The impact humankind's footprint is leaving upon the environment can not escape notice. Ever increasing demands upon the earth's ecological infrastructure, as a response to unsound practices in managing the stewardship of its resources, is tearing at the very fabric of its stability.
This is why...Green Matters!
Each month, included in the MakingPaperEasy.com Newsletter is an article featuring practical guides and reviews to emerging earth kind solutions. Whether a product, technology or idea, each can make a difference in the world we live in, depend upon, and share with others.
Starting with the Basics
As in getting started with most any subject, developing an understanding of some key definitions and explanations is important. So, let's take a look at a couple detailed in the New York Times Bestseller, The Green Book by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen's book, published by Crown Publishing in 2007;
Waste
Waste is all our unwanted material: rubbish, trash, garbage, or junk.
This is important because: Some waste can be recovered and recycled. Other types of waste are biodegradable, which means they "naturally" degrade into the earth. But some types of waste continue to pile up, so much so that the earth could be completely covered in in if we don't manage waste properly.
Paper
Paper is made mostly from wood pulp, which is made from trees and water.
This is important because: Paper is the most common form of waste. Much of it can be recycled, but that still means more energy has to be used to reprocess it. Using less paper means saving energy, trees, water, and the chemicals needed in the manufacturing process. Trees are important because they prevent erosion and they absorb carbon from the air and turn it into the oxygen we breathe.
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Did you realize?
Some 643,000 metric tons of staples are produced annually in the United States. If one-third of the documents that are stapled could be bound without staples, we could keep nearly a trillion staples out of the trash each year.
1. Rogers, Elizabeth, and Thomas M. Kostigen. Green book the everyday guide to saving the planet one simple step at a time. New York: Three Rivers, 2007. Print. pg. 60
