewriter that is especially – in the Russian intelligence and security community. And if they are concerned with their high grade of encryption I think we all should be. So, let's get back to paper and the pen or typewriter.

The London Stationery Show also had a great number of other green and greenish inventions on show such as notepads made from stone paper. The latter is made from limestone waste from the quarrying industry and thus kept out of landfills.

Just before the beginning of the London Stationery Show the National Stationery Week’s, Get Britain Writing and Get Kids Writing campaigns took off and a long list of retailers and the Post Office are standing behind this.

While one could say that to some extent all of them have a vested interest, the retailers wanting to see sales go up and the Post Office the use of the letter service again, to get back to writing properly is a very good idea indeed. We must also combine that with teaching children not just good handwriting – I can't writer properly myself by hand though – and the proper use of grammar. They are writing a letter not sending a text message on their cell phones. And when it comes to letters; there is still something almost magical about a letter (no, not a bill or some advertising) dropping through the letterbox.

I know that I am extremely old-fashioned as to the use of pen and paper and am always accused of being biased towards paper being a commercial forester by original trade. And I am also very biased towards the old-fashioned fountain pen.

Having mentioned the latter I must mention the fact that Meisenbach pens from Germany have a new rather innovative product on the market which combines the fountain pen (ink cartridge) with the ballpoint pen in one. With this one, when you run out of ink you simply replace the cheap common garden ink cartridge for a few pence and the empty one can go for recycling being made of PE.

Writing and being able to write (properly) matters, if anything more than ever in a digital age. And of course you can never have too much stationery, including notebooks and pens.

© 2014

The comeback of the paper notebook

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Basically declared dead well ahead of time at the advent of mobile devices, the cloud and all that the paper notebook is far from dead and dying. In fact, it is making a definite comeback, as are good quality pens and their use.

The German company Leuchtturm 1917, who has been making good quality notebooks well before Moleskine was ever thought of, reported a 40% increase in notebook sales across the board in 2013 compared to the previous year. And more and more notebooks of the style, upon which Moleskine is based, are being produced by and for other stationery companies.

Seeing that we are, supposedly, in the digital age makes the return of analog ways an interesting phenomenon, not only are paper notebooks, especially good quality ones, all of a sudden cool – a little like the Filofax was in the Sloane Ranger era – but demand for typewriters, and here even and especially manual ones, and here also working vintage ones, also is on the up.

Paper and especially paper notebooks, and analog in general, is far from being dead or at the brink of extinction in the digital age and this is also good so, in my opinion.

The United States has reported that in a number of areas enquiries as to learning the use of a typewriter to such an extent that typewriting schools are opening up (again) even. And most of those enquiries appear to be coming from young people under 28 years of age.

Paper, handwritten, or types, or printed, will be with us for much longer as records and books go than anything stored on hard drives or in “the cloud”.

The British Archives at Kew have been working on the archiving or websites and other material from and on the Internet but had to make a choice as to what to keep and what not to and much of what is on the Internet today, even important information, will not be available for future generations, not even researchers, unlike published books in print, notebooks, journals, and other paper records, whether held in public, university or private “collections”. And we call that advancement?

E-books and cloud storage all sounds good until we look a little deeper into that glass and find that we have been falling for an illusion on a grand scale.

Amazon's Kindle books have had a serious problem once when Amazon decided that people had had their books long enough and deleted them off people's devices. Even though you pay for them you do not, unlike with a physical book, actually own them and you are not permitted to – legally – pass them onto others. It is also not technically possible to do so.

If you store your notes – and some people even upload, using white-lined notebooks, pages of their paper notebooks – and other stuff in the cloud you give, by using the service, the owner of that service, be this Google or whoever, copyright use of everything to use and distribute as they see fit. Sorry, but I do not think so! Thus my notes and other materials stay in hard copy firmly with me (and in digital for on some electronic media in my possession).

It very much appears to be time to rethink digital and find some terra firma again and some sanity. And, it would appear, a fair number of people around the globe are beginning to realize that too.

