The Brochure Rack
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7/12/07 Please do not print this document. It is time to put the brakes on the runaway train which is a prime contributor to one of the greatest causes of greenhouse gas emissions as well as the increasingly threatening problems caused by the pollution of our air and water. One of the most flagrant examples of a problem run amok is the scorching of the earth and the enormous pollution of the atmosphere caused by the unnecessary manufacture, printing and distribution of paper and paper based products. In the U.S. alone, hundreds of billions of brochures are printed each year, along with 17 billion catalogs and over 65 billion pieces of direct (junk) mail. Unknown to many is the sheer magnitude of the pollution and greenhouse gas emissions caused by the manufacture and distribution of paper. Worldwide paper production is consumed at about 450 million tons of paper annually and growing. The United States, constituting only 5% of the world's population, bears responsibility for 33% of this usage. This 150 million tons of paper equates to over 750 pounds yearly for each man, woman and child still able to breathe. That's about 44 million tons of air pollution spewed out into our atmosphere by the paper industry each year, corresponding to about 2.5 billion trees annihilated annually for the purpose. Trees, of course, are Mother Nature's own air pollution sponge and removal system. If each family in the U.S. consumed one less tree's worth of paper each year, a half million tons of dangerous gases would be removed from our atmosphere. Every day, American businesses use enough paper to circle the globe 20 times. Total US paper consumption increases by about 14 million tons annually while pulpmills consume 12,430 square miles of forests each year. An estimated 1.2 million acres of forest are clear-cut annually to feed 140 chip mills in the southeastern US alone. The devastation caused by the pulp and paper industry is simply enormous. It is the third largest industrial polluter in North America. Recycling paper isn't the solution to a problem of this magnitude! The World Watch Institute has noted that even though 37 percent of waste paper was recycled in one year, "recycling has yet to dent the world's appetite for virgin-fiber pulp." However, it is true that 40 million tons of paper are discarded into our landfills each year which could be recycled. U.S. landfills are being filled with a half a billion cubic yards of paper waste a year in the USA alone, enough to fill two Sears Towers from top to bottom in each of the 50 states, all the way up to the 110th floor. And the problem only worsens with time. Given that 2.5 billion trees are consumed annually to supply this country's voracious appetite for paper, and that a mature tree can remove over 50 pounds of greenhouse yearly (and over a ton over its lifetime), it follows that for each ton of brochures, catalogs, junk mail and office paper not printed each year, 4 million tons of carbon dioxide will be removed by the trees saved in the process. Cutting down trees to make paper is like cutting out lung tissue to add inches to our muscles. Brochures may be pretty to look at but we simply must find an alternative to printing so many of them! It is also true that t he pulp and paper manufacturing industries create an "energy crisis" of their own, being the third largest energy consumers of all industries. At 2,700 trillion BTUs of energy a year, that's over 3 percent of all US energy consumption.Also, we can't ignore the oil costs involved: the 150 million tons of paper we consume in the U.S. each year costs us about 70 billion gallons (1.7 billion barrels) of oil. At current rates of $115 a barrel, (read this), that's 190 billion dollars of oil consumed each year to satisfy our addiction to paper.Water shortages caused by excessive use of water in the papermaking process is another severe and ever growing problem, with the paper making industry being the single largest industrial user of water per pound of finished product, requiring over a trillion gallons of water annually. Former Sen. Paul Simon from Illinois recently authored Tapped Out: The Coming World Crisis in Water and What We Can Do About it. Simon's publication sounds a warning about the approaching crisis.
Interestingly, the average American lawyer uses a ton of paper each year which costs 17 trees, 7000 gallons of water, 463 gallons of oil, 600 pounds of air pollution, 3.1 cubic yards of landfill space and 4,100 Kilowatt hours of energy. At last count there are about 1.1 million practicing lawyers in the U.S. which equates to a combined usage of 7 billion gallons of water, a half a billion gallons of oil and 300,000 tons of air pollution each year for paper. This costs 1.4 billion dollars annually for oil for all of this legal paper, which is, of course, billed to their clients.Maybe it's time for the legal profession to consider another alternative to the use of all of this costly, harmful and (largely) unnecessary paper. Maybe it's time for everyone to consider another alternative to the use of all of this paper. Fortunately, such an alternative exists, and it is called the distribution of information in electronic (rather than paper) form via the Internet. One could begin by reevaluating the necessity of all of the marketing and advertising printed literature distributed throughout the world in the form of brochures and catalogs. We must reduce this enormous and unnecessary volume of direct (junk) mail hauled around by the millions of tons on jet airliners and trucks to their unsuspecting (and, often, unappreciative) recipients. Let's convert all of this marketing literature floating in the winds into electronic form, and let's do it now, not five or ten years from now. Brochures, for example, those nice pretty glossy things we love to collect, glance at for a few seconds, then discard in the nearest the trash (or recycle) receptacle, simply do not (with, perhaps, a few, arguable, exceptions) need to be printed anymore. They can be easily distributed to practically anybody in the world instantaneously from a single centralized source on the World Wide Web. Such a site has been created and has been recently launched which is dedicated solely for this purpose, TheBrochureRack.com. Instead of waiting for days or weeks for a printed brochure to arrive in the mail, one needs only to get on the Web and find the information there in a far superior form. Also, there isn't any need to print it. Why print it? Just view it on the screen! Importantly, this method of distributing information is about as cost effective as it one could possibly imagine, and it can be delivered instantaneously. An added benefit of the storage and distribution of information in electronic form is that it is immediately transportable to other media forms while it can be archived, when necessary, for safekeeping permanently.Yes, there currently exists a far superior alternative to the printing of marketing materials, which is superior in virtually every quantifiable way, including the one way that many people appreciate the most, enormous cost savings. We must transform a much greater proportion of the "carbon based" paper industry into an "electronic based" information distribution industry, and we must begin now. Our planet, including its present and future inhabitants, depend on it. _________________________________________________________________________________ FACTS ABOUT PAPER AND PAPER WASTE http://www.id2.ca/downloads/eco-design-paper-facts.pdf. The US uses approx. 68 million trees each year to produce 17 billion catalogues and 65 billion pieces of direct mail.
