Printvsdigital False Dilemmas and Forced Choices

8/7/2019 Printvsdigital False Dilemmas and Forced Choices

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Print vs. Digital Media:

False Dilemmas and

Forced Choices

By Don Carli

Senior Research FellowThe Institute for Sustainable Communication

This whitepaper was produced by The Institute for Sustainable Communication. Support in part was provided by the John S. Hilson

Family Fund. The opinions expressed in this whitepaper are solely those of The Institute for Sustainable Communication.


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A heightened sense of

awareness about the

environment has developed

in recent years. In particular,

feelings of guilt and concern

are on the rise about the

use of paper and its alleged

impact on the fate of trees,

forests and the environment.

Are these feelings justied?

Public opinion polls show that concern about theenvironment rises and falls based on the state of theeconomy, but concern about the negative impactsassociated with using paper and printing continuesto rise. Nothing captures the essence of these feelingsmore vividly than the signature line appearing at thefoot of more and more emails: Please consider theenvironment before printing this email.

This seemingly well-intentioned call to action, as wellas others like Sign up for paperless billing, help theenvironment and save trees confront consumers witha false dilemma and they present a forced choice thatmay have unintended consequences.

Whats implied is that digital media is theenvironmentally preferable choice and that printmedia is the environmentally destructive choicebut is it possible that digital media could be more

destructive and a greater threat to trees and forests inthe United States than papermaking or printing?

Is it possible that the public is being intentionallydeceived or unknowingly misled?

Are these concerns and feelings of guilt about usingpaper based on rhetoric or realities?

Must we choose between print and digital media?Is one really greener than the other?

Are there sustainable ways to use paper and printmedia without feeling like a hypocrite?

In order to make informed and responsible choices it

is important to be critical of claims that digital mediais categorically greener than print media. Print anddigital media both have positive and negative impactson the environment. For that reason it is importantfor consumers and watchdog groups to be critical ofvague or unsubstantiated claims and demand greateravailability, accuracy and comparability of lifecycledata about print and digital media. Consumers canfeel good about their media choices if they are armedwith the facts, rather than being persuaded to feelguilty or hypocritical for not using digital media.

This is the rst in a series of reports that will address

these issues and explore questions like: What is the state of the worlds environment and

its forests? Are they truly in danger?

Is our growing reliance on digital informationtechnology and electronic media sustainable?

What are some of the real environmental impactsassociated with print and digital media?

What is lifecycle analysis and how can it be used toinform our decisions?

What are some of the current limitations oflifecycle analysis and eco-labeling?

What are some of the steps being taken by industry

and government to discourage greenwash andreduce the negative impacts of print and digitalmedia supply chains?

Where can you learn more about how to employprint and digital media responsibly and feel OKabout your choices?

The false dilemma is:

By using paper to print your

email or by receiving paper bills

you are knowingly degrading

the environment, destroying

forests and/or killing trees.

The forced choice is: Eliminate

your use of paper or feel like a

guilty hypocrite.


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Our primary objective in this series of reports isto shed light on the realities behind the forcedchoices, false dilemmas and faulty comparisons thatwe are all too often confronted with. We will also

highlight initiatives addressing the truthfulness ofgreen marketing claims as well as corporate andgovernment initiatives seeking to reduce the negativeimpact of print and digital media supply chains.In addition, this series of reports will present bestpractices, resources and recommendations abouthow to make informed choices and employ bothprint and digital media in ways that arecomplementary and sustainable.

The story of sustainable media is a bad news-goodnews story. The bad news is that the public concernabout our forests and the environment is justied.

The good news is that seeing beyond the rhetoric,looking beyond the obvious and rethinking our usesof both print and digital media will play a major rolein allowing us to enjoy and to conserve our forestsand the environment.

There is more to print

and digital media than

meets the eye

Just because we cannot see something does not meanthat it doesnt exist. While paper mills emit visibleplumes of steam, and waste paper often piles up inplain sight, the invisible embodied energy or greyenergy2 used to manufacture digital technologies andthe toxic e-waste3 associated with electronics arelargely out of sight and out of mind.

