Subject: Tree Free Paper Guide
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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
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7/22/99
OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by EE
Dependence upon trees, particularly from old-growth wilderness, for 
paper making is unconscionable, unnecessary and unsustainable.  At 
least 40% of trees that are cut are for paper.  Rainforest Action 
Network announces a new guide for over a dozen types of tree free 
papers.  Switching to a new model of paper making will be critical to 
preserving remaining old growth, conserving regenerating secondary 
growth and restoring adjacent degraded lands.
g.b.

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Title:   New Paper Guide Features Tree-Free and Other Environmental
         Advanced Papers
         Products Will Take Burden Off of Earth's Last Old Growth   
         Forests
Source:  Rainforest Action Network, http://www.ran.org/web//noley.commmures/feature070.htmllSHM.htmof_TRIPS.htm
         Contacts:  Mark Westlund:  415/398-4404
         Dan Imhoff:   707/895-3490
Status:  Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint 
Date:    July 16, 1999 

SAN FRANCISCO--People searching for a handy reference to the most 
environmentally advanced papers need look no further. SimpleLife, a 
Northern California-based publisher has just released the Guide to 
Tree-free, Recycled and Certified Papers in an effort to educate 
consumers and expand the demand for papers that come from sources 
other than native forests.

"Papers can be made from a wide variety of fibers other than the four 
billion trees presently cut each year to supply world paper demand," 
says Dan Imhoff, SimpleLife co-founder and author of the 70-page, 
beautifully designed guide. "By carefully choosing paper materials and 
manufacturing processes, consumers can significantly influence the 
fate of the world's disappearing native forests."

The SimpleLife Guide to Tree-Free, Recycled and Certified Papers is 
full of easy-to-read information, features a reference to dozens of 
paper suppliers and products, and contains 17 different paper swatches 
which readers can see and touch. Manufacturers range from large mills 
such as Domtar to medium-size players like Crane & Co. to small-scale 
leading-edge producers like Vision Paper, makers of kenaf products.

"On July 16, 1999 we shipped more than 8,000 copies free-of-charge to 
a carefully selected list of graphic designers around the United 
States," continues Imhoff, who coordinated the project in fits and 
starts over a two-year period. "The average graphic designer specifies 
hundreds of thousands of dollars in printing and paper each year on 
behalf of their clients. We wanted to make it easy and appealing to 
them to at least consider tree-free and other environmentally-oriented 
paper choices each time they have a job to print."

The guide's emphasis is on tree-free fibers. These include crops such 
kenaf a relative of the hibiscus plant, and industrial hemp that are 
grown for fiber, as well as the waste byproducts of agricultural 
production such as cereal straw, corn stalks, sugar cane pulp and 
cotton. In addition, SimpleLife reinforces the value of 100 percent 
postconsumer papers, chlorine-free pulping methods, as well as an 
emerging trend toward sustainably harvested virgin wood fibers 
according to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) guidelines.

"The SimpleLife Guide presents an important vision of the way paper 
production must move if healthy forests are going to exist into the 
next century," says Randy Hayes, president and founder of Rainforest 
Action Network, which joined a host of sponsors on the guide. "At 
least forty percent of trees that are logged are cut down to make 
paper. Manufacturers and consumers must reduce consumption and demand 
alternatives to wood if our forests are going to survive."

The guide is available through SimpleLife at info@simplelife.com or 
send $18 (which includes $3 postage and handling) to SimpleLife, P.O. 
Box 37, Philo, CA 95466.

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This document is a PHOTOCOPY for educational, personal and non-
commercial use only.  Recipients should seek permission from the 
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Conservation Archives at URL= http://forests.org/web//noley.commmures/feature070.htmllSHM.htmof_TRIPS.htm  
Networked by Ecological Enterprises, grbarry@students.wisc.edu