Every year in the United States, over 2 billion books are published, 359 million magazines are published 24 billion newspaper are published
One year's worth of the New York Times newspaper weighs 520 pounds.
It is estimated that paper consumption will rise by 50% by 2010.
The average American uses more than 748 pounds of paper per year.
Recycling one ton of paper saves 682.5 gallons of oil, 7,000 gallons of water, 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space.
The average American attorney uses one ton of paper every year.
It takes 75,000 trees to print a Sunday Edition of the New York Times.
Every tree provides oxygen enough for 3 people to breathe.
The average American uses 18 cubic feet of wood and 749 pounds of paper - equal to a 100-foot tree with an 18-inch trunk - each year.
Americans discard 4 million tons of office paper every year - enough to build a 12-foot high wall of paper from New York to California.
About 40 million tons of paper that could be recycled is thrown away each year in the U.S.
If everyone in the US sent one less holiday card, we would save over 50,000 cubic yards of paper.
Average worldwide annual paper consumption is 48 KG per person with North America accounting for over 1/3.
The average daily web user prints 28 pages daily.
115 billion sheets of paper are used annually for personal computers.
If offices throughout the US increased the rate of two-sided photocopying from the 1991 figure of 20% to 60%, they could save the equivalent of about 15 million trees."
Employees at American financial businesses generate about 2 lbs. of paper a day…per person!
It is estimated that 95% of business information is still stored on paper.
Every ton of recycled paper saves about 17 trees.
3 cubic yards of landfill space can be saved by one ton of recycled paper.
Average per capita paper use in the USA is 333 KG. Average per capital paper use worldwide is 48 KG.
10,000 trees are cut down annually in China to make holiday cards.
77 percent of paper is recycled in the Netherlands.
67 percent of paper is recycled in Germany.
52 percent of paper is recycled in Japan.
45 percent of paper is recycled in the U.S.
Paper and paper products accounts for more than 1/3 of all Canada’s waste.
Canada uses 6 million tonnes of paper and paperboard annually. Only 1/4 of Canada’s waste paper and paperboard is recycled.
Paper manufacturing is the largest industrial user of water per pound of finished product.
The US uses 25% of the world's paper products.
New York's largest export out of the Port of NY is waste paper.
Americans consume more paper than the citizens of most other countries. Compared with the 1994 world average of 97 pounds, the United States per capita consumption of paper is more than 700pounds, about 2 pounds-per-person-per-day. Per capita consumption of paper in the United States has grown 43 percent since 1980.
30-40% of trash is discarded packaging.
The U.S. exports more waste paper than any other country.
Recycling half the world's paper would free 20 million acres of forestland.
Paper products use about 35% of the world's annual commercial wood harvest.
Approx. 324 L. of water is used to produce 1 KG of paper.
Asia has surpassed Western Europe in paper consumption and will soon surpass the United States.
Although paper is traditionally identified with reading and writing, communications has now been replaced by packaging as the single largest category of paper use at 41% of all paper used.
The paperless office, once predicted as a result of information technology (IT), has not transpired. Industry analysts estimate that 95% of business information is still stored on paper.
Recycling 54 KG of newspaper will save one tree.
Recycling paper uses 60% less energy than manufacturing virgin timber paper.
Nearly 81.3 million tons of paper and paperboard waste was generated in the U.S. in 1994.
Paper and paperboard constituted the largest portion of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream in 1994, representing 38.9% of the total waste by weight.
In the US, 9,190 million tons of office paper was generated, and 4,220 million tons were recovered in 2002. In 2000, only 4,545 million tons were recovered.
