The Island’s New Environmentalism Faces Challenges The students of the escuela primeria in Los Tumbos, a village nestled deep within the rich agricultural province of Pinar Del Réo, constantly hover around the computer awarded to the school a year ago. Their computer runs off of two small solar panels that gleam in the sun when […]
Replacing Fossil Fuels in a "Clean Energy" Economy Three towering smokestacks rise from the fossil fuel-fired Schiller Power Station in the quaint New England city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Built more than 50 years ago, Schiller is a striking example of a dirty, coal-burning power plant constructed during the mid-20th century. An archaic plant exempted […]
While many futurists predicted that we’d be enjoying the paperless office around this time, Americans are still at the epicenter of a paper blizzard. Were you under the impression that the electronic age would free us from all that?
Kenaf, a long-fiber plant that originated in the East Indies and is grown in the U.S., Thailand and China, is a relative of okra and cotton that is now making inroads as a wood substitute.
To achieve its pearly white color, most paper goes through a bleaching process that uses some of the world’s more toxic chemicals. Assuming we can’t live without bright white paper, does it have to be bleached with chlorine, or are there feasible alternatives? Paper is traditionally bleached with chlorine and chemicals derived from it (such […]
Hemp- and kenaf-based paper, often made with imported pulp, is now widely used in environmental circles, but there are a fair number of dissenters.
Beyond agricultural waste, hemp, kenaf and other well-known fibers, there are a host of other raw materials that show considerable promise as non-wood resources. Flax, for example, receives six mentions in the Bible, and is the basis for linen production. Long-fiber linen rags, cuttings and threads have been used as the feedstock for paper making […]
There are several initiatives underway to promote the switch to recycled paper. The Green Press Initiative at www.greenpressinitiative.org has persuaded 20 U.S. book publishers to stop using fiber from ancient forests, and to maximize recycled content in three to five years. Co-op America is working with Conservatree and the Independent Press Association on the Magazine […]
The Paper Industry Moves South Flying over the 500,000-acre Great Smoky Mountains National Park last year in a Cessna 180 operated by the nonprofit group Southwings, writer Chris Camuto could clearly see evidence of the park’s enormous and breathtaking biodiversity, home to an estimated 100,000 species. The scenery changed when the plane crossed the Tennessee […]
Is Thimerosal the Missing Link to Autism and Developmental Problems? No one could accuse Lyn Redwood of being anti-vaccination or suspicious of the medical establishment. After all, the Atlanta, Georgia resident was a nurse practitioner and member of her county’s board of health, which promoted childhood vaccination. But in 1999, when her happy, healthy toddler, […]
