How to become a toilet paper influencer
I don’t remember when I first learned that Charmin clearcuts old growth forests to make their toilet paper. What I remember is being horrified and then what I did next.
I told everyone.
I talked about it with friends and family members. I posted about it on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. I wrote about it in this newsletter, and then, I started all over again.
Now, when I post about toilet paper on Facebook, friends respond.
“Because of your post months ago, you persuaded me to buy more sustainable toilet paper.”
”I never realized this until I saw your post a while back. It is appalling Charmin does that.”“You have completely changed our TP habits! Purchasing habits, that is. We care about our kids' futures. So, thank you!”
Most folks don’t like flushing 100-600 year old trees any more than I do. And while living sustainably can be super complex, choosing a sustainable toilet paper brand is both easy and straightforward.
Personal Action: Change toilet paper brands. NRDC makes a handy chart, letting you immediately see which brands are sustainable and which ones aren’t. They’ve also created a more through scorecard, which includes information about paper towels. For over 15 years, I’ve been happily purchasing Trader Joe’s recycled content bath tissue. It’s comfortable and affordable and it earns an A+ from the NRDC. And let me tell you, that girl in the yearbook photo cared a lot about getting an A+.
A bidet is also an excellent option. We got one a year ago and I love it. But be warned, if your bidet doesn’t have a drying feature, you’ll probably still use toilet paper, just less of it.
Why it matters: The slow-growing boreal forest, preferred by Charmin, is essential for sequestering carbon. Trees, especially large ones, are one of our best tools at mitigating climate change. The boreal forest is also home to wolves, Canadian lynx, wolverines, and more. And yet, in the span of nine years, humanity flushed 28 million acres of the boreal forest down the toilet. Consider this: some of those clearcut trees were saplings when the printing press was invented in 1440.
Charmin likes to greenwash their toilet paper. When they cut down a beautiful and complex old growth forest, they plant a baby tree plantation and cynically tout their sustainability. They know it’s a rotten trade-off. Many of those baby trees will die. The saplings that live, won’t replace the carbon capture capacity of the forest in our great-great grandchildren’s lifetime, let alone our own. Most importantly, a baby tree plantation is not a forest; it’s a monoculture, which comes with its own environmental costs.
Public Action: Tell your friends and family members about Charmin.
Why it matters: Charmin is the most popular toilet paper brand in the United States. The irony is that Charmin uses cartoon bears to sell a product that destroys the habitat of actual bears. People love Charmin toilet paper because they don’t know what the company is doing. When I look at the chart below, I see 86 million users that could change their brand and save old growth forests. The boreal forests of Canada need more toilet paper influencers. That’s you.