Recycled paper requires 64% less energy than making paper from virgin wood pulp.
Today, 90 per cent of paper pulp is made of wood. Paper manufacture is estimated to account for nearly 13 per cent of total wood use, and represents one per cent of the world's total economic output.
When paper rots or is composted it emits methane gas which is 25 times more toxic than CO2.
The pulp and paper industry is the third largest industrial buyer of elemental chlorine.
Dioxin is one by-product from use of elemental chlorine gas in paper bleaching.
Other sources of dioxin include municipal and hazardous waste incinerators, cement kilns, manufacture of certain herbicides and plastics, and several hydrocarbon chemicals.
Dioxins tend to bioaccumulate, which means their concentrations in organisms increase successively up the food chain.
Dioxin is a proven carcinogen (cancer causing chemical). However a 1991 study of dioxin found that its immunological, developmental, and neurological effects at very low levels may be more threatening to human health than its carcinogenicity. There is still much controversy over the accuracy or credibility of these data, and whether low levels of dioxins really pose a threat.
The term "dioxin-free paper" is misleading. Paper does not contain dioxins, but they are produced as a by-product of the papermaking process and usually become part of the effluent wastewater of paper mills.
Austria and Sweden substitute oxygen or other non-chlorine processes, or use only non-bleached (slightly brown) paper products. This is known as "total chlorine free" (TCF), and is defend as using no chlorine or chlorine dioxide.
Reducing brightness requirements will make it easier for paper companies to eliminate chlorine compounds from their bleaching processes.
_________________________________________________________________________________ 15 Facts About the Paper Industry, Global Warming and the Environment, And What You Can Do About It
http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/7447 Here are 15 more facts about the environmental impact of the paper industry, courtesy -- as is the quote above -- of The State of the Paper Industry, a report published (on-line) today by the Environmental Paper Network. That is a coalition of environmental groups that aims to minimize paper consumption, maximize recycled content, source paper fiber responsibly and employ cleaner paper production practices.
Paper's Contributions to global and local environmental problems http://www.nrdc.org/cities/living/paper/default.asp The pulp and paper industry may contribute to more global and local environmental problems than any other industry in the world. Paper manufacturers reach deep into species-rich forests for virgin timber, razing trees, polluting waterways and destroying precious wildlife habitat. Pulp and paper mills that use virgin timber are major generators of hazardous air pollutants, including dioxins and other cancer-causing chemicals. And the industry is the third largest industrial emitter of global warming pollution. _________________________________________________________________________________ The Paper Industry and Global Warming http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/summer98/wr_sum98e.htm by Adam T. Williams According to EPA figures, there is more carbon in the atmosphere now than at anytime in the last 160,000 years. The two human activities that are believed to affect the global carbon cycle the most are the burning of fossil fuels (the major source of CO2) and the destruction of forest ecosystems (the planet's major carbon sinks). The World Bank reports that global consumption of wood products was about 3.4 billion cubic meters at the beginning of this decade. By the year 2000, that figure will reach 4.2 billion cubic meters. The pulp and paper industry anticipates that the global demand for wood fiber will double every 39 years, keeping pace with population growth. Global paper consumption is expected to grow by 50 percent by 2040. Recycling will not save forests. The World Watch Institute has noted that, even though 37 percent of waste paper was recycled in 1991, "recycling has yet to dent the world's appetite for virgin-fiber pulp." In 1991, the world consumed about 255,674,000 tons of paper. The US accounted for 85,252,000 tons - 674 pounds for every man, woman and child. Today it is estimated that US paper users consume about one billion trees per year in the form of paper - despite recycling programs and paper from non-wood sources. Total US paper consumption increases by about 14 million tons annually. Disposable paper commodities - facial tissue, napkins, paper towels and toilet paper - are either incinerated (which releases more CO2 into the air) or buried in landfills (where they release methane gas). Paper is the dominant material in solid waste. According to Maureen Smith, author of The US Paper Industry and Sustainable Production, methane from the world's landfills may account for anywhere from 3 to 19 percent of global methane releases, with the US accounting for 39 percent of the total. While methane is less prevalent in the atmosphere than CO2 it is a much stronger greenhouse gas. US pulpmills consume 12,430 square miles of forests each year. An estimated 1.2 million acres of forest are clear-cut annually to feed 140 chip mills in the southeastern US. An estimated 120 billion tons of carbon were released into the atmosphere between 1850 and 1990 as a result of deforestation. Forest loss from 1980 through 1990 alone released 1.6 billion tons. The US pulp and paper industry is the third largest energy consumer after the chemical and primary metals industries. During 1994, the paper industry consumed 2,700 trillion BTUs - 3.1 percent of all US energy consumption. If the US pulp and paper industry continues business as usual, it will emit more than 1.2 billion metric tons of CO2 over the next five