The paper notebook, the fountain pen and the typewriter are on their way back again already and, so it would appear, not just in a small way.

Paper notebooks have a great deal going for them and they are far from dead, that is for sure. While this may not be to the liking of the proponents and advocates of paperless and may also displease the believers that the production of paper harms the tropical rainforests – which is a fallacy – it is a sign that people appear to be looking for “slower” ways in our maddening modern world. The continuing increase in the same of paper diaries, address books and agendas also proves this trend.

At the same time paper notebooks, the notes contained therein and diaries are always accessible, even on a mountain top or during a power outage and thus beat the electronic equivalent – if there is such a thing as an electronic equivalent to them – hands down (and that goes for real books as well). No batteries, no power cord, no connection, or whatever, to worry about.

Paper is here to stay and is going still very strong indeed and long may it continue.

Personally I cannot function without paper notebooks of some kind and I always have various on the go.

© 2014

Documenting the value of paper

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

If you are interested in what research has to say about the value of paper, don’t miss this recently released report from the American Forest & Paper Association. It provides a terrific review of studies, reports and scholarly articles that show how paper enriches and improves many dimensions of our lives.

Yes, you may say that they are biased, as all foresters could be considered too, as working the forests is our livelihood and paper is one of the products of our forests.

And, even as the demographic scale tips toward the new generation of digital natives, paper remains an important and essential component of multichannel communication.

Paper informs, creates a permanent record of milestones in life, provides secure documentation, reaches customers and offers a sustainable communication option that no other medium can match.

While the coexistence paper and digital communications continues to evolve, the reasons for choosing paper are as strong as ever … paper offers value that just can’t be beat!

Far too many people believe and repeat the mantra that going paperless or using less paper saves trees and especially the trees of the Rainforest but that is but a mantra and has little to nothing to do with the truth.

First of all we are creating more paper waste, and this is where the problem lies – waste, than ever before since we have gone “paperless” for people want and need paper records and thus print them out, regardless.

E-readers and e-books are being advocated and people flock to buy those but no one, it seems, or at least almost no one, considers the costs of the devices (and the hosting of the e-books) to the environment. E-readers are far from green and never will be green. Paper, on the other hand, especially if sourced from sustainable managed resources, is.

When it comes to saving the tropical Rainforests reducing our use of paper will not make one single iota of a difference as tropical hardwoods are not used and cannot be used in the production of pulp for the making of paper. The wood is simply too hard. Trust me, I am a forester.

Paper can be recycled and other paper and card products can be made from it. More than can be said for e-readers and e-books. That is not to say that I do not like the use of PDFs; I do, but only for electronic transmission of materials that then, as far as I am concerned, are printed out, bound and read like a normal book or such.

The great majority of all pulp for paper production comes from forests that are planted, managed and owned by the paper companies themselves and if it would not be for the fact that they bring an income to those companies those forests simply would not exist. The land would be developed for whatever; housing, industrial estates or whatever, but would not be forests.

In addition to that those companies and their forests proved thousands upon thousands of jobs, in the forests and down the line, and the trees that are cut are replaced at least at a 1:3 ratio, that is to say for every tree felled three new ones are planted.

If you are really interested in the truth you can download “Documenting the Value of Paper: Literature Review” here

© 2013

Laptop losers: Tech actually hindering kids in classrooms

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Laptops may actually hinder students ability to learn, providing a distraction and even affecting students sitting near their owners, according to a stunning new Canadian report. With laptops and tablet computers pervading the modern classroom, the report suggests that paper and pencil might be less distracting overall.

"We really didn't think the effects would be this huge," explained McMaster University researcher Faria Sana, who co-authored the study with fellow doctoral student Tina Weston. "It can change your grade from a B+ to a B-.'

For their study, published earlier this year in the journal Computers & Education, Sana and Weston gave some students laptops to take notes, and asked them to complete a few unrelated tasks in their spare time. Other students were told given No. 2 pencils and the same tasks.

The test scenario was meant to ape a real classroom, Sana told the Canadian Press Association.

"We really tried to make it pretty close to what actually happens in the lectures,” she said.