According to MIT-researcher Timothy Gutowski,manufacturing a one kilogram plastic or metal partrequires as much electricity as operating a at screentelevision for 1 to 10 hours the energy requirementsof semiconductor manufacturing techniques are

much higher than that, up to 6 orders of magnitude(thats 10 raised to the 6th power) above those ofconventional manufacturing processes.4

In addition to the digital media that we can see thereis dark data. Researchers Roger E. Bohn and JamesE. Short of the Global Information Industry Centerat University of California, San Diego, recently drew

attention to dark data i.e. data that is exchangedbetween computers but never seen by human eyes.According to the University of California, the averageAmerican consumes almost 34 gigabytes of data eachday and much of it is dark data that they neversee.5 The phenomenon of dark data permeatesmodern digital technology and researchers are justbeginning to study its impacts. Nonetheless, weknow that the energy consumed by digital media andinformation technology is signicant and there isample evidence that it can have signicant impacts onforests and the environment. Before choosing betweengoing paperless or not we also need to consider theunforeseen hazards associated with digital media andthe unintended consequences of a decline in demandfor paper and print media.

When we use digital media we need to consider thepurchased energy, embodied energy, dark data ande-waste entailed even though they are invisible orout of sight. Likewise, when we use paper and printmedia we need to consider the sources and ows ofraw materials and energy that these products use.

Making people feel guilty about

their media choices may do

more harm than good. We need

more credible information about

the hidden lifecycle aspects of

the energy and material ows

required for both print and digital

media use require.

2 http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2009/06/embodied-

energy-of-digital-technology.html#more

3 http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/campaigns/toxics/hi-tech-

highly-toxic/e-waste

4 http://www.endofcyberspace.com/2010/01/digital-

devices-and-embodied-energy.html

5 http://hmi.ucsd.edu/howmuchinfo.php

Digital media doesnt grow on trees.


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One need not feel guilty or hypocritical for usingpaper or print media that is purchased responsiblyand used wisely. There are forest product certicationprograms like FSC,6 SFI7 and PEFC8 that can be relied

upon to inform our choices about the sources of theber used to make the paper we buy, and a growingnumber of paper brands are working to identify theembodied energy and carbon footprint of paper.When it comes to digital media, ratings like EPEAT9and EnergyStar10 can help you select computersand digital gadgets that are energy efcient. Also, agrowing number of manufacturers are conductinglifecycle assessments of their products. Going forwardwe will need less rhetoric and more credible andindependently certied facts about the lifecycleimpacts of print and digital media.

Just as it would be irresponsible to rely on anyone crop to feed our families, it would also beirresponsible to rely solely on either print or digitalmedia today. Both print and digital media areessential and both can be sustainable, but both printand digital media will need to become far moreeco-efcient over the next 10 years. Neither printalone nor digital media alone is capable of meetingthe communication needs of business, governmentand the growing human population as they are usedtoday. Our uses of both print media and digital mediawill have to change. One of the most importantchanges needed is in the way media choices arepresented by marketers.

We need to ensure that both print and digital mediasupply chains are sustainable and that we have thefacts required to make good decisions. Consumersshould reject vague and unsubstantiated greenmarketing claims. Likewise they should call uponthe Federal Trade Commission to aggressivelypursue false advertising and greenwash. In addition,government and consumers need to call onmanufacturers, retailers and marketers to increasethe availability, accuracy, credibility andcomparability of carbon footprint and lifecycle data.Recent calls for the disclosure of product lifecycledata being made by Walmart and members of the

Sustainability Consortium suggest that these arerealistic expectations.

Centuries ago the widespread adoption of paper andprinting resulted in a spread of literacy that endedthe dark ages, spawned a renaissance and changedour world for the better. Despite these advances, our

environment now faces challenges on many frontsthat call for a new literacy about the state of theenvironment and the hidden lifecycle impacts ofthe media choices we make.

The widespread adoption of sustainable print anddigital media supply chains can change our worldagain and help us to restore our environment. Onthe other hand, if we allow ourselves to be misled byfalse dilemmas or deceived into making unsustainablechoices, our distant concerns about destruction ofthe environment and the decline our forests will soonbecome a harsh and uncomfortable reality.

What is that state

of the worlds

environment and its

forests?

Are they in danger?

Over the last few years two closely relatedenvironmental issues have been on the top ofthe environmental agenda: climate change anddