Flushing an ecosystem down the toilet? We’re working to save the boreal forest.
By Marcia Eldridge, board member
Should we deplete the world’s largest intact forest ecosystem to make toilet paper? We don’t think so.
Yet much of the tissue that we use once before flushing away is made from virgin wood pulp harvested from one of the planet’s most important forests: North America’s boreal forest, which stretches 1.5 billion acres from Alaska to Newfoundland. That’s why more than 13,000 Environmental Action supporters called on Procter & Gamble (P&G) this past May to make its toilet paper out of recycled materials.
Trading North America’s “lungs” for toilet paper
The boreal forest is the lungs of the Northern Hemisphere — absorbing greenhouse gases and releasing oxygen back into the atmosphere. We’re literally trading priceless trees for toilet paper — and in today’s world that doesn’t make any sense, especially when less damaging alternatives exist.
Some companies are already using recycled alternatives. P&G, maker of Charmin, isn’t with the program, yet. So we’re calling on P&G to do better for our planet.