Green Living Online

I was made aware of this from a World Wildlife Foundation newsletter from last month. The fall issue of Green Living Magazine is also the first online version. It comes instructions for the less technically-inclined but basically click on the arrows at top left to flip pages, and on the pages themsleves in order to make them large enough to read.

I recall reading an interview with Marvel Comics founder Stan Lee around the time the first Spider-Man movie came out in which he was asked whether he thought the internet would kill comic books. He thought it would not because people prefer to have something "in hand" to read; something they can take to another room in the house or carry with them while travelling.

I agree with him that reading a magazine online is hardly the same, but with laptops and blackberries becoming more and more common, perhaps paper versions have finally met their match. And for a magazine called "Green Living", going online would seem to make sense.

Just one more thing to get used to. ;-)

Edit: I subscribed for future issues, only to find out that the winter ecition is out already. Here it is.

Red Dot Program

I was pleased to be made aware of this program earlier today while watching the news.

Canada Post uses red dots to flag households that have said NO to Junk Mail. The Red Dot Campaign reminds you of your choice to say “NO” to unwanted advertising.

Our collective voice urges advertisers to be mindful of their use of paper in print advertising.

The intention of the Red Dot Campaign is to urge advertisers to re-allocate their advertising investments into socially responsible initiatives.

I posted about something similar before here.

Newer developments such as the one in which we now live are magnets for this kind of stuff, of course. The other day, I actually mistook a stack of flyers for the Saturday newspaper it was so damn thick. I couldn't believe it.

And I was disappointed to not have my paper yet! Cripes, it was nearly 7:30! It was almost outdated already!

The whole stack went into the recycling box in no time. Except the elastic. I keep those. :-)

I find it hard to believe that pizza places, gyms and the like will be deeply intimidated when they come face to face with a red dot on my mailbox. Certainly not to the point of refraining from paper spamming me. I also have no idea what percentage of my flyers come from Canada Post. But if I can stop even a small percentage, I'll make the token effort.

Edit: Here's a CBC article about this campaign.

Recycled Toilet Paper?

What a lovely image this creates.

Grist.org recently reviewed different brands of butt-wad made with various levels of recycled content. The perception of using recycled toilet paper is probably that it would not be unlike going all the way back to nature and using tree bark to clean the crack, but apparently one brand stands out above the rest.

Drum roll...

Seventh Generation Double Roll
2 ply/ 400 sheets per roll/ 4.5"x4" sheet/ 200 sq. ft.
$3.99 for a 4-pack at Whole Foods
Recycled content: 100 percent
Post-consumer recycled content: 80 percent minimum
Color: white (processed without chlorine)
Pattern: flowers
Absorbency: 4.1 out of 5 (9 reviewers)
Overall comfort: 4.4 out of 5 (9 reviewers)

Some reviewers questioned whether this roll was even recycled -- quite the compliment for TP that boasts a minimum 80 percent post-consumer content. Though the tree-felling Cottonelle roll beat it by one-tenth of a point in overall comfort, this little recycled-roll-that-could ruled in absorbency. Even Summer said it was "nice on the tush!"

I don't recall ever coming across this brand at a local grocery store, but the next time I'm in one I'll look for it and give it a try if it's available. Don't expect a review though.

Looking at the comments on Grist's page, I see one person suggests the following:




I...don't know what to make of the whole thing. I was certain it was a joke but their website gives the opposite impressions. The online store certainly seems legitimate. Yet, their tips on how to...do the deed...create doubt.

When you crumple toilet paper, just like if you crumpled a piece of writing paper, it gets sharp edges and corners. Why would you want sharp corners on your toilet paper? Like all paper, toilet paper feels smoothest when it is flat.

Folding, instead of crumpling, also helps you use far less paper— saving energy, resources and money.

If you are worried that folded paper will break or tear, just fold it over again to make more layers. With ShitBegone, I usually tear off 3 or 4 sheets, and fold them over twice for a total of 4 sheets (8 plys) thick. But even if you tear off 6 or 8 sheets at a time, and make a pad 24 layers thick to wipe yourself with, you will still use less paper than most crumplers do.

All right, well...Maybe I'll start with 7th Generation and increase my experimentation when I'm more confident.

Even God's Going Greener

From The Book Standard, by way of Grist.org.

Thomas Nelson will publish the world's first eco-friendly Bible later this month. The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Daily Bible will be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and production will flow from a FSC-certified forest through a paper manufacturer and printer that have FSC chain-of-custody certification.

