Episode 17: “The Issue with Tissue” w/Jennifer Skene of NRDC

The Issue with Tissue, A Report from NRDC


Please note: excerpts in the bullet list below are taken
verbatim from the 2019 report


This week I am happy to share my conversation with Jennifer
Skene, international law fellow with NRDC and lead author of
The Issue with Tissue Report that details the destruction of
the boreal forest as a result of clear-cut logging.


The boreal forest is a precious forest ecosystem that lies just
below the Arctic Circle. It spans 1.9 billion hectares and
represents 14% of Earth’s land, stretching
across Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia, Russia, and China, crowning
the earth in a ring of green. It is home to hundreds of species
numbering in billions of lives, including the iconic . It is
home to more than 600 First Nations, Inuit and Métis
communities whose traditional territories are in the boreal.


It is being fast destroyed by American and Canadian logging
companies. 


In our conversation, we discuss the U.S. tissue market — which
generates $31 billion in revenue every year, second only to
China — and the report published by the Natural Resources
Defense Council (NRDC) titled “The Issue with Tissue.” (The
report was updated this year and can be found here: The Issue
with Tissue 2.0.)


This in-depth report presents the environmental atrocities
being committed by huge U.S. and Canadian corporation in Canada
— Proctor & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark, and Georgia-Pacific,
among others — and details the broad destruction that is
underway right now with the tacit approval of the Canadian
Government. It also offers us a great way out of being
complicit in that destruction with its handy BUYER’S GUIDE TO
THE SUSTAINABILITY OF AT-HOME TISSUE PRODUCTS (See page 15 of
the Report.) 


Here are some disturbing highlights from the report:


The United States consumes more toilet paper than any other
country, using a whopping 9.2 billion pounds of it each
year—about 28 pounds per person.



Americans, who make up just over 4 percent of the world’s
population, account for over 20 percent of global tissue
consumption. 



The three companies with the largest market shares in the
tissue sector, Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark, and
Georgia-Pacific, still rely almost exclusively on virgin pulp
for their at-home tissue brands.



Much of the tissue pulp in the United States comes from the
boreal forest of Canada, which is home to over 600 Indigenous
communities.



Industrial logging claims more than a million acres of
boreal forest every year, equivalent to seven National Hockey
League rinks each minute, in part to meet demand for tissue
products in the United States.



Between 1996 and 2015, more than 28 million acres of boreal
forest were logged, an area roughly the size of Ohio. More than
90 percent of this logging was done by clearcutting, which
removes nearly all trees from an area. 



These clearcut forests can take more than a century to
return to their pre-logging condition, and some never do.



Major brands such as Charmin, Cottonelle, and Angel Soft
are made entirely from 100% virgin fiber.



Here is why we must stop the destruction of this absolutely
amazing region:


The global boreal is especially vital to worldwide efforts
to fight climate change since it stores more carbon per hectare
than any other forest biome on earth and holds more carbon than
all the currently accessible oil, gas, and coal reserves
combined.



It is an essential nesting ground for billions of migratory
birds that populate the skies of North America.




Yet, for all forests’ value, we are quite literally
flushing them down the toilet.



SOLUTIONS EXIST
Fortunately, solutions promoting healthy forests and a
healthy planet already exist. Companies and
consumers simply need to embrace them.


Instead of relying on virgin pulp, tissue companies can use
recycled content or sustainably sourced alternative fibers such
as wheat straw and bamboo. Use of these materials to create
tissue can dramatically reduce our destructive impact on the
boreal and other forests around the world.



Because agricultural residue is often burned if not put to
alternative use, using agricultural residue in tissue is
additionally beneficial because it prevents this residue
emitting carbon dioxide and other harmful air pollutants.



Producers should look for bamboo that is certified by the
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) to ensure it is sustainably
sourced and indicate that certification on their products.”



 


SHOW RESOURCES


The Issue With Tissue 2.0 report


BUYER’S GUIDE TO THE SUSTAINABILITY OF AT-HOME TISSUE
PRODUCTS – Page 15 from the NRDC Report


Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
website


ABOUT Jennifer Skene, NRDC, author of The
Issue with Tissue


ABOUT Shelley Vinyard, NRDC, author of
The Issue with Tissue


Canada Invests in the Future of Intact Boreal
Forests, NRDC Blogpost, August 20, 2019 by
Jennifer Skene


The Indigenous Guardians
Program from the Indigenous
Leadership Initiative


Also see The Boreal Forest project
at davidsuzuki.org


Audible Café theme music by Brian Eddy


You also heard “Raining Trees” by Tiokasin
Ghosthorse, producer and host of First Voices
Indigenous Radio


The bird calls you heard in this episode were recorded from
the Boreal Songbird Initiative, dedicated
to education and outreach about the importance of the boreal
forest to North America’s birds, other wildlife, and the global
environment.