Could It Be This Simple … Choose the Right Toilet Paper to Save the Forests … a World Challenge!

 

Could It Be This Simple … Choose the Right Toilet Paper to Save the Forests … a World Challenge!

Who recalls the panicked run on toilet paper a few months ago when a virus became a psychological thriller to ensure your private indoor plumbing was never empty of toilet paper?

As an eco-fiction writer and keen researcher about all ecological matters, once in a while I come across an article that changed my mindset with a new implication that HEMP could save the world because toilet paper is an area that can be improved.  Read the article yourself. 

Here is what I learned that I didn’t know before which made me appreciate even more the wonder of nature itself and worry about human development of business models misaligned with Nature’s ecology’s long term consequences.  

Why Hemp makes an excellent toilet paper...

The fibers are softer than trees, naturally odorless, resistant to mold and several other fungi, have antibacterial and anti-fungal properties which ensure healthy skin. It is both durable and absorbent, absorbing four times its weight!

It is more biodegradable than any other toilet paper.

Why Hemp is better than toilet paper from a trees...

Hemp toilet paper is cheaper to make using less energy and chemicals in the process. To create paper, you only need the cellulose part of the plant. The trees contain 30% cellulose and harsh chemicals are needed to break down the plant to recover the 30%. Hemp contains up to 85% cellulose, almost three times more than trees.

Hemp produces four times more material (cellulose fibers) per acre than trees. Ten tons of hemp can be grown on an acre, making it the best biomass in the world.

Trees need 50 to 100 years before they can be harvested and turned into toilet paper. Hemp production is ready in 70 days

Hemp pulp paper can be made without any chemicals. 

Why is Hemp Better for Earth’s environment?

It can reduce landfill where a quarter of all solid waste comes from pulp and paper mills. One ton of paper pollutes 76 liters of water. (I know, I live near to a town that produces pulp and paper.)

It can also reduce recycled paper waste in landfills or incinerators … even in a digital environment, offices continue to use vast amounts of paper where paper consumption has increased by 400% in 40 years.

It can reduce toxic air waste ... if the average person uses an average of 22 kilos of toilet paper a year, then the production of pulp and paper is responsible for 20% of all toxic air waste. 

It can reduce massive deforestation to make paper, including toilet paper where 35% of trees felled are used for paper making 

Always remember that trees absorb carbon dioxide thus help to mitigate greenhouse gases produced by human activity. They play an important role in carbon sequestration, or the capture and storage of excess carbon dioxide including the soil. It is estimated that a mature tree can consume 48 pounds of carbon dioxide per year and releases enough oxygen to breathe for two years!

Sometimes a historical perspective can show the intersection between nature and business marketplace development. Before mass production, the story of toilet paper began with a variety of plants that sufficed…often dependent on status … hemp, leaves, hay, or the nearby stream.

In 1857 the first invented commercial toilet paper in the US was made from Manila hemp leaves moistened with aloe and sold as medicated toilet paper versus tearing pages from the catalog.

In 1867, the Scott brothers started making dry toilet paper from wood chips pulp that was chemically bleached with chlorine dioxide. This relatively cheap convenience soon dominated the world market and the brand Scott Paper Company remains the world's largest manufacturer and marketer of sanitary tissue products with operations in 22 countries.

Try and imagine the vast tracts of trees that were cut down for both lumber for commerce and to make toilet paper for a few cents.

Today farmers and business know that an acre of hemp can make four times as much paper as a single acre of forest in 70 days versus 50 years. 

Could it be this simple … choose the right toilet paper to save the forests

 … a world challenge!

Surely, everybody can see the logic along with environmentalists why to use hemp products as an alternative. Facts prove the logic that hemp toilet paper would save millions of trees, move towards a greener future  and help save our planet!

In fact, toilet paper, made from the industrial hemp plant, has been sold in other countries for some time. Consumers have always been the best regulators of marketplaces. Perhaps it is our turn to take the toilet paper challenge and check out hemp products’ suppliers on the internet. A small step can be as simple as replacing your regular toilet paper with hemp-based toilet paper.  

I certainly have done my due diligence and will try some Hempies!

In conclusion, the question to ask yourself is: 

If you could help save a third of the world's forests and their ecological benefits to the 

Earth, would you consider changing your sanitation habits to hemp toilet paper?

I look forward to your answers and comments. Please leave a convenient time to chat:       833 471 4661

Sincerely,

Annemarie

amarie10@gmail.com

https://helpfulmindstreamforchanges.com 

PS: Another interesting side note about the roles of business and government in using our natural environment for their personal justifications:

Who will ever know the quirk of nature that allows hemp to contain the compound tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which can produces psychoactive effects in humans?  However, hemp has a variety of cannabis that has only small amounts of THC relative to that grown for the production of marijuana. 

In the 1930’s hemp was poised to be a billion-dollar crop with Henry Ford a big supporter, and marijuana was a common ingredient in medical products until the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 killed the growth of the industry. In 1970, President Nixon classified hemp with no current medical use and high potential for abuse in Schedules of the Controlled Substances Act and hemp  became illegal along with drugs like cocaine, heroin, and marijuana (cannabis).

In 1998, the Canadian government made marijuana legal, both in terms of recreational use and medical applications. I believe it is so important to pursue scientific studies for medical cannabis use and learn all we can about this miracle plant from Nature. 

In the meantime, long live Hempies!