The Bible will contain recycled fiber and was developed along with Domtar, a paper manufacturer with a strong environmental commitment. Thomas Nelson is currently working with the Green Press Initiative, a U.S.-based organization that helps the book publishing industry reduce their paper usage, to reduce the company's carbon footprint.

This isn't my first exposure to the Green Press Initiative. During our vacation in late July/early August, we made a stop in Perth, where I bought a calendar that has the Green Press initiative stamp on it.




I looked them up and found them interesting. Though I intended to post about Green Press at the time, I held off on the basis that talking about calendars in August is sort of like putting up Christmas decorations before Halloween.

The calendar itself is published by Amber Lotus Publishing and they claim to printing on 100% post-consumer recycled paper (cover stock is 20% recycle) using soy-based inks. They plant a minimum of 3000 trees every year and offset their carbon dioxide emissions through NativeEnergy.

There's an awful lot to like there, and going forward that Green Press logo will be something I look for.

FAX on Junk Mail

Here's a little tip that I spotted in a newsletter from Green Communities:

FAX ON JUNK MAIL. In addition to limiting where you provide your mailing address, stop a good deal of junk mail, and waste, by registering with the Canadian Marketing Association’s Do Not Call/Mail list. Get the low down on CRTC regulations regarding unsolicited FAX use and use a simple ‘No Flyers’ sticker on your mail box. Send the junk back for advertisers to deal with (and pay for through taxes in their own municipality, not yours) by using postage paid envelopes.

Apparently the CMA involves about 800 companies.

More applicable to us, they have a "no call" list as well. The last time I stayed home from work due to illness, the phone rang seven times during the day. Being that no one was supposed to be home, it can be nothing but marketing calls and perhaps a wrong number or two. It's insane.

It's said to take about six weeks to take effect. Because we're moving and likely changing numbers, we may not get to really evaluate how well it's worked but it's worth a shot. And if it makes things worse, we'll know for the new place.

I didn't sign up for the mailing one yet, in the event that it prevents me from receiving mail from certain charities I've supported (I doubt it, but didn't want to take the chance).

Paper Wait.

This could leave me with MANY more trees to hug. Full story linked below:

TORONTO and PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 27, 2006 -- Xerox Corporation (NYSE:XRX) scientists have invented a way to make prints whose images last only a day, so that the paper can be used again and again. The technology, which is still in a preliminary state, blurs the line between paper documents and digital displays and could ultimately lead to a significant reduction in paper use.

The experimental printing technology, a collaboration between the Xerox Research Centre of Canada and PARC (Palo Alto Research Center Inc.), could someday replace printed pages that are used for just a brief time before being discarded. Xerox estimates that as many as two out of every five pages printed in the office are for what it calls "daily" use, like e-mails, Web pages and reference materials that have been printed for a single viewing.

"Despite our reliance on computers to share and process information, there is still a strong dependence on the printed page for reading and absorbing content. Of course, we'd all like to use less paper, but we know from talking with customers that many people still prefer to work with information on paper. Self-erasing documents for short-term use offers the best of both worlds," said Paul Smith, manager of XRCC's new materials design and synthesis lab.

Xerox has filed for patents on the technology, which it calls "erasable paper." It is currently part of a laboratory project that focuses on the concept of future dynamic documents.

To develop erasable paper, researchers needed to identify ways to create temporary images. The "a-ha" moment came from developing compounds that change color when they absorb a certain wavelength of light but then will gradually disappear. In its present version, the paper self-erases in about 16-24 hours and can be used multiple times.

Victoria's Secret is a Little Less Naughty.

As something of a follow-up to an earlier post in which Forest Ethics claimed censorship in regards to a magazine (I believe Rolling Stone) refusing to run one of their ads, those very same Forest Ethics folks have now proudly sent out an e-mail celebrating a significant victory.

