American obsession with all things paper

One thing that I have particularly disliked after my short and eventful existence in this country is the obsession of this country's policy makers to use paper tissues.

Be it kitchen, toilet at our homes or even the tea vending machines at office; all are covered with paper. On more googling on this disturbing trend, I could uncover a mind numbing fact :

each person in the United States uses 749 pounds of paper every year (adding up to a whopping 187 billion pounds per year for the entire population, by far the largest per capita consumption rate of paper for any country in the world)

The fact is, world consumption of paper has grown four hundred percent in the last 40 years. Now nearly 4 billion trees or 35% of the total trees cut around the world are used in paper industries on every continent. Besides what we see around us, paper comes in many forms from tissue paper to cardboard packaging to stereo speakers to electrical plugs to home insulation to the sole inserts in your tennis shoes. In short, paper is everywhere. The consequence is that, more paper is required and this results in more trees being cut.

Isn't it our duty to do save trees ? I wish more movements like "Chipko Aandolan/ Vanmahotsava" are held worldwide so that mass awarenes is created on this critical issue.

Those interested should check out the following link :-

http://www.ecology.com/feature-stories/paper-chase/index.html

It talks of the importance of paper, paper industry and the alternative solutions which can be thought of to save trees from being shed blindly.

Some interesting facts on paper and trees

The first paper merchant in America was Benjamin Franklin, who helped to start 18 paper mills in Virginia and surrounding areas.
Wood pulp is found in rayon material, laundry detergent, camera film, tires, and transmission belts.
The trees used to make paper in the United States come mostly from softwood forests-mostly pine-in the South and West.
In 1883 Philadelphia resident Charles Stillwell invented a machine to make brown paper bags so folks would have something to carry their groceries home in. Today more than 20 million paper bags are used annually in supermarkets throughout the country.
45% of all paper used in the United States is recycled. Hemp was grown commercially in the United States until the 1950s.
The single oldest living thing on Earth is a tree, a 4,700 year-old bristlecone pine tree in Nevada. It was growing when the Egyptians built the pyramids.
There are 747 million acres of forest land in the United States.
In 1998, over 1.6 billion tree seedlings were planted in the United States.