WhatTheyThink's Going Green has joined forces with Two Sides to help address the "perceptions" that paper destroys forests, that electronic media are "greener" than print and paper, and that recycling is the solution to all environmental ills.  A study on forestry certification programs (SFI and FSC, that is) published in the March 2012 issue of the Journal of Forestry found that “forest certification prompted substantial changes in practices. On average, firms implemented 13–14 changes in forestry, environmental, social, and economic/system practices to obtain or maintain forest certification....Most organizations felt certification accomplished their objectives and were likely to recertify, thus indicating their endorsement of the process.” Why should you care? There has been much criticism of chain of custody certification programs, and while they are not perfect tools for ensuring effective and sustainable forest management, they are effective tools, and this study found that the certification programs did in fact lead to more effective forestry management. It was also interesting that the two programs led to some different types of organizational changes, “with FSC firms required to make more environmental/forest management changes and SFI firms required to make more economic/system changes.” Conclude the study’s authors, “Competing certification systems still allow firms and landowners a choice, which they can base on philosophy, but know that either system they choose is likely to achieve their objectives and contribute to improved forest management.” So the emphasis should be on improving and making more rigorous these programs, not cynically dismissing them as greenwash. For more Two Sides facts see www.twosides.us/mythsandfacts.