Toilet training

Now it looks like there is an environmental price to pay every time one uses toilet tissue. The Times reports that most Americans like super soft toilet tissue. We use an average of 23.6 rolls of toilet tissue per capita a year and only 2% of that is from recycled fibers. Although toilet tissue can be made at similar cost from recycled fibers, it is the fiber taken from standing trees that help give it that soft, silky feeling.

Although brands differ, 25 percent to 50 percent of the pulp used to make toilet paper in this country comes from tree farms in South America and the United States. The rest, environmental groups say, comes mostly from old, second-growth forests that serve as important absorbers of carbon dioxide, the main heat-trapping gas linked to global warming. In addition, some of the pulp comes from the last virgin North American forests, which are an irreplaceable habitat for a variety of endangered species, environmental groups say. From here.

This is an option one might want to consider (I am sure there are many others...)