FreeLists / va-richmond-general / [va-richmond-general] Environemtal: Old Growth Canadian Forest

["katya" <katya@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Friends at Audubon, 

I'm a fairly new member and have wanted to write this letter for sometime now, 
but hesitated as I'm not sure how it is going to be received.  I'll just plunge 
in now. 

Roughly around the time I joined Audubon, I also became fed up with the various 
ISPs (Internet Service Providers) had used up until then.  I began to realize 
that my customer service calls were being out-sourced to India, the Phillipines 
and Brazil.  None of the companies I had used seemed to have a legitimate 
interest in employing Americans.  So, I looked around and found my current ISP: 
Earthtones which does not out-source claims to give 100% of its profits to 
environmental grassroots organizations.  I am thrilled to say that I have had 
no problems with Earthtones and it suits my needs just fine. 

As a result of switching to this ISP which has monthly green alerts, I became 
aware of an issue that just about brings me to tears.  My understanding had 
always been that paper products came from trees that were grown specifically 
for that purpose and was heartsick to find that the very products I sought out 
(Cottonelle; Scotties with aloe; little purse-sized packets of Kleenex) where 
from old growth Canadian forest.  Today, reading on-line, more still about this 
issue, my jaw dropped when I read that Kimberly-Clark is located in Texas--not 
EVEN Canada. 

I immediatedly gave up on those products.  Found Seventh Generaltion's 
"recycled" (! hmmm !) tp to be just as good (can't tell) and I can live without 
the Aloe in the tisses.  Some products are probably very difficult for many 
people TO replace if not impossible, but I am sure every little bit helps. 

Kleercut.net is the web address sponsered by Greenpeace.  Kimberly-Clark is the 
paper products manufacturer.  I researched Kimberly-Clarks' product line both 
personal and commercial/industrial.  It is probably just about impossible to 
avoid their products completely as many public restrooms stock their tp and 
paper towels.  However, on an "industrial" or commerical level, at least, there 
is the option of buying products that are made from post-consumer waste paper.

It took me about half an hour to do the research on-line and about 5 minutes to 
compose and send an e-mail to Kimberly-Clark.  I told them that I had been a 
fan and had sought out their products, but that I could not do that anymore.  I 
told them that I was a member of both Sierrra and Audubon and said that I 
thought that old growth forest was too important to flush down the commode.

They immediately shot me back very smarmy response and immediately after that 
Greenpeace fired off a response to me in order to cut through the tp producer's 
crap (!) I suppose.  I felt a little caught in the middle.

There are all kinds of issues in the world.  I believe that things can change 
and that we can always do better.  The little bit that I did hasn't taken me 
very much time and I haven't bought anything that I wouldn't have had to buy in 
one form or another anyway.  Thanks for letting me get up on my soapbox.

Katie Holzback
South of the James  
 

 
______________ ______________ ______________ ______________
Sent via the WebMail system at earthtones.com


 
                   
You are subscribed to VA-Richmond-General. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-richmond-general-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject 
field. To adjust other settings (vacation, digest, etc.) please visit, 
http://www.freelists.org/list/va-richmond-general.