Member-only story
Is it time to stop using Tiolet papers
Lets start with the lifecycle of toilet paper, only when we can learn how toilet papers are made and the journey to the retail shelf can we accept the devastation it has on our planet.
Toilet paper releases carbon with every flush, landing major U.S. tissue makers in the hot seat for their role in turning Canada’s boreal forest from a climate asset to a liability.
many major toilet paper brands found in the United States come in part from one of the most climate-critical ecosystems on the planet: the Canadian boreal forest. This great northern forest is the most carbon-dense, intact forest left on the planet, locking up in its soils and trees twice as much carbon as the world’s oil reserves.
Unfortunately, the climate impact from toilet paper made from trees is likely even greater in reality. The logging industry and tissue producers claim that for every tree cut down, another one is regrown. However, not only does it take a human lifetime or longer for the forest to regain its same value for species and the climate, but, across much of the forest, the trees aren’t regrowing at all.
By 2030, assuming this rate of logging scars continues, these deforested areas in Ontario alone will release more than 40 million metric tons of carbon.