Those students who multitasked on their laptops performed significantly worse than the pencil pushers – and surprisingly, the effect even reached to students sitting near the laptop users.

“Those who were seated around peers who were multitasking also performed much worse on the final test," Sana said.

With the pervasiveness of tech in today’s classrooms, students have known to grow distracted, surfing the Internet, playing games, or updating Facebook profiles rather than paying attention. And that’s the problem, the researchers said.

"A lot of students spend quite a big chunk of time in class doing things that are not related to the academic environment or aren't directly related to the course or the lecture," Sana said.

The same, it has to be said, is true for reading “on screen”. It is tiring for youngsters as much as for adults and a printed book is much easier to deal with. The same goes for forms and other materials.

And before anyone screams that I am advocating dead trees and the destruction of the rainforests through paper companies neither of this is true.

First and foremost no tropical rainforest timber can even remotely be made into pulp for the production of paper; it is far too hard. And secondly were it not for the responsible paper companies millions of acres of forests – though alas predominately softwoods – would not even exist.

In addition to everything we forget the environmental footprint generated by all those e-Readers and other devices for us to use, instead of paper. And the fact that so many institutions and governments are going “paperless” as far as forms and such are concerned has nothing to do with their concern for the environment but everything to do with the cost of printing, and that even goes for printing “in house”, which is every so easy, however, with a PC and a printer.

And, if it came to it there are other sources from which to make paper as well instead of trees. There is hemp, straw, and other materials too but sustainably managed forests from which paper is taken for pulp is still the best option of all. Why? Because those trees are replaced by the companies – or the forest owners other that the paper mills – by at least a ration of 3 to 1, often even a greater one. Thus there will young trees growing and absorbing carbon and that to a much greater degree than a mature tree.

Trust me, I am a forester...

© 2013

Two Sides Targets U.S. Consumers With New Ad Campaign

No Wonder You Love Paper Ads Promote the Attractiveness and Sustainability of Magazines and Newspapers

CHICAGO, IL, May 29, 2013 – As part of its expanding efforts to promote the sustainability of print and paper, Two Sides this month will begin working with U.S. magazine and newspaper publishers to reach consumers with the No Wonder You Love Paper ad campaign. One of the first ads to appear is in the June issue of National Geographic magazine. The campaign, which promotes the sustainability, visual appeal and versatility of magazines and newspapers, follows a similar, highly successful campaign in Europe that anticipates $10 million worth of in-kind ad placements in leading magazines and newspapers.

"Two Sides research shows that 70 percent of polled U.S. consumers, including 69 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds, say they prefer to read print and paper communications rather than reading off a screen," says Two Sides President Phil Riebel. "But Americans also have many misconceptions about the effects of paper-based communications on the environment. In fact, print and paper have a great environmental story to tell, and the No Wonder You Love Paper Ad campaign is designed to help set the record straight."

The No Wonder You Love Paper ads feature people enjoying magazines and newspapers in their everyday lives and offer facts about the sustainability of print and paper. "We know people will easily relate to the situations portrayed in the ads and may be surprised by some of the facts presented," Riebel says. "For example, a lot of people don't know that 65 percent of paper produced in the United States each year is collected and recycled or that there are now 49 percent more trees growing in U.S. forests than 50 years ago. When people are aware of the facts, they can not only enjoy the many types of printed media they encounter every day, but also can feel good knowing that by choosing ink on paper they are supporting one of the most sustainable products on the planet," he says.

The No Wonder You Love Paper ad campaign is supported by a consumer website, http://www.youlovepaper.info/US/, that includes additional facts about the sustainability of print and paper, a short video on paper and forests, a fun quiz and the opportunity to win a prize for creating a short "fun with paper" video.

"We're excited that Two Sides is launching a campaign to help highlight how paper is sustainable and powerful," said Paige Goff, Vice President of Sustainability and Business Communications for Domtar Corporation. "Paper remains purposeful and personal, and from the forest floor to all types of printed media, there's a way consumers can be sure their paper comes from well-managed forests. We're grateful that Two Sides is helping spread the word."