 

Podcast Interview Answer #7: What's the Symbolism of a Cocoon in the Story as the Metamorphosis Process in a Consumer Society?

Podcast Interview Answer #7:  What's the Symbolism of a Cocoon in the Story as the Metamorphosis Process in a Consumer Society?

Adolescence is a period of transformation, not unlike a chrysalis changing into a butterfly. If you have never seen this process, it can be painstakingly difficult to watch. The butterfly gradually breaks free of his cocoon, pulling and pushing, stretching and contracting for what seems like an eternity before he finally emerges. If a benevolent onlooker decides to help the process along, the butterfly will likely die, because it is only through the struggle of metamorphosis that he gains the strength to survive on his own. 

    Donna Volpitta, Ed.D   The Adolescent Metamorphosis

Symbolism is using a word or object to represent a real thing or an abstract idea. The symbol of a cocoon in this story represents the persons, places and actions of a consumer driven society. (Ecological Succession of Birchum Birch)

 

This symbol appeared as a real object on one of my walks in the forest. There it hung a small cylindrical shape wrapped in a fuzzy grey blanket attached by a small foot to a twig.  Inside a life cycle was unfolding in preparation for adulthood to survive in the world around it ... from a caterpillar into a butterfly or a moth.

One of the most truly amazing occurrences of nature is complete metamorphosis when one creature can completely change into a different creature. It begins with eggs that hatch into larvae or caterpillars which then transform into a pupa. The pupa hardens its protective covering or builds its cocoon as its home to hibernate until it can emerge as an adult. It can get out by cutting its way out, or secreting a liquid that softens the cocoon enough to break through the walls.

Cocoons are made by moth caterpillars from rather sticky strands of silk that are emitted from glands near their mouths that are woven into external cocoons depending on their species... very loose and open, or strong, tightly woven ones.

Butterflies, with very few exceptions, don’t spin cocoons; instead, their pupae form a  chrysalis of hardened protein for protection as they begin their transformation.   

But here is what is truly amazing about Nature’s handiwork ... a complicated insect recycling process kept as simple as possible. The caterpillar body breaks down, digesting itself from the inside out!  The same juices used to digest food as a larva are now used to break down its own body into imaginal or stem  cells. These cells are undifferentiated cells which means they can become any type of cell as they are put back together to form a new shape and body.

Metamorphosis is one way that nature has to transition from young pupae to adult stage and survival. That day looking at the cocoon attached to the branch, I wondered what kind of metamorphosis young people go through as they change into adults and responsibilities. For the butterfly, the process takes about 7-10 days. For humans, it takes about 10-15 years.

Obviously, this is a volume unto itself; socially, physically, and emotionally. But my main concern is how our society is grounded in the consumer world. 

Consumerism is defined as a society in which people often buy new goods, especially goods that they do not need, and in which a high value is placed on owning many things.

Today young people grow up in a Social Media environment where comparison to objective standards and acquisition of popular trends have high rankings to be a somebody. So much communication is already adult orientated to dress, talk, brag or ‘like’ a certain way to get rewards.The normal social rites of passage are replaced with peer relationships moderated by mass media technology and hyperbole. What juices feed their minds or bodies?

The tragedy is that the adolescent brain runs on emotional amygdala reactions because the logical, deductive part of the frontal brain doesn’t develop until early 20’s. I believe, teenagers, especially teen girls, are manipulated unfairly to value selfish commerce through big business, profits, sales, brands, competition and will probably transition to an adulthood where money, fame, material possessions will determine status or mental well-being.

What about values here to recycle and respect Nature’s finite bio-systems? Where are the values of co-operation, diversity, equality and succession?   

Let’s compare consumerism in the natural world.

In the natural world a consumer is an organism with one job ... to find food and eat for  energy. There are 4 types of consumers; herbivores (plant eaters), carnivores (meat eaters), omnivores (plant and animal eaters), and detritivores (decomposers).

These consumers live in an organized ecosystem that can best transfer food from one organism to the next. Their role is to balance the food chain to keep plant and animal populations at a reasonable number.  If the food supply chain is broken, the ecosystem is disrupted, and the consumer web becomes nonfunctional. Air quality, water and even climate change are all affected.

The Big Picture question is food for thought. WHAT IF nature can set an example for people to consume more fairly and efficiently? Here are some possible actions to start new habits for young people as they metamorphose into lifelong survival:

• Buy into basic necessities like whole foods not processed cans of food
• Determine your status by how much less you have in order to be sufficient
• Do not power your brain to run on material possessions, branding or self-ego
• Make your opinions and decisions as independently as you wish (do what's right not what others tell you to do with Nature's helping hand.)

Questions and comments are welcome and always appreciated.

What reasons do you have to to change your consumer habits? 

Annemarie

amarie10@gmail.com

1 833 471 4661 (please not a time for a call-back)

https://helpfulmindstreamforchanges.com

"First, what value did they find in nature’s bio-systems starting with the worms and the bees?  Or would their value systems be based on their business ‘Mega Plants’ in order to supply their ‘Mega Malls’ in competition with or even elimination of nature’s cycles? Or would their private and public technology create their own bio-systems to be more important and eradicate nature’s ecosystems?  How would the giant money network, like a cavernous spider, determine their actions? Would the wonders and systems on Earth lose out to broken chains, contaminated environments and artificial food webs because Nature could not speak in tongues and her voice was not heard?  

Excerpt: Ecological Succession of Birchum Birch

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