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!

 

Nature's World Cries Out for More Eco-Fiction Writers to Save Our Planet

 

Nature's World Cries Out for More Eco-Fiction Writers to Save Our Planet

"To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known…On a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam." Carl Sagan

Ecology entered a broader cultural attitude in the 1960's and 1970's when people became more interested in natural environmental issues and species within human connections.

A variety of eco-fiction literature developed many branches and styles to be found in many genres such as mainstream, westerns, mystery, romance, realism, science fiction and fantasy.

This collaborative genre could be any fictional landscape that was based on ecological principles which became the setting, the plot and the theme of the story. The nebulae of Nature from the smallest cells to the largest lifeforms became alive as talking, feeling characters with human attributes and emotions. Their message was to set the right standards of respecting natural order, conservation and sustainability.

So what kind of ecological principles can be embedded into eco-fiction story? 

You can talk about Nature in terms of redundancy without ego, diversity with connections, and adaptations for survival. You can express amazement at nature’s master plan of organization from the nematodes to the nimbus clouds. Without this two-hydrogen-one-oxygen molecule, any Earth life process wouldn’t exist.  You can talk about responsibility to common goals, a democratic pattern of individualism and cooperation played out in ecological terms. What about the human factors of intervention, exploration or exploitation?   

In fact, you can become more specific and talk about the reality of 4 levels in an ecosystem with plants and animals you see; but you must also involve nonliving elements (air and water) and microorganisms. Microorganisms include the bacteria, algae, fungi, and protozoa that are usually seen only with a microscope, but they must not be ignored because of their vital roles in decomposition, oxygen production and symbiotic relationships with plants so they can grow to serve as food for animals and humans.

For example, nitrogen gas (N2) makes up 80% of the Earth’s atmosphere and is one of the primary nutrients critical for the survival of all living organisms. It is required for DNA, proteins and chlorophyll. But nitrogen gas is largely inaccessible to most organisms, and must be converted into ammonia (NH3) and nitrates (NH4) before it can be used by plants as food.

Enter the nitrifying bacteria which transform nitrogen into an oxidative state for plant roots  to absorb...the essential nitrification cycle.

Now, on one hand, you can read a complex scientific treatise about this transformation or you can meet a nitrifying bacteria who explains his actions and his roles in the ecosystem. Fiction, yes, but science based as well with far reaching implications.

Or, you can read a scientific volume or two about the carbon cycle and how carbon compounds can make a series of conversions in the environment, from incorporating carbon dioxide gas into living plant cells by photosynthesis, and returning as a gas through respiration, or decaying dead organisms, and the burning of fossil fuels. 

Or, your story line can introduce a hydrocarbon molecule composed from the elements carbon and hydrogen who can explain his role from coal and crude oil to making natural gas, plastics, pesticides, even cosmetics and medicines.  His experience shows how the burning of hydrocarbons produces greenhouse gases which in turn depletes the ozone layer and cause climate change. Fictional character simplified, yes, but with a huge convoluted impact on the environment and ecosystems.

In summary, we need more eco-fiction stories that can talk about the relationship between natural settings and human communities.

 Their characters need to inhabit an ecosystem based on ecological principles that call attention to act responsibly to be good ethical stewards of the Earth. 

They need to share the reality of microorganisms, photosynthesis, food webs, carbon dominance, pollution, and changing weather patterns as first-person experiences. 

We must hear their joys, fears and hopes. We must pay heed to their warnings of dangers and not ignore their messages.

Also, most importantly, we need stories that show what happens when anti-ecological principles are followed; such as, believing the only bond to nature is based on cash exchanges or using nature’s bounty as individual gifts, not for common purpose. There are ecological threats everywhere from tropical forest to coral reefs to extinction of animals, once gone, forever.

People need more first-hand stories about global warming, culture diaspora, survival of the weakest links, advocacy to protect our unique natural world and create a mythology we are all connected…what happens to one of us, happens to all of us.

It’s strange to say that the term eco-fiction has never been a media sensation and therefore has not become “com-modified or capitalizable, lending to its wildness.” 

Maybe its time to change that to help save our planet.

What kind of nature story would you like to hear or write? What are your fears about our planet?

Comments and questions are always appreciated. Please leave a message for a time to chat...1 833 471 4661

Annemarie

amarie10@gmail.com

https://helpfulmindstreamforchanges.com

PS: Interested in writing a paper about eco-fiction, or even teaching it? Check resources here. 

Note this blog about Disney making a movie based on an eco-fiction character and story line ... in fact, the most important superhero essential to our planet's survival.

 

 

HELP ME Talk to Facebook Reviewers who Rejected my Ecological Ad for Political Reasons

HELP ME Talk to Facebook Reviewers who Rejected my Ecological Ad for Political Reasons

  

I am shocked that a children's educational e-book needs to be authorized as socially acceptable.

Why are institutions allowed a voice, but not Mother Nature? 