years. This means that over the next half-decade, the US paper industry will generate the same amount of carbon as one-sixth of the total annual global carbon emissions generated by all human activities combined. The timber and paper industries argue that cutting forests and planting new trees is the key to creating larger carbon sinks to curb global warming since younger, fast-growing trees absorb more carbon than older, mature trees. But many studies have shown that old growth forests absorb more carbon than new-growth. A 1995 World Resources Institute/EPA study found that plantations and tree farms in tropical forests can store, at best, only one- fourth as much carbon as natural forests. Industrial tree-planting doesn't prevent global warming. In fact, it may help speed up the process. Excerpted from a longer article in The Northern Forest Forum [PO Box 6, Lancaster, NH 03584. $15 for six issues]. http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/carboncalculator.asp _________________________________________________________________________________ Kick the catalog habit
http://nuthatch.typepad.com:80/ba/2005/11/kick_the_catalo.html
An article about the plight of the Boreal Forest noted that 17 billion catalogs are mailed annually in the U.S. and most get at least some of their virgin fiber from the Boreal Forest. _________________________________________________________________________________ Recycling also helps control waste disposal problems. For every ton of paper recovered for recycling, about 3 cubic yards of landfill space are saved. http://www.tappi.org/paperu/all_about_paper/earth_answers/Whyrec5.htm _________________________________________________________________________________ Is recycling the answer?? http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/apr99/925148125.En.r.html Worldwide, over 95 million metric tons of paper are recovered each year to be made into recycled paper and paperboard. Recovered fiber makes up over one-third of the total fiber used to make the world's paper. As much as 68% of all newsprint used in the U.S. is recovered for recycling. A little more than a third of this is recycled back into newsprint. Other products made from recovered newsprint include cereal boxes, corrugated boxes, books, insulating materials, printing and writing paper, tissue, egg cartons, and animal bedding. When you waste paper, you should be thinking more of the landfill space that is wasted, or the water, chemical, and energy resources required to recycle the paper. This has much greater environmental significance than a number of fallen trees. _________________________________________________________________________________ One pine tree produces 413000 sheets of paper http://www.paperonweb.com/a1011.htm... from its pulp, not from adding recycled material. _________________________________________________________________________________ How much paper can be made from one Tree? Ans. It will depend how big is the tree and which type of paper is being made. In the following table some assumptions are made to answer the question.
On The Discovery Channel, in a program on recycling, they mentioned a number, 6 tons of wood pulp to make 1 ton of paper. With recycled paper materials added, it took 3 tons of wood pulp to make 1 ton of paper. They used this to illustrate the benefit of recycling because it takes much less energy and water to process 3 tons instead of 6 tons and I just happened to remember it. I also wondered how many trees went into making 6 tons of wood pulp, but that question was never answered.
_________________________________________________________________________________ Some typical data http://www.science.edu.sg/ssc/detailed.jsp?artid=5493&type=6&root=4&parent=4&cat=38 For many years we have heard the statistic that "1 pallet or 1 ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees" Some typical data found in the literature are
as follows: 1 ton of 100% virgin (non-recycled) newsprint uses 12 trees. A "pallet" of copier paper contains 40 cartons and weighs 1 ton. 1 carton (10 reams) of 100% virgin copier paper uses 0.6 trees. 1 tree makes 16.67 reams of copy paper or 8,333 sheets. 1 ream (500 sheets) uses 6% of a tree. 1 ton of coated, higher-end virgin magazine paper uses a little more than 15 trees. 1 ton of coated, lower-end virgin magazine paper uses nearly 8 trees. _________________________________________________________________________________ 37.8 million tons of newsprint in 2001, which at 12 trees per ton, accounts for 453 million trees. http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/21581 Look at the ballpark figures behind the 1.5 million daily papers put out by the current four. It takes 12 established trees to make one ton of newsprint, which is enough to print 14,000 editions of an average-size tabloid. That means a daily usage of newsprint of a little over 107 tons. Which, in turn, means the felling of 1,284 trees. What starts in London shows up elsewhere. Free tabloids are big in the newspaper industry. While reporters are busy reporting on the demise of newspapers, the threat of the Internet, and Wall Street sneering at the industry's returns, there are actually more newspapers in circulation worldwide today than there ever have been before according to the World Association of Newspapers. Jeff goes on to note that the industry worldwide consumed 37.8 million tons of newsprint in 2001, which at 12 trees per ton, accounts for 453 million trees. Free daily newspaper circulation more than doubled from 2001 to 2005, from 12 million copies in 2001 to 28 million in 2005, an increase of 137 percent. It stands to reason that the greenies are starting to look at free newspapers very critically. As we are aggressively looking at ways to control the changing climate that include proposed caps in greenhouse gas emissions, it may be high time that the industry ups the ante and moves to printing only on recycled paper. It ain't easy being green, but it may be well worth it many ways. AreteVision's comment: How about not printing at all?! http://www.daviscoop.com/grocery_bags.html _________________________________________________________________________________ The trail of paper bags starts
