How to Cut Paper Usage and Not Trees

Image credit: https://www.holidify.com/places/ooty/

Whenever we have went to Ooty or Munnar, we do not feel like leaving once the trip is over. We say it is because Ooty and Munnar are such beautiful places with green hills and fresh air. The addictive smell of tea plantations, the fog, the mist and the cool atmosphere. There are trees everywhere. Once upon a time there was an Earth where many more places like these existed.

Why is saving the Earth of any importance now? 

Because of death. Death is the reason why you should think of closing that tap after use. Death is the reason why you should take a cloth bag to the market next time. And death is the reason why you should print on both sides of a sheet of paper.. 

Air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year. Contaminated water can transmit diseases such diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, and polio. Contaminated drinking water is estimated to cause 485,000 diarrhoeal deaths each year. By 2025, half of the world's population will be living in water-stressed areas. Nobody wants to be the cause of these deaths.

The fear of loss of lives that exists in each of us. The fear of losing loved ones, family, friends. They are all that we have after all...

Nature is crying out for help. The warning bells have been ringing, but nobody listens. Saving the only planet known to have life should not be the duty of only those who are paid to do it, but the duty of every one of us. 

Technology has once again lent out a helping hand in taking steps to save the environment. Green technology includes biodegradable plastic, cloth-like material made from grapes or pineapple, usage of algae to filter the air by placing them on either sides of roads, roads made from powdered plastic and bitumen, vertical agriculture in which yield of crops is more efficient, cultivating crops 'on' water bodies due to lack of cultivable land, etc. 

Algae Air Purifiers Image credit : https://www.engadget.com/2016-11-12-six-green-designs-powered-by-algae.html

Vertical Agriculture Image credit:https://impactalpha.com/californias-crop-one-and-emirates-partner-to-bring-vertical-farming-to-airlines/

'Floating Farms' Image credit: https://modernfarmer.com/2014/03/floating-farms/

E-books and Audiobooks

I wanted to link environmental concerns with reading. E-books and audiobooks have been around for a while and they save both money and paper for printing compared to printed books. Due to the cut in printing costs, e-books are cheaper and you can easily carry many of them around in a single device. They are very convenient and highly preferable over printed books. E-books do not require any paper, which is its most advantageous environmental-friendly aspect.  

Image credit: http://www.openculture.com/free_ebooks

Paper and trees

Though the lessening of paper usage was predicted due to the electronic revolution, unfortunately it didn’t happen. Demand for paper is expected to double before 2030. 85 million tons of paper waste is created each year. To print just one Sunday edition of the New York Times, it requires 75,000 trees! 

Saving paper matters because the production of paper depletes forests and releases industrial effluents into water bodies and gaseous pollutants into the atmosphere. It is rightly said, 'Planting a tree is saving a life', because every tree produces enough oxygen for 3 people to breathe.

Get to know more astounding paper waste facts like these at The World Counts - Paper World Facts.

Watch this video about the paper recycling process by Domtar below.

What you can do

Mostly it is impossible for us to replace all paper, but we can try to acclimatize to digitalization to the best of our ability so that we reduce the usage of paper. 

• Newspapers can be replaced by their apps, websites, TV, etc.
• Sticky notes, notebooks and scraps of paper can be replaced by digital note-taking applications like Microsoft OneNote or Google Keep
• Calendars can be replaced by Google Calendar, Fantastical, etc.
• There is even digital art, for all those who are obsessed with art, thanks to the touchscreen.
• Documents should be printed only if necessary. 
• Disposable containers and cups, both paper and plastic must be avoided, while increasing usage of reusable ones for packaging and storing.
• Use cloth rags and not tissues.

We all know Greta Thunberg, the famous Swedish teenage climate change activist who is now the face of the global climate change movement. We must remember that initially she was only a teenager who sat outside the Swedish Parliament, protesting for change. She does not own any land or have power.

Evidently, there is so much that we can do at the lowest level to make a change, even if it means sitting outside a government building.

The unprecedented circumstances have forced us into our homes. When man hid away in his shelter, nature rejuvenated and is now healing back to its former glory. Dolphins are moving towards the shores of Bosphorus and stray cats and dogs have begun exploring the streets of lifeless cities. Carbon emissions have reduced by 17%, which is great progress but sadly, not enough to undo the damages that have been done.

 

It is predicted that global warming would become irreversible within the next 11 years or so. As humans who live 11 whole years before a catastrophe, with clearly enough time to react to prevent or at least reduce the impact, we have the automatic responsibility to ensure that the future dwellers to walk on this planet will have the opportunity to experience the same comforts and pleasures as us or even better. It is not because we do not know how to take the necessary steps or because a solution has not been found yet, but because we humans, by nature, are ignorant and lazy. We care more about saving and making money and time, not realizing that we are slowly and unknowingly preparing the deathbeds of our children and generations to come.