I am a staunch believer of keeping it green in the bathroom.Consider:
• When my sisters brush their teeth with the tap water going full-force, I yell at them. (“Were you planning on taking a minty bath in the basin when you’re done?”)
• When there are all kinds of empty plastic bottles in the bathroom trashcan, I suck up my pride, hold my nose, and dig them out so that they can be recycled properly. (Certain weeks of the month are scarier than others.)
• When it comes to hair-styling, I let my hair air-dry as much as possible before I use my electrically efficient hair-dryer to put on the finishing touches.
Basically, when it comes to bathroom environmental etiquette, I am no slouch. And yet, I recently heard terrible news about something so integral to the bathroom, that it almost made me have to go to the bathroom. An esteemed scientist is going across the country, spreading his research about the latest environmental catastrophe American’s are unknowingly committing…
Allen Hershkowitz, the lead scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, published an article with the New York Times detailing his research that proves beyond a doubt that America’s demand for soft toilet paper is destroying the world’s rain forests, and thus causing the end of the world. For example, he believes that “people just don’t understand that softness equals ecological destruction.”
And ah… the media does love their fear mongering, and once introduced they happily romanced the shit out of this story like only the current media could. After processing the information in Hershkowitz’s article, the bastardized love-children equivalent of articles abounded with titles such as these:
“It's [toilet paper] As Bad For Planet As Hummers, Groups Say”
“America's Love Affair with Really Soft Toilet Paper Is Causing an Environmental Catastrophe”
Really?
Snippets from these articles include fear-inducing delicacies such as:
“The tenderness of the delicate American buttock is causing more environmental devastation than the country's love of gas-guzzling cars, fast food or McMansions, according to green campaigners. At fault, they say, is the US public's insistence on extra-soft, quilted and multi-ply products when they use the bathroom.”
Hershkowitz’s story goes like this: only the fibres of virgin trees can be used to achieve the softness of paper that American’s crave-- recycled fibres just cannot be made to feel the same way. Because of this, evil toilet paper companies are going crazy trying to keep up with everyday toilet paper demands, and therefore deforestation is running rampant. Tree holocausts are happening left and right in order to satisfy American’s greedy bowel needs. The media would like you to believe that entire forests are being wiped out (ha), and innocent 300 year old trees that never hurt nobody, are being hacked up for doody duty.
To this affect, Hershkowitz is not asking for that much; he just wants your soul. Just kidding, he really just wants you to suck it up and wipe yourself with the scratchy, recycled stuff. "This is a product that we use for less than three seconds and the ecological consequences of manufacturing it from trees is enormous," he says. (I can’t help it, every quote I read of his, I am imagining an illustrated South Park scientist vehemently saying, arms waving all around to show the seriousness, with the letter “s” slightly lisped and strong emphasis on action words.)
It’s amusing (and by amusing, I really mean depressing) that so many trusted media outlets picked up this story and ran with it, without doing any real homework on the topic.
The idea that my fiber-intake was part and parcel to the decimation of forests and CO2 gas overloads really upset me-- enough so that I felt inclined to take 5 minutes out of my day to quickly Google the topic. To my utmost relief, by doing this I was able to to find intelligent arguments that sufficiently quelled my TP blues.
Snippets from these articles include fear-inducing delicacies such as:
“The tenderness of the delicate American buttock is causing more environmental devastation than the country's love of gas-guzzling cars, fast food or McMansions, according to green campaigners. At fault, they say, is the US public's insistence on extra-soft, quilted and multi-ply products when they use the bathroom.”
Hershkowitz’s story goes like this: only the fibres of virgin trees can be used to achieve the softness of paper that American’s crave-- recycled fibres just cannot be made to feel the same way. Because of this, evil toilet paper companies are going crazy trying to keep up with everyday toilet paper demands, and therefore deforestation is running rampant. Tree holocausts are happening left and right in order to satisfy American’s greedy bowel needs. The media would like you to believe that entire forests are being wiped out (ha), and innocent 300 year old trees that never hurt nobody, are being hacked up for doody duty.
To this affect, Hershkowitz is not asking for that much; he just wants your soul. Just kidding, he really just wants you to suck it up and wipe yourself with the scratchy, recycled stuff. "This is a product that we use for less than three seconds and the ecological consequences of manufacturing it from trees is enormous," he says. (I can’t help it, every quote I read of his, I am imagining an illustrated South Park scientist vehemently saying, arms waving all around to show the seriousness, with the letter “s” slightly lisped and strong emphasis on action words.)
