Every year, thousands of acres of forests in Canada, Finland and Russia are logged to within an inch of the ecosystem's life just so we can wipe our butts!  This point was nicely made in Vanity Fair's green issue, where Allen Hershkowitz, an expert on paper consumption at the Natural Resources Defense Council, didn't beat around the bush. He explained, "We're wiping our asses with endangered habitat." If we all buy toilet paper made only from recycled materials, we can drastically reduce the demand for logging and enjoy the benifits of bountiful forests now and in the future.

The big picture:
Many people believe today's logging practices are completely sustainable thanks to replanting and controlled logging practices. The truth is, we've come a long way from the days of clear-cutting with no attempt to replace what was taken. But logging is still a great environmental problem.  Has anybody noticed the increase in intense, uncontrollable forest fires and other natural disasters of late? Logging creates wide expanses of space in the middle of forests. When a forest fire hits, these open spaces, where trees should be, allow winds to pick up speed and hit the smoldering fire downwind, feeding the flames and making them dangerous and uncontrollable. These high winds, combined with soil erosion, also increase the destructive powers of storms that knock down old-growth forests, as well as flooding and land slides.

What can you do?
We can all buy recycled paper products instead of new materials and drastically reduce the number of trees logged every year. We can also buy paper products made from alternatives to tree pulp like hemp or bamboo. Hemp and bamboo create paper-like products, with a major difference: Hemp takes only one season to reach maturity, and bamboo may take one to three seasons (depending on its indended use), whereas trees require 20 to 30 seasons before we chop them down to wipe our butts and print our reports. It's obvious which are the most sustainable options. Hemp, Bamboo and other tree-savers are still an expensive alternative right now but if you can afford the statement, you'll be creating demand and lowering costs for future markets. If you can't afford hemp or other tree pulp alternatives, buy recycled tree pulp products. They're cheaper and more sustainable than first generation products.