Publishers interested in participating in the ad campaign may contact Phil Riebel at 1-855-896-7433 (toll-free) or pnr@twosides.info.

About Two Sides:

Two Sides is an independent, non-profit organization created to promote the responsible production, use and sustainability of print and paper. Started in Europe in 2008, Two Sides is now active worldwide. The organization has more than 1,000 members that span the entire print and paper supply chain, including pulp and paper producers, paper distributors, ink and chemical manufacturers, printers, envelope manufacturers, equipment manufacturers and publishers. For more information about Two Sides visit the Two Sides website at www.twosides.us.

This press release is presented for your information only.

Full Disclosure Statement: The GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW received no compensation for any component of this article.

Non-Profit Initiates Next Stage of its Mission to Stop Greenwashing

Two Sides Urges Leading U.S. Companies to End Misleading Claims about Print and Paper

(CHICAGO) March 12, 2013 – Two Sides today announced the next stage of its nationwide initiative to urge major U.S. banks, utilities and telecommunication companies to end the use of misleading marketing claims about the sustainability of print and paper. Phase Two will include a second round of communication intended to initiate productive discussion with senior management in the target industries, reminding them of their responsibility to adhere to best practices for environmental marketing as outlined in the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s recently revised Green Guides.

Last year, Two Sides contacted senior bank, utility and telecom executives, encouraging them to follow the yet-to-be-released FTC Green Guides, which say that environmental marketing claims should not exaggerate environmental impacts and must be substantiated. While some responded positively, many of the nation’s top banks, utilities and telecoms continue to tell their customers that switching to online billing and communication is better for the environment than print and paper with no verifiable or credible supporting evidence. With the release of the updated Green Guides in October 2012, the FTC made it official that that unqualified environmental language would be viewed as deceptive marketing, strengthening the Two Sides call for change.

“Two Sides has no desire to cause unnecessary negative publicity for these companies or to undermine their cost-saving and efficiency reasons for driving customers towards e-billing, but claims that print and paper are environmentally unfriendly need to stop,” says Two Sides President Phil Riebel. “Rather than call these respected companies out publicly with greenwashing complaints, we’d much prefer to amicably work with them behind the scenes to help develop messaging that meets the Green Guides standards for environmental marketing,” he says. “However, we’re prepared to use the strongest means necessary to put an end to the use of unsupported environmental claims that are potentially damaging to the paper, printing and mailing sectors which support millions of U.S. Jobs.”

Two Sides conducted a similar campaign to get companies in the United Kingdom to drop or revise unsupported environmental claims about printed media with great success. More than 80 percent of the U.K. companies approached – including well-known names like British Telecom, Barclaycard, Vodafone and EON Energy – worked with Two Sides to eliminate misleading or factually incorrect environmental claims about the use of print and paper.

“The fact is, print and paper products made in the U.S. have a great environmental story to tell,” Riebel says. “Paper comes from a renewable resource – trees grown in responsibly managed forests – and it’s recycled more than any other commodity, including plastics, metals and glass. The continuing demand for sustainably sourced paper gives U.S. landowners a financial incentive to continue managing their lands responsibly and keep them forested rather than selling them for development – the number one cause of deforestation in the United States. Thanks in great part to the sustainable forestry practices advanced by the paper and forest products industry, the volume of growing trees in U.S. forests has increased nearly 50 percent over the last half century and the total acres of forestland has remained essentially unchanged for 100 years.”

The direct impact of electronic products and services replacing paper is far from negligible, and the trade-offs between the two depends on how often we use the different technologies and how we dispose of the products. Both electronic and print media are important, and both have environmental impacts that must be taken into consideration. Electronic communication has a significant and growing carbon footprint due to the energy requirements of a vast worldwide network of servers necessary to store information for immediate access. Electronic communication also relies on significant amounts of fossil-fuel energy and non-renewable raw materials for processing and manufacturing. With electronic waste becoming the fastest growing waste stream in the world and related environmental and health concerns escalating rapidly in many countries, promoting “going paperless” as the best environmental choice is unfounded.