It’s amusing (and by amusing, I really mean depressing) that so many trusted media outlets picked up this story and ran with it, without doing any real homework on the topic.
The idea that my fiber-intake was part and parcel to the decimation of forests and CO2 gas overloads really upset me-- enough so that I felt inclined to take 5 minutes out of my day to quickly Google the topic. To my utmost relief, by doing this I was able to to find intelligent arguments that sufficiently quelled my TP blues.
So, here's the truth behind the latest fake environment scare.
People that cut down trees for paper are doing it for business purposes. Part of running a successful business means making maximizing resources, and minimizing unnecessary waste.
To that point, when a North American tree is cut down, not one twig, branch, or piece of bark goes unused. The best pieces are used for home-building or furniture, of which there is the largest demand. Paper, including toilet paper, is made from the sawdust and chips that are left over from sawmilling. The left-over bits that are not suitable for paper (such as bark and super fine sawdust), are burned to make energy for the sawmill and dry out the lumber. In the end, absolutely 100% of the tree is used.
As soon as a tree has been cut down, a new tree is planted. This is a business after all, and in order to run a business new materials have to constantly be available. Although damage was done to North American forests during the Industrial Age, foresters have since realized the error of their ways, and are now very conscientious (and intelligent) about repopulating their wood supplies. To wit, there are more trees currently in the US than there were 100 years ago. Interestingly, over that same time period, the U.S. population has more than tripled. That’s a lot more bottoms needing toilet paper, and yet — no deforestation.
People that cut down trees for paper are doing it for business purposes. Part of running a successful business means making maximizing resources, and minimizing unnecessary waste.
To that point, when a North American tree is cut down, not one twig, branch, or piece of bark goes unused. The best pieces are used for home-building or furniture, of which there is the largest demand. Paper, including toilet paper, is made from the sawdust and chips that are left over from sawmilling. The left-over bits that are not suitable for paper (such as bark and super fine sawdust), are burned to make energy for the sawmill and dry out the lumber. In the end, absolutely 100% of the tree is used.
As soon as a tree has been cut down, a new tree is planted. This is a business after all, and in order to run a business new materials have to constantly be available. Although damage was done to North American forests during the Industrial Age, foresters have since realized the error of their ways, and are now very conscientious (and intelligent) about repopulating their wood supplies. To wit, there are more trees currently in the US than there were 100 years ago. Interestingly, over that same time period, the U.S. population has more than tripled. That’s a lot more bottoms needing toilet paper, and yet — no deforestation.
People like Hershkowitz, who claim to be environmentalists and yet make big stinks (again, ha) about fake eco-nonsense, do much more harm for their “cause” than good. The beneficial role of forestry is made clear by the fact that the countries that have stable or growing forest area are the ones that use the most wood; as is the case for North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.
In an attempt to scare everybody, the media and propaganda spreading activists have tried to manipulate the public into thinking that when we use wood we are destroying forests, when in fact the exact opposite is the truth: the purchase of wood products sends a signal to plant more trees, and produce more wood.
The International Panel on Climate Change and the Kyoto Climate Treaty specifically recognize that forest management plays a positive role in absorbing CO2 and preventing its release in the first place. It is stunning that Allen Hershkowitz, senior scientist for the NRDC, seems to be unaware of this.
Wood is far and away the most abundant renewable material on earth. It is scary (and by scary, I again mean depressing) to think that so many “environmentalists” are campaigning against forestry, when the alternative building materials are concrete, steel, plastic and more use of fossil fuels.
Of course we should (and do) recycle paper that is suitable for recycling, and we already do this for newspapers, cardboard for packaging, and printing paper. For toilet paper though, come on, get off our backs and leave our butts alone.
wow that was quite an interesting post kelly! i have heard about there being a problem with us using too much TP and that we will eventually run out or have to start using the same TP over and over again.... but it was really relieving to see both sides of this. of course businesses are smart about what they're using and what they are replenishing. sounds like that stupid environmentalist should get his facts straight. putting the world in to a frenzy about freaking TP is so ridiculous. there are plenty of more important issues to be worried about. get a life hershokowitz.
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