The message they wanted to run was about how much (and the kind of) paper Victoria's Secret catalogs used. Well, they've finally reached a compromise, it appears:

Today, Victoria's Secret's parent company, Limited Brands, announced it will stop using paper from Endangered Forests like critical caribou habitat in the Albertan Foothills for its catalog. After two years of campaigning, Victoria's Secret started to and will continue to work to phase out the use of any Endangered Forests products. The company has ensured that at least 10 percent post-consumer waste paper will be used in it's main catalog.
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When we began this campaign, two years ago, Victoria's Secret was printing 395 million catalogs every year on paper that contained NO recycled content. We made it clear that we were not going to stand by and watch one of our planet's most vital resources be destroyed to sell panties.
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The impact of Victoria's Secret's decision will be seen in the protection of North America's Great Boreal Forest, which contains 25% of the world's remaining intact forest. Stretching from Alaska to Canada's Atlantic coast, the Boreal is a key regulator of global climate, providing one of our first lines of defense against global warming. It is also a vital source of clean air and water, and provides critical habitat for many species from endangered mountain caribou and to half of North America's songbirds.

A vast majority of catalogs and junk mail that flood U.S. households come directly from the Boreal Forest. Currently, the Boreal is being logged at a rate of two acres per minute, 24 hours a day. And nearly 50% of that logging is going to produce paper. Victoria's Secret's new policy prohibits immediately paper coming from the Albertan Foothills and is working to end sourcing paper fiber from other Endangered Forests. The policy sets a new standard for the catalog industry.

That's An Awful Lot Of Hugs...

From a Mail and Guardian article dated November 8th, 2006:

Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai on Wednesday launched a massive drive aimed at curbing global warming and related environmental damage by planting a billion new trees by the end of next year.

On the sidelines of a key United Nations climate-change conference in Nairobi, Maathai announced the start in January of the Billion Tree Campaign to combat rampant deforestation, reverse desertification and reduce soil erosion.

Maathai won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the Greenbelt Movement, which she founded to promote human rights and sustainable development by planting trees first in her native Kenya, then throughout Africa and the world.

"In the year 2007 we shall target over a billion trees," said Maathai, the first African woman honoured by the Nobel committee, noting that trees provide natural protection against the effects of climate change.

"We want to commit ourselves to action and we want to call the whole world to participate in this action," she said, calling on the people around the world to get their hands dirty while diplomats haggle over treaties.

"We know the signs and we know the data ... but what is really important even long after this conference is what we do," Maathai said. "That is why this campaign is so important."

Trees are key to reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere generated by the use of fossil fuels and every year an average tree converts 12kg of the gas into enough oxygen for a family of four per year, according to the UN.

But, replacing trees lost by deforestation over the past decade will require planting an area the size of Peru, a task equivalent to planting 14-billion trees every year for a decade, the UN says.

So If I Write To a Vegan Vixen...

...the old-fashioned way (snail mail) would they be opposed to my use of this product?


It is paper made from sheep poo. Technically an animal by-product.

I think it would be okay.

Gardeners know it is ideal for making compost but now a company in Snowdonia has won an award for being even more innovative with sheep droppings.

Creative Paper Wales has produced greetings cards and gifts made from the by-products of its woolly neighbours.

Its Sheep Poo Paper products have won a £20,000 Millennium Award for "social entrepreneurship".

After the sheep droppings are collected, they are sterilised, washed and mixed with other recycled paper.

This is then turned into the finished paper and cardboard while the washing water is distributed to local growers as concentrated fertiliser.

Click on the poo-paper image for the full article (so long as the link is active, that is...)

The Overuse of the "C" Word.

That's right. Censorship.

Boy, that word gets tossed around an awful lot. Most recently, at least for me, it comes from the Forest Ethics folks.

Twenty-six major publications including Rolling Stone, Time, Entertainment Weekly, refused to run an advertisement critical of Victoria's Secret for its role in destroying Endangered Forests. Many publications refused to identify the reason, but those that did respond revealed an unwillingness to offend major corporate advertiser. The ad had been accepted and run by The New York Times and other publications.

"We know we're not dealing with issues of acceptability here. We're dealing with censorship...It raises a very disturbing question: If these supposedly objective publications are willing to censor an environmental group out of deference to an advertiser, how much can we really trust the rest of their content?", said Todd Paglia of ForestEthics.

There's nothing disturbing about it. To be published in any of those magazines is not a right that you have. It's their choice to make, just like I could choose to stop buying those magazines over it. Simply put, it's not censorship because they're not preventing you from getting your message out there, they're just refusing to serve as your podium. There's a huge difference there, Todd; you're still allowed to say what you want.

People who cry censorship whenever they're faced with disagreement dilute the impact of the word for people who truly feel its effects. Settle down, stop complaining and work on Plan B.

