While it is easy to become intimidated by the prospect of global warming, following that path is unlikely to bear any fruit. There are many areas of your life in which small changes will make a dramatic difference. You can help stop global warming and be a part of the solution - start by informing yourself about those small changes.
Two Basic Paper Recycling Facts
If you want to help prevent global warming, then you should become aware of where your paper comes from. Think about the paper towels in your kitchen, the Kleenex on your table or the toilet paper in your bathroom. Reports Laurie David in Stop Global Warming: The Solution Is You!, many of the everyday tissue paper products we use, like toilet paper, come from 100 to 150 year old virgin forests in Northern Canada.[1] When virgin forests are cut down to supply our paper needs, they can no longer help process the gases which are warming our planet.
Don't despair though! Saving these trees is easier than you think. As David notes, "If every household in the United States replaced just one roll of virgin toilet paper with one recycled post-consumer waste roll, 424,000 trees would still be standing." The problem is that most brand name tissue papers - Kleenex, Scott, Angel Soft, Cottonelle, Bounty, Brawny, Puffs, Charmin -have zero recycled fibers in their products.[2]
Use Your Buying Power to Stop Prevent Global Warming
This means that it is your duty to make the change and actively seek out products which use recycled material. Because non-name-brand tissues don't carry the high overhead expense of multi-million dollar ad campaigns, these tissues will likely save you money as they help you fight global warming.
At present, the US government does not mandate any policy regarding the fiber content of tissue papers. Furthermore, a mandate which would require producers to include recycled or post-consumer materials in their products is unlikely to occur in the near future. The easiest and perhaps most effective way to discourage destructive forestry practices is to make a financial statement by purchasing from companies that strive to use recycled fibers. Purchasing toilet paper from the following brands will reduce the amount of logging that is needed to provide fiber for paper products, preventing global warming in the process. If not entirely composed of recycled materials, these companies at least have a high ratio of recycled to virgin fiber in their products:
Best Value, Marcal, 365 Everyday Value, Colortex, Earth Friendly Products, Fiesta, April Soft, Doucelle, Green Forest, Cascades, Mr. Jumbo, Natural Value, Pert, Planet, Seventh Generation Recylced Bathroom Tissue Papericon, Soft'N' Fluffy, Trader Joe's, Ultra Val-U and Velvet.[3]
Once you've successfully upgraded your toilet tissues don't stop there! There exists a myriad of recycled products, waiting to be discovered by you. Remember, you as the consumer hold the power to change the way paper products are used.
Everyday brings forth new opportunities. The world seems bright tomorrow; but it is up to you to do what is necessary now to maintain that for the years ahead.
[1]Stop Global Warming: The Solution Is You!
[2] http://www.conservatree.com
[3] ibid