in our forests. Manufacturing paper bags requires virgin timber (for greater strength and elasticity), which is processed into heat-treated wood chips. This creates numerous byproducts that pollute waterways and produce greenhouse gases, which are consequently absorbed by fewer trees. In fact, according to the Film and Bag Federation, a trade group within the Society of the Plastics Industry based in Washington, D.C., paper bag production requires more energy, generates more solid waste, produces more atmospheric emissions and releases more waterborne wastes compared to plastic grocery bags. Advocates of paper bags point out that trees are a renewable resource, but it takes years to replace the old, biologically rich forests that are harvested to make them. www.printindustry.com/glossary.htm 12 trees are required to make a tonne of virgin wood fibre uncoated Groundwood Paper. 24 trees are required to make a tonne of virgin wood fibre uncoated Kraft Paper.* * For this calculation, 'trees' are taken to be a mix of hardwoods and softwoods, with an average height of 15 meters and average diameter of 15-20 centimeters. _________________________________________________________________________________ Paper: It's Not Just From Trees Anymore! http://www.greenoptions.com/blog/2007/02/16/paper_its_not_just_from_trees_anymore Reducing paper use is probably the most important step we can take to save trees and resources and prevent waste. In the office, this means printing on both sides of each page, reusing all the paper we can, and simply not printing as much stuff. For instance, I send all my invoices as PDFs attached to an e-mail. The paperless office may not be a reality yet, but we can certainly move towards it by using digital documents over paper ones._________________________________________________________________________________ One tree that shades your home http://www.coloradotrees.org/benefits.htm One tree that shades your home in the city will also save fossil fuel, cutting CO2 buildup as much as 15 forest trees. Approximately 800 million tons of carbon are stored in U.S. urban forests with a $22 billion equivalent in control costs. A single mature tree can absorb carbon dioxide at a rate of 48 lbs./year and release enough oxygen back into the atmosphere to support 2 human beings. _________________________________________________________________________________ If every American family planted just one tree ... The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere would be reduced by one billion lbs annually. This is almost 5% of the amount that human activity pumps into the atmosphere each year. (17)
The U.S. Forest Service estimates that
all the forests in the United
States combined sequestered a net of approximately 309 million tons of
carbon per year from 1952 to 1992, offsetting approximately 25% of U.S.
human-caused emissions of carbon during that period. Over a 50-year lifetime, a tree generates $31,250 worth of oxygen, provides $62,000 worth of air pollution control, recycles $37,500 worth of water, and controls $31,250 worth of soil erosion. Trees also remove other gaseous pollutants by absorbing them with normal air components through the stomates in the leaf surface.
Homeowners that properly place trees in their landscape can realize
savings up to 58% on daytime air conditioning and as high as 65% for
mobile homes. If applied nationwide to buildings not now benefiting from
trees, the shade could reduce our nation’s consumption of oil by 500,000
barrels of oil/day. The maximum potential annual savings from energy conserving landscapes around a typical residence ranged from 13% in Madison up to 38% in Miami. Projections suggest that 100 million additional mature trees in US cities (3 trees for every unshaded single family home) could save over $2 billion in energy costs per year. (10) A large front yard tree in a San Joaquin Valley community like Modesto (dry like Colorado) provides the following benefits each year:
Based on field data and modeling for Brooklyn, NY (Nowak et al, in review), one acre of tree cover in Brooklyn gives off an approximate net amount of 2.8 t O2/yr (this estimate does not include tree decomposition). Estimated annual average net oxygen production for Brooklyn trees is (for various dbh classes):
a) The average density in a forest stand is around 480 tree/ac (e.g., Raile and Leatherberry, 1988). Average tree density within tree covered urban areas is approximately 204 trees/ ac of tree cover. This estimate is based on field data from 7 cities (Dwyer et al., in review). In the Chicago area (Cook and DuPage Counties), 77% of the trees were less than 6 in. dbh. (Nowak, 1994a). b) The average annual oxygen consumption for a person at rest at 20 degrees C and 760 mm Hg (standard pressure) is between 355 lbs/yr and 444 lbs/yr (average = 400 lbs O2/ yr). This is a conservative estimate as exercise will increase oxygen consumption. Based on the above estimates of oxygen consumption and net oxygen production by an acre of tree cover in Brooklyn, one acre of trees would produce enough oxygen for 14 people. However, it is debatable as to whether oxygen production by an acre of trees or large tracts of forests are significant, because if the acre of trees did not exist, 14 people would not suffocate from lack of oxygen. There are many sources of oxygen and plenty of oxygen in the atmosphere, but trees do contribute oxygen to the atmosphere. "We have a large number of serious ecological problems, but suffocation from lack of oxygen is not one of them (Broeker 1970, SCEP 1970). The oxygen content of the atmosphere remains essentially constant, with the oxygen consumed by all animals, bacteria, and respiration processes roughly balanced by the oxygen released by land and sea plants during photosynthesis. The present atmospheric oxygen content seems not to have changed since 1910 (SCEP 1970). Furthermore, because air is about 20 percent oxygen, the total supply is immense (Broeker 1970)" (Miller,1979). Waters of the world are the main oxygen generators of the biosphere; their algae are estimated to replace about 90% of all oxygen used (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1994). Also, most of the oxygen produced by trees will be consumed when the tree dies and decomposes. 