Ett Klick för Skogen

That rolls right off the tongue, eh? I think it means "Former Miss Sweden Annika Duckmark is a fox" in...well...Swedish!

Save the Swedish old growth forest!
Click For The Forest is working with the Swedish Government to find the next forest to save, and fundraising for this forest is already well on its way.

You can help to preserve this forest forever by buying trees, donating money or by simply clicking below for FREE everyday.

So help save a tree in Sweden. Do it for Annika.


It's about time I got to use this pic again. Get back on the ride, Sweden! You've been slacking! ;-)

A Million Trees, A Million Dreams

I've never heard of Shaklee before, but surfing from a link provided in a newsletter I subscribe to (Ideal Bite) led me to their site. I'm digging this program they have recently started...

In honor of the Shaklee Corporation’s 50th Anniversary, Shaklee will begin a North American tree-planting campaign to take place across the United States and Canada and last throughout the entire year. Shaklee Corporation’s more than 750,000 Distributors will organize tree-planting events in their respective communities – at parks, schools, and other public areas. The company’s goal is to plant more than one million trees throughout North America to help offset a significant portion of the CO2 the company must produce to conduct business. At the same time, Shaklee wants to raise public awareness of global climate change and the need to address it.

It seems at least a portion of their tree planting will be done by American Forests. I can't link directly to their specific campaigns, but if you click on the "Plant Trees Now" link at the top left, you'll see them listed. The Shaklee one is at the very bottom. A buck a tree? I can swing for a few...

Now I chose the "Donate in Canada" option, but the online purchase option does not allow me to enter a Canadian postal code as opposed to a zip code. So I entered a fake one. It also made my phone number a "required" field, which I didn't care for. A bit of a bother, but I'll follow up. They gave me a link by which I can track my order. Makes it sound like they're mailing multiple trees to me.

Victoria's Dirty Secret

Damn...I was expecting something...different from this website, but this is still interesting. Just differently.

In 2004 the environmental group Forest Ethics cast a spotlight on a few major catalog distributors that did not, the group felt, use enough recycled paper in their mailings. Eventually they focused on Limited Brands' Victoria's Secret; which mails out about 395 million lingerie catalogs annually. They're "one of the biggest destroyers," says Tom O'Leary, a spokesman for Forest Ethics and "they're a sexy target, admittedly." According to the group, much of the paper used by the Victoria's Secret catalog is from Canadian Forests.

For it to halt its campaign against the lingerie outfit -- which includes rallies and the Web site victoriasdirtysecret.net -- Forest Ethics demands that Victoria's Secret increase the recycled content of its catalogs and make sure its suppliers meet standards set by watchdog NGO Forest Stewardship Council. Forest Ethics has also called for Victoria's Secret to end its relationship with supplier International Paper.

Limited Brands spokesman Anthony Hebron declined to comment on where the paper for its catalogs originates or whether activism could cause the company to rethink its contract with International Paper. However, he says that since 2004, Victoria's Secret has increased the post-consumer recycled paper content of its clearance catalogs -- about 12% of the total number of catalogs -- to 80% from 20%. "We're going to increase it in the rest of the books," Hebron says. "We're going to do the right thing but we're not going to be pinned down by a date."

Your THIT in the WWF's Photo Mosaic!

Neat idea.

There aren't really a great deal of good pictures of me out there, but I did submit one anyway. Hopefully I get some primo real estate on the mosaic.

My confirmation e-mail also added the following:

"Help protect the forest in every day life - when buying wood products make sure you look out for the FSC-label. FSC wood is produced sustainably while respecting people and nature."

Nothing Says "I Love You" like Your Own Forest!

How well would this REALLY go over, ladies?

SUFFOLK, UK — World Land Trust has announced a special way to say "I Love You" this Valentine's Day; 'Heavenly Chocolate with a Heart' and an acre of tropical rainforest in Ecuador. Rather than a rose which will wither and die within days, the World Land Trust suggests buying the object of your affections a real acre of rainforest. This alternative lasts forever, shows how much you care, and protects endangered tropical orchids and other flowers.

The Rainforest Acre package contains a special Valentine's Day card and Certificate bearing your loved one's name to inform them you have made a donation to purchase one acre of tropical forest for them. They can also indulge themselves with a 100g bar of Divine Fair Trade chocolate while thinking about you.

Oscar would dig it. He'd chase butterflies around and lick caterpillars which, unfortunately, triggers his gag reflex.