On Earth Day I posted this video on a few social sites including Facebook. It suggested I boost the post which I did for 5 days. It ran for two days and then got rejected. 

Watch video:   

                                            

Here is the reason stated:  Your ad isn't running because it doesn't comply with our Advertising Policies. Your ad may have been rejected if it mentions politicians, topics that could influence the outcome of an election, or existing or proposed legislation.  You can request a review if you think your ad was incorrectly disabled.

If you watch this video do you think this is about politics or influencing government?

You will see these words: environment,  ecology,  ecosystem,  pollute, moral obligation,  responsibility

Whatever your answer, my only message is that water conservation and natural ecology is the right of every person, young and old to protect their environment.  

There is no invitation here for elections or government; although, it can also be stated that political action may be needed to preserve our Earth’s sustainability.

But politics is not my purpose to research, educate and show respect how Nature and our planet are connected … “what’s good for one of us is good for all of us; what hurts one of us, hurts us all.”

As a teacher, I offer two ecology books that give voice to Mother Nature as real characters, plots, and resolutions with the simple theme:

“Nature is full of rules to help sustain each other but there is one great law whether written or not. The greatest law of nature is we are all connected … when we change our seeds, we change out biology …when we pollute our food, we pollute ourselves. It is impossible to alter one strand without changing the others.”   

The Incredible Journey of a Water Sprite with Roots …. on his mission to discover Cyclical Truths

The Ecological Succession of Birchum Birch … a love story for all ages who care about family, community, environment and Nature  

So how can Facebook, in the hands of a media mogul, allow for this serious voice of concerned people and nature itself? Of course, I would appreciate using its advertising platform.

How can I make my case without rejection?  Who do I talk to help re-edit this ad to meet their specifics?

Your comments are appreciated on my legacy website or email a-marie10@gmail.com. 

833 471 4661

Wishing you a happy Earth's Day now and tomorrow. Stay safe.

Sincerely,

Annemarie Berukoff

HelpfulMindstreamforChanges.com

GOOD NEWS: I have completed an identification check to verify my address...received confirmation by regular mail...so now I am allowed to post about social issues. This means my Mother Nature stories are now acceptable social issues ...do I dare think, one small step to political interest. 

Check out new e-book...Ecology tab...scroll down

The Ecological Succession of Birchum Birch .. a love story for all ages who value family, community and environment in Nature.

Check out Kindle

Why Write a Story About a Birch Tree with Feelings about Family, Community and Environment

Why Write a Story about a Birch Tree with Feelings about Family, Community and Environment

Our mother earth is teaching us a lesson in universal responsibility. This blue planet is a delightful habitat. Its life is our life; its future, our future. Indeed, the earth acts like a mother to us all; as her children, we are dependent on her. In the face of the global problems we are going through it is important that we must all work together...Dalai Lama  April 2020

Animals don’t talk but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have voices or feelings. Trees don’t communicate but it doesn’t mean they don’t belong to their community and environment.  

In fact, a tree is a perfect member of a community that shows that  a body is an assembly of species and relationships, never self-contained. A tree can teach that we are an ecosystem in our own rights. Nature starts with a single cell growing to more complexity where each part has a purpose. We can best survive as a whole society if we believe in diversity and cooperation.

This birch tree is called Birchum who interacts with the weather, his humus, his seeds and leaves and helps his community in good times and bad with both shelter and food. He overcomes his insecurities with the help of a tree Dryad who as the essence of knowledge explains how his personal organization helps to contribute to his environment.  

Through many experiences he learns about the value of home, cooperation, and Nature’s most important Law that everything is connected. He takes pride in his unique Self in his special space as well as belonging to a forest legacy. He understands love as “moving together to help each other be better.” 

Within Nature’s cycles and plant succession, his time also reflects new beginnings followed by endings which become new beginnings.

However, with his People encounter, he realizes how big Ego and short-term thinking can impact a community’s lifetime, but that Nature can recover given a chance. With his Dryad they discuss giant food webs from primary nature’s perspective to people’s secondary processes in Mega Plants and Mega Malls, along with manufactured seeds, that try to alter the essence of life on Earth. 

A loud clarion call is heard throughout the story that the Universe is not outside you … 

“what’s good for each of us is good for all of us; 

what hurts one of us, hurts all of us.”

Like a web, the moral spins out that a solitary birch tree can represent the essential connections between our healthy Planet and balancing Self through cycles, cooperation, unity and appreciation of the wonder of Nature because once gone it can’t be replaced.

This e-book is available next week for download plus Kindle.

This week you can ask questions or share some thoughts about what you would say if you were a tree.  

Sincerely,

Annemarie Berukoff

Helpfulmindstreamforchanges.com

PS: "It's unbelievable that sometimes it takes great imagination to see how we are all connected..."  excerpt: The Ecological Succession of Birchum Birch

...a love story for all ages who care about family, community, environment and Nature