1 ac of trees absorbs enough CO2 in a year is equal to that produced from driving a car 26K miles. a) how much CO2 does 1 ac of trees absorb in 1 year? b) how much CO2 does driving a car 26K mi produce? a) this answer depends on tree density per acre, diameter structure, species composition, and growth rates. Estimates from Chicago are 2.7 t C/ac of tree cover/yr (Nowak 1994b); the Chicago area: 2.2 t C/ac of tree cover/yr (Nowak, 1994b); and in Brooklyn, NY: 1.0 t C/ac of tree cover/yr (Nowak et al., in review). These are gross carbon sequestration estimates and do not account for carbon emitted due to decomposition. The Chicago estimates are likely liberal as they do not account for tree condition or stand structure effects on growth. Gross carbon sequestration estimates for individual trees in Brooklyn, by various diameter classes are (Nowak et al., in review):
b) Estimate of carbon emitted per vehicle mile is approximately 0.24 lb C/mi (see Nowak, 1993 for calculation and references) but is as high as 0.29 lb C/mi if carbon produced from transportation and fuel processing is included. Thus, a car driven 26,000 miles will emit 6,240 lbs C (22,880 lbs CO2) or 7,540 lbs C (27,647 lbs CO2) if the whole fuel process is included. Thus, one acre of tree cover in Brooklyn can compensate for automobile fuel use equivalent to driving a car between 7,200 and 8,700 miles, depending on which estimate you choose to use. However, when the tree dies, most, if not all, of the carbon stored will eventually be released back to the atmosphere and form CO2. Thus, the CO2 gains made by trees are sustained as long as the forest structure is sustained. Also, the gains made are only good for the first generation of trees, unless the carbon is prevented from decomposing. If first generation decomposes, the second generation of trees will only compensate for the loss of the first generation (Nowak et al., in preparation). W here does the carbon in the air come from?Carbon in the atmosphere comes mainly from fossil fuel combustion (emissions of approximately 5 billion metric tons/yr) and deforestation (loss of stored carbon in biomass) (emissions of about 1-2 billion metric tons/yr) (Schneider, 1989). Carbon in trees comes from atmospheric carbon dioxide (a very minor portion may come from other chemicals containing carbon [e.g., carbon monoxide], but many of these chemicals convert to carbon dioxide through time). How many trees does it take to remove so many tons of one element? We are currently completing a comparison of pollution removal by trees in 50 cities across the United States. Pollution removal varies based on meteorology, amount of tree and shrub cover (acres), pollution concentration, and length of growing season. Pollution removal (ozone, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon monoxide) by trees and shrubs in Chicago in 1994 was estimated at 651 tons (rates varied for each pollutant) (Nowak, 1994c). In Brooklyn,1994 pollution removal (same 5 pollutants) by trees and shrubs was estimated at 287 tons (Nowak et al., in review). Average individual tree pollution removal estimates for Brooklyn by various diameter classes are:
How much carbon does a tree store in its wood? One half of a tree's dry weight is carbon (see
Nowak, 1994b for various citations). Thus carbon storage is directly
related to size (i.e., bigger trees have more carbon stored). Annual
carbon sequestration (the amount of carbon removed from the atmosphere
each year) is related to tree size and growth rates (large trees with fast
growth rates will remove more carbon annually than small trees with slow
growth rates). Green Awakening Taking Place In Paper Industry America Uses 100 Million Tons Of Paper A Year An awakening within the paper industry is allowing more people to Go Green. _________________________________________________________________________________ The Truth Behind the Cover June 13th, 2006
The Truth Behind the Cover
is a five-part series on the destructive legacy of the http://www.victoriasdirtysecret.net/article.php?id=244 Forest Destruction Victoria's Secret is destroying ancient forests. Why? So they can send out more junk mail. Victoria’s Secret’s catalogs are made mostly of virgin fiber, not recycled content, and Canada’s Boreal Forest is being destroyed in the process. This vast wilderness stretches all the way from Alaska to the Atlantic Ocean. It has more freshwater than anywhere else on earth, and plays a vital role in cleaning our air and in fighting global warming. It’s also home to rare species of wolves, bears, and woodland caribou, as well as half of America’s songbirds. It is one of the three largest intact forests in the world, but it is in danger. More than 45% of the Boreal Forest has been allocated to logging companies. Close to 650,000 hectares (about 1.6 million acres) of Boreal Forest are logged each year in Canada, and the predominant method of cutting this forest is via clearcutting. 