Seeing the Paper for the Trees

Talking Points

Paper Production - “Mass Paper Production Threatens Our Forests” Facts and Figures http://www.forestethics.org/paper/facts.html

Junk Mail - "Just the Junk Mail Facts" Center for a New American Dream http://www.newdream.org/junkmail/facts.html

Books

· 95% if paper on which US Books are printed is made from virgin fiber – about 19 million trees.

· “Harry Potter” Author J.K. Rowlings requested that her novels be published on recycled paper – the Canadian publisher, Raincoast Books complied, sparing an estimated 30,000 trees in an initial pressrun of 935,000 copies.

· Other authors and publishing houses who insist on recycled paper: Alice Walker, Barbara Kingslover and Julia Butterfly Hill, as well as Chelsea Green, Island Press, Seven Stories, Sierra Club Books, South End, and Snow Lion.

Paper Consumption in the US

· The US consumes 200 million tons of wood products annually – increasing annually by 4%.

· The pulp and paper industry consumes 1 billion trees a year – 735 pounds of paper for every American.

· Only 5% of America’s virgin forests remain, while 70% of fiber consumed by the pulp and paper industry continues to be generated from virgin wood.

· Global consumption of wooed products has risen 64% since 1961.

· The Pulp and Paper industry is the third largest industrial polluter in both Canada and the US and in the US, the industry is also the third largest energy consumer.

· Just 10% of paper comes from non wood sources globally. In the US it’s less than 1%

· There are currently no commercial non wood pulp mills in the US.

Alternatives to Trees

· Kenaf dry materials could be produced at half the cost per unit of pulpwood production, and paper can be produced without chlorine bleaching.

· One acre of hemp can produce as much usable fiber as four acres of trees – hemp paper lasts longer, is stronger and both acid and chlorine free.

· Hemp paper can be recycled seven times, compared to wood pulp – which can be recycled only four times.

· Both Hemp and Kenaf blend well with weaker post consumer recycled paper.

America the Vulnerable

Talking Points

Survey Says: The Public and their Privacy

· In May 2004, 52% of Americans are concerned about loosing their civil liberties as a result of recent measures enacted by the Bush administration to fight terrorism- compared to one year after 9/11 when 7% of Americans felt they had given up important liberties in the war on terror. (“Patriot Act Besieged,” Nat Henroff 5/28/04)

The Patriot Act is Bad:

· By May, 311 towns and cities (including the state legislatures of Alaska, Hawaii, Vermont and Maine) passed Bill of Rights resolutions instructing their congressional members to roll back the most egregiously repressive sections of the Patriot Act, subsequent executive orders and other extensions of the act. (“Patriot Act Besieged,” Nat Henroff 5/28/04)

· The number of secret surveillance warrants requested by the FBI has increased by 85% in the last three years – a pace faster than the Justice Department’s ability to process them. (“Patriot Act Besieged,” Nat Henroff 5/28/04)

Bio Terrorism and Threat of Nukes

· Recent studies warn our warning systems are in a shambles and our ports are still penetrable.

• Scientists racing to discover “cures” for future biological attacks spent over $14 billion in the last four years – $50 per person in the U.S. – making new generations of pathogens never seen before and increasing the number of places and people involved in germ experiments to over 11,000 employees in 317 locations across the country.
• The Bioterrrorism Act of 2002 prevents citizens from determining what research is being conducted in their neighborhoods by requiring the locations of labs handling lethal pathogens like live anthrax, plague and botulism, be kept secret.

· The 2004 military budget grants $21 million for research on 2 types of new nuclear weapons including an earth penetrator and so called “mini-nukes.” These bombs are being built at labs in Livermore, CA and Los Alamos, NM, sites for the new pathogen research as well, creating new super terrorist targets.

Physicians for Social Responsibility Talking Points Sheets

q Chemical Weapons: How to Reduce the Danger http://www.psr.org/documents/psr_doc_0/program_4/chemfact.pdf

q Biological Weapons: How to Respond to the Threat http://www.psr.org/documents/psr_doc_0/program_4/biofact.pdf

q Meeting the Nuclear Threat: A new Direction for U.S. Nuclear Policy http://www.psr.org/documents/psr_doc_0/program_4/SMART_Nuclear_Weapons_Fact_Sheet_Final_1_.pdf