by Barbara Allen

Members of garden clubs across America are expressing their concern for the environment. In response to this concern the Deep South Region created a program called P.A.C.E. (Positive Action to Conserve the Earth). The Conservation Pledge reads:

“I give my pledge as an American to save and faithfully to defend from waste the natural resources of my country – Its: Air, Soil, Minerals. Its: Forests, Water, Wildlife.”

DeFuniak Springs Garden Club members want to do our part toward saving and protecting the Earth’s resources. Thanks to the kind cooperation of the Herald we begin our “Greening” the Panhandle project here with a weekly column.

Each week we will use the column to share tips and information on how to live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. We hope you will take the Conservation Pledge and join us in this project to make the Panhandle a truly “green” place to live. Perhaps you will encourage your church or youth group to develop a Conservation project using ideas you find in this column, or develop ideas of your own. If you do, please contact the head of Environmental Concerns for the DFS Garden Club, Barbara Allen, at 892-3998 or ballen@gdsys.net. We will mention your efforts in a future column. Join us!

Green Fact – Although only 5% of the world’s population live in the U.S., Americans use 27% of the wood harvested worldwide.

Green Consumer Tip – When buying computer or typing paper next, look for paper that’s Processed Chlorine Free (PCF) and contains at least 30% recycled content. This paper is an affordable environmentally friendly alternative to virgin, chlorine-bleached paper.

Did you know – that, on average, an American uses more than 730 pounds of paper each year? That means we each use the equivalent of nine trees as big as telephone poles and four stories high!

About half of the wood we use goes into paper products, including boxes, computer printouts, napkins, toilet paper, magazines and more. Some of these will contain recycled fiber, but most are still made from newly cut trees. Even if something is made with 20% recycled content, it’s still 80% virgin tree. Despite our recycling efforts, paper makes up nearly 40% of our garbage. Fortunately we don’t need to use trees to meet all our paper needs, we can make excellent paper by recycling and using other “waste” material such as weed grasses or leftover straw from food crops. Farmers can also grow fiber crops, such as kenaf, for paper. By making paper from a variety of materials and recycling what we make, we can preserve our forests.

The bleaching process used to make pure white and colored papers creates a toxic substance called dioxin that is polluting our air, soil and water. Dioxins are highly fat-soluble, they accumulate in foods that contain fat ─ foods such as meat, dairy products, and mother’s milk. Dioxins have just been designated as known human carcinogens by the government’s National Toxicology Program. We here in north Florida are down stream from a large number of pulp and paper mills. By using as many unbleached paper products as we can find in our stores and asking store owners to carry more of these products, we can take a step toward reducing this serious health risk to us all. Why buy white coffee filters when you can buy unbleached brown ones? They are going to turn brown anyway. Americans are the only people in the world who use white and brightly colored toilet paper. Buying unbleached, recycled content toilet paper takes us a big step toward conserving our natural resources. Ask your local stores to carry unbleached recycled content paper products and use them in your homes, churches, offices and shops.

For more specific information about identifying and locating unbleached papers and recycled content papers, contact the following organizations:

Conservatree http://www.conservatree.com/

Reach for Unbleached http://www.rfu.org/

Seventh Generation http://www.seventhgen.com

What you can do – Make a list of all the paper products you use and next time you shop for anything made of paper look for products made with recycled and chlorine free paper content.

Educate yourself – go to the following web sites to learn more:

• Co-op America’s Woodwise: http://www.coopamerica.org/woodwise/welcome.htm

• National Resources Defense Council: www.nrdc.org.

• ReThink Paper – an Earth Island Institute project: www.ReThinkPaper.org.
   

Join us in conserving America’s resources. See you next week!

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This column comes to you courtesy of the Environmental Concerns Group of the DeFuniak Springs Garden Club.