90% of logging in Canada occurs within primary and old growth forests—forests of high biodiversity and wilderness value. Victoria’s Secret could be an industry leader by choosing not to print their catalogs on paper from Endangered Forests. With their contract with International Paper coming up for renewal in June, they have another chance to stop turning Endangered Forests into junk mail. Global Warming When its trees are standing they protect. When they're cut, they contribute. Trees, in addition to all their other wonderful qualities, act as a filter. Their soil traps global warming pollution. So what happens when you cut the trees down? Well, imagine taking a chainsaw to the bag on your vacuum cleaner. When the Boreal Forest is destroyed, it’s not just that we lose our global warming pollution filter—we also release all that pollution from the filter back into the atmosphere. Consider these facts about the vital role the Boreal plays in protecting us against global warming: A 50% reduction in logging of North America’s Boreal would be equivalent to taking all the passenger cars in Canada off the road.* Logging in the Boreal releases half the amount of global warming pollution as all the vehicles in California. (If California were a country, it would be the 10th largest contributor to global warming.)* Second to the ocean, the global boreal ecosystem is the largest storehouse of carbon, making the Boreal Forest region one of the earth’s most important defenses against global warming. The Boreal’s role in protecting against global warming is only part of its immense value to our planet. It cleans our air, cleans our water, and is home to a vast number of species. So isn’t it more valuable to us standing than as junk mail, toilet paper, and catalogs? * Source: INVENTORY OF CALIFORNIA GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS AND SINKS: 1990 TO 2002 UPDATE PREPARED IN SUPPORT OF THE 2005 INTEGRATED ENERGY POLICY REPORT Gerry Bemis and Jennifer Allen Transportation Technology Office Fuels and Transportation Division California Energy Commission STAFF PAPER. Disappearing Caribou Endangered woodland caribou live in the forests Victoria's Secret cuts down. As the trees disappear, the caribou go with them. The paper Victoria’s Secret uses for their catalogs comes from some of the largest undisturbed areas in the Rocky Mountain Foothills of Alberta. The caribou need these extensive areas to live, but clearcuts are destroying their habitat and putting the survival of the caribou at risk. Woodland caribou’s numbers have dropped almost 90% since the 1960s. There are fewer than 3,000 caribou left in Alberta. If development in the province continues as planned, there will be no caribou left in Alberta in less than 40 years. Woodland Caribou populations in West Fraser’s Forest Management Area have declined 20% over the past 20 years and West Fraser’s plans for continued logging threaten their very existence. Caribou used to live across Canada and the Northeastern United States. Now they live in a few isolated areas. Victoria’s Secret can get their paper products somewhere else, but the caribou can’t pack up and move once their habitat is destroyed. Let Victoria’s Secret know this is a travesty; it’s irresponsible and unnecessary. Wolf Killings Wolves are being killed to protect caribou. But the real predators are the companies that are destroying caribou habitat. The caribou in Alberta are dying off. In a last-ditch effort to save them, Alberta Fish and Wildlife has begun shooting wolves. So far just under 100 of the 160 wolves that live in the Little Smoky region have been shot and killed. This short-sighted solution could backfire though. In packs, wolves are able to hunt large animals such as moose, but as the wolves are killed their packs break up. Lone wolves can’t bring down large prey on their own, so more pressure is put on smaller prey—like caribou. Alberta is offering a temporary fix without addressing the major problem. What’s really threatening the caribou is habitat destruction. Even as Alberta acknowledges that the caribou need help, the province continues to sell critical caribou habitat for logging and other industrial uses. If the logging in the Endangered Forests of Alberta continues, there will be nowhere for the caribou—or the moose, or the wolves—to live, and soon enough they’ll all be gone. The information for this article came from the Alberta Wilderness Association. Toxic Releases Cutting down trees contributes to pollution. So does dumping toxic chemicals into the water and air. And the paper industry does both. The devastation caused by the pulp and paper industry starts with forest destruction, but it doesn’t end with trees. It is the third largest industrial polluter in North America, and the pulp manufacturing process is the worst part of the industry. For example, paper production releases dioxins into the air and water. Dioxins form during the bleaching process when chlorine combines with organic material. They accumulate in the environment and when they enter the food chain they can cause cancer, diabetes, and learning disorders, and disrupt the reproductive, hormonal, and immune systems. Other chemicals released by pulp mills into the environment are methanol, Ammonia, Hydrochloric Acid, Manganese Compounds, and Sulfuric Acid. In the air these cause respiratory problems, and in water some of these chemicals can cause unusual plant growth. Even with precautions in place, these harmful chemicals leak out into the environment and affect plants, animals, and the communities around them. Victoria’s Secret can help alleviate the problems that mills make by using more recycled content in their catalogs, and by buying paper from mills that are more ecologically sound. Right now, by sending out 395 million catalogs a year with very low recycled content, they are big contributors to the problem. But they do not have to be such a large part of this destructive and irresponsible process. They can sign a new paper contract with responsible mills and help protect the Boreal Forest rather than pollute it. The information for this article came from the EPA report Profile of the Pulp and Paper Industry, 2nd Edition. http://www.printondemand.com/mt/archives/006616.html _________________________________________________________________________________ 8 Billion Pages Annually Today, more than 8 billion pages are being produced annually on Xerox digital production color systems worldwide, while customers using the flagship Xerox iGen3® Digital Production Press are set to break the 3 billion page mark this month. More than 70 iGen3 presses are printing 1 million pages or more in a single month, and more than 60 customers have multiple iGen3 presses _________________________________________________________________________________
