I don't want any of you to feel like you're running out of reading material! This week's "must read" is From Trees to Trash - The True Cost of Paper, by Mandy Haggith, Virgin Books, 2008. According to Raz Godelnik, CEO, Eco-Libris, this book is important because:
  • [Haggith's] research is not based only on reading books at the library and sitting in front of the computer, but mainly on the journeys to forests all over the world, from China and Russia to Canada and Indonesia.
  • [The book] brings many facts and helps to clarify misconceptions and false perceptions people and businesses have which influence the way they think and act. She explained one example: "No one likes to think of trees being felled, but many of us have a cosy image in our heads that it all comes from recycling or "sustainable" woodlands growing in neat rows, perhaps somewhere in Sweden. It's a myth. Globally, 70 per cent of the 335 million tons of paper the world uses each year comes from natural, un-farmed sources. In Canada, the UK's biggest source of pulp, 90 per cent of its output comes directly from its ancient forests."
  • Haggith not only present the problem, but also solutions, from reducing the usage of paper as whole to increasing the usage of recycled paper. And the bottom line is optimistic - we can change our habits and get over the long addiction to virgin paper.
Add this one to your reading list!