It’s also important to note that equating electronic billing and statements with “going paperless” is misleading. When traditional bills and statements are converted to electronic communication, much of that paper is replaced by home or office printing by those who prefer or require a permanent hard copy. Furthermore, a recent study by NACHA, the Electronic Payments Association, showed that up to 40 percent of consumers receive both electronic and paper statements.

“Some of the major U.S. companies in the financial, telecom and utility sectors are to be commended for implementing sustainability initiatives that focus on true performance measurement and factual environmental claims, but others are lagging behind in terms of credible messaging,” Riebel says. “Two Sides is committed to help change this, and our experience to date shows that we’ve been successful in finding mutually acceptable solutions.”

Two Sides is an independent, non-profit organization created to promote the responsible production, use and sustainability of print and paper. Started in Europe in 2008, Two Sides is now active in more than 12 countries. The organization has more than 1,000 members that span the entire print and paper supply chain, including pulp and paper producers, paper distributors, ink and chemical manufacturers, printers, equipment manufacturers and publishers. For more information about Two Sides visit the Two Sides website at www.twosides.us.

Full Disclosure Statement: The GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW received no compensation for any component of this article.

Paper is good for you and the environment

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Time and again misguided and misinformed people, especially in the environmental movement, come out with the phrase of paper being a tree killed and such like. Nothing could be further from the truth, however.

We are being told that paperless is the way to go and that e-books and e-book readers are the way to go. However, does anyone consider the impact of the e-books and their readers?

I am all for PDFs which can be read on one's computer or – dare I say it – printed out for reading but e-readers, with their factored in obsolescence of a couple of years and such are, in fact, not very environmentally friendly at all, despite claims.

When the claim is made that paper is a killer of trees and printed books are called dead trees all one can say to that is that either the people making such claims are very naïve and misguided or, and I am being a devil's advocate here, have a hidden agenda.

Far from being a killer of trees paper and cardboard and the paper industry in fact are responsible for millions of acres of trees, grown to produce pulp for paper, and replanted later to grow more trees for pulp for paper. Without the paper industry many of those areas, which are often marginal lands, would not be having any significant tree cover at all and some might, in fact, be housing or industrial estates.

Paper also can be easily recycled, even if only as animal bedding, such as for chickens (and this can be done at home with a shredder) and then composted. On the other hand waste and old paper can also be used make new paper. Something that cannot be done with an e-reader.

Furthermore you never own an e-book for, say, Kindle, but only, even though you pay good money for it, borrow it, to all intents and purposes. You may not, legally, pass it on to someone else, not even onto someone else's e-reader. A printed book, on the other hand, you can pass on, resell or what have you. You own it. Not so with an e-book.

The paper industry has the stigma of being incredibly harmful for the environment. However, here are some facts for you to make it clearer as to why this is not the case:

• Paper’s primary raw materials are renewable resources and the paper and forest products industry plants more than 1.7 million trees every day in the U.S. alone. That is three more times than what is harvested.

• Paper is biodegradable, recyclable, and reusable. Almost 60% of all paper is recycled in the U.S. The stats for other countries may be better or they may be worse but all of that can be changed.

• The paper industry is one of the world’s largest users of renewable, low-carbon energy. 60% of the energy used to make paper in the U.S. comes from self-generated carbon-neutral renewable resources.

Here are a couple of more fact that link to the above or stand separately:

• The forest products industry is the largest producer of renewable biomass energy in the United States, generating 77% of the nation’s industrial biomass energy. Additionally, the renewable energy generated by the forest products industry exceeds all of the nation’s solar, wind and geothermal energy generation combined.

• The forest products industry is also a leader in the production of renewable energy, with more than 65% of the on-site energy needed to produce paper products derived from carbon-neutral biomass.

• More trees are grown in the United States than which are harvested and the amount of U.S. forestland has remained essentially the same for the last 100 years at about 750 million acres, even though the U.S. population tripled during the same period.