In a galaxy far away ... In a galaxy far far away, the paperless office existed. Yet here on Earth the global consumption of wood products has risen, 64% between 1961 and 1998, and is expected to double by 2050, keeping pace with population growth. Even with the advent of email in the mid 1990’s, paper consumption has increased by 40%. In the United States paper producers consume 1 billion trees, producing 725 pounds of paper per person per year. In Indonesia the pulp and paper industry destroys the rainforest so quickly that an area the size of Belgium disappears annually. In The Paper Chase, Jim Motavalli puts it this way:
The major source of this pollution is the chlorine used to bleach wood pulp white. Increased uses of recycled content could drastically reduce the levels of this potent carcinogenetic dioxin found throughout the world in air water, soil and food. Not surprisingly the paper industry says that it is doing its part. According to Michael Klien, a spokesperson for the American Forest and Paper Association, the paper and pulp industry is using all of the recycled paper it can get. He says that environmental advocates need to shift their demands and get people to recycle more! Environmentalists agree that consumers need to more actively recycle. By doing so consumers will assure big potential buyers of recycled paper that a steady source of recycled paper will continue to exist. However, the paper industry must also do their part! Jeanne Tombly, founder of Fiber Futures, says that, “traditional companies are floundering and contracting, but there’s still not much enthusiasm for applying research and development money to innovative non-woods. The paper industry is at a crossroads right now. Until we reach the far away galaxies of paperless societies, we’ll need increased consumer recycling and increased industry commitment to ensure that alternatives to wood-based paper are sought and widely used. Only then will can we reduce the rate of climate change, save forests and cease the pollution of our life’s essentials. _________________________________________________________________________________
Quick Tips on Greening Your Mail - Yes, Your Mail The amount of junk mail I receive each day drives me nuts. All I can think
of is how many trees were cut down each and every day just to send me crap
that goes straight into the trash — wait, I didn’t mean trash, I meant
recycle bin. Because what many people don’t realize is that the vast
majority of your mail can go right into the recycle bin along with your
newspapers and other papers. That is, if your city recycles those
materials. To stop receiving catalogs, email optout@abacus-us.com, which provides many of the mailing lists to catalog companies. You may have to call the 800 number for catalogs that you have requested or from which you have purchased products. (Try that one with Pottery Barn. I’m still waiting for those to stop coming. They print on FSC paper now, but somehow that still doesn’t seem to make it OK.) To reduce general junk mail, register with the Direct Marketing Association. Be warned, they will charge you $1 (a bargain!). But read through the information, because DMA states that although “the typical consumer sees a great reduction in the unsolicited mail he or she receives not all commercial mail will stop.” Do not send in warranty cards. They really just want your address, and warranties are in effect from moment of purchase anyway as long as you have a receipt. But if you must, be sure to write “no mailing list” on the card. Do the same on any rebate cards. Always look for the tiny type on any forms that you send in to companies that discuss “privacy policies,” and opt out of any mailing lists or sharing of your name. Call your credit card company. Your credit card company probably sells your name the most often. Ask them to stop selling your name. These are a few simple steps you can take now. If you’re interested in further reading, I’m sure there’s a wealth of information available online. Elizabeth Striano _________________________________________________________________________________
The hidden costs of copy paper. Consider the cost of buying copy paper, at about $2 per ream. Add in the costs of paper storage, printing, copying, recycling, disposal, and postage. These quickly add up to as much as 31 times the purchasing cost, or an estimated $62 per ream–a hefty sum for one of the most commonly purchased commodities. The environmental impacts of copy paper use are also very real Over 4.6 million tons of copy paper were shipped in the U.S. in 2000. Producing, using and disposing of this much copy paper consumes enough wood to build over one million average U.S. homes, a day's worth of water flowing through Niagara Falls, and more energy than that used by all the households in Los Angeles each year, while generating over 5.2 million tons of solid waste and greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to the tailpipe emissions of over two million cars. http://www.paperrecycles.org/tools_for_teachers/index.html Paper recovery and recycling have reached record levels of activity in the United States. In 2005 51.5 percent-51.3 million tons of the paper used in the U.S. was recovered for recycling. To keep up wi |