China Paper

It is easy to become depressed and feel helpless at the thought of global warming as it often seems like everything you do is at least an indirect cause of it. Fortunately, there are many ways you can easily help stop global warming and become empowered by making small changes in your life.

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! The way you spend your money can, in the long term, determine whether or not these trees will continue to be felled. 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. This means that if you want major brands to stop wasting trees then you must hit them in their pocket books and buy your toilet paper elsewhere. 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.

The future comes with every new day. The world seems bright tomorrow; let's do what it takes now to make sure it stays that way for a long time to come.