Long ago and far away, paper mills were big business. Cutting down trees, bleaching and chemicals, cranking out sheet after sheet, selling and using it, then throwing it all away are all hallmarks of the paper industry. Repeat that cycle and you have a paper trail that leads from our forests to the landfills.
Whole stands of trees were decimated because of our love of paper. Not only did it fuel our communications, what with newspapers, books, and virtually all other types of written correspondence, but it ended up littering our landfills with a horrible environmental mess. The worst part was that it looked like there was no end in sight.
Enter the age of the computer. Yes, that wonder of our desktop, able to surf the internet at will, do taxes and hard core gaming, and best of all, able to send electronic messages without the use of paper!
As the human race embraces more and more electronic technology, they embrace less and less paper technology, and that means production and demand are lessened while prices go higher to offset the loss. Granted, some paper products like corrugated cardboard are holding steady, but there is a noticeable decrease in regular writing paper, and that trend is expected to continue.
That paper is being used less is a sure sign at our nations post offices. As people use less paper to mail messages and instead switch to electronic messaging, for the first time in history, the United States Postal Service is going to cancel Saturday mail delivery. Not only that, stamps are going to go higher to cover the expenses of decreased mailing.
Even the Hawaii Senate is getting on the paperless bandwagon. The Senates official order was, “No more paper unless it is absolutely necessary” and that edict has saved them nearly 1.2 million dollars in the last couple of years. No paper, no problem.
What does all this mean? It means you and I, and not even in a conscious sense, are saving the planet as we type. You are reading this electronically and saving trees by doing it. Sending e-mails or going into chat rooms are the bane of postal services worldwide, and the champion of trees everywhere. And if we just do this, just this, we are slowly changing the way the paper industry is doing business, all the while helping the planet.
But there are other ways to help out too. Yes, electronic messaging is huge, it won’t stop anytime soon, and we are all a part of that. But we can also buy recycled paper goods when needed, or use glasses and ceramics instead of paper cups and plates. Paper towels and toilet paper that is recycled is now comparably priced with new paper products, so there isn’t even a price excuse anymore to not buy recycled.
While certainly still healthy, the paper industry is beginning to feel the pinch, and that has everything to do with you and me, Because Action speaks louder than words on paper ever could!
Source: BecauseAction.com