When it comes to the paper industry, their forests are not part of the state forests in any country generally but they actually have their own woods and forests which they manage for wood for paper and cardboard. And, if the use of paper would cease tomorrow altogether, or we'd all use less of the stuff, many of those forests would be grubbed out and sold to developers no doubt.

In more cases than not paper is better for you and the environment than would be the electronic equivalent. So let's stop the perpetuation of the myths that paper is causing the deforestation of the Amazon and other tropical forests and deforestation in general. It simply is not true.

© 2013

Shrink paper use Europe is being urged

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The paper industry's total environmental footprint is estimated to be three times higher than that of the aviation industry and Europeans use four times as much paper as the global average.

These figures have led more than 50 European NGOs to join forces to urge individuals and businesses to shrink their paper use.

The Shrink campaign, launched recently, is working with twenty major European companies to help them reduce the amount of paper that they are using unnecessarily.

People are also being encouraged to pledge to cut their consumption on the campaign's website through simple actions such as signing off junk mail and using double-sided printing when possible.

While signing off junk mail is supposed to work I also know of people who have tried doing that and, for some reason, their junk mail volume has tripled. Mind you, this is in the USA.

While it is annoying to receive all that junk mail, and in the UK it is actually the Royal Mail that is one of the main culprits of the junk mail in that they carry the “to the householder” letter and it is part of Royal Mail's advertising revenue; that is to say that Royal Mail gets paid for every letter they shove through your mailbox, I have found that I just make use of all the paper that comes in – amongst those are paper press releases for instance – and reuse the paper as and where possible, especially if there is a plain back. This reuse does not just include using the paper as scrap paper and drafts paper but up to and including printing our business cards on them. Practical recycling, thank you!

The network of NGOs, known as the European Environmental Paper Network (EEPN), said using less paper will have a wider impact than simply reducing the number of trees cut down to make paper. And, theoretically, the less trees cut down to make paper the more trees there will be to reduce the CO2 impact. However, it would be nice if that would work like that. The greatest problem is, though, that the trees that are there, many of them at least, have been planted for the paper industry.

On the other hand is the fact that the paper industry consumes a huge amount of water and a huge amount of energy, so the climate change impacts of this are also staggering. Estimates are that the paper industry globally is responsible for about three times the emissions to that of the aviation industry. Many of us in the environmental lobby all get very upset about the impact of people flying everywhere, but most of us have not even as much as calculated the impact of something like paper, which we use every day, and which many of us in the “movement” even often do not use efficiently.

Virgin paper can use between 6.3kg (13.9 pounds) and 9.8kg (21.6 pounds) of CO2 equivalent to produce each kilogram (2.2 pounds) of paper and its production can also have huge social consequences for people living in the developed world.

However, having said this, a great majority of paper is derived, as wood source, from FSC approved sustainable forests, many of which only exists because of the paper industry. This is something that we must bear in mind while we advocate the reduction of the use, or better the inefficient use, of paper. If we would stop paper production from wood then, of this we can be sure, those forests will no longer be managed and may be felled and then the land used for other purposes. Purposes that may have a much greater impact on the environment and the climate.

Alongside the global Shrink campaign, the EEPN in the U.K. is targeting some of the country's biggest paper consumers, such as banks, magazine publishers, catalogue companies and supermarkets, to encourage them to use less paper in packaging, mailings and publications.

In today's world, with the great majority of us all having computers, personally I find it ludicrous that so many catalogues and other such publications are still produced on real paper and mailed out rather than in virtual paper, as PDFs, and then burned onto CD or stuck on a USB stick.

This is the same with press releases that I receive, whether on a trade or other show or from the companies direct. It is all too often on paper and then, very often on coated paper. Such coated paper is basically laminated with a very thin film of plastic that then makes the paper basically non-recyclable.

The EEPN said they hoped organizations would realize that the move could benefit not just the environment, but their bottom line too.

Paper that is used inefficiently is costing a awful lot of money to do that and companies will realize, if pointed into the right direction, that this will affect their bottom line, ultimately.

© M Smith (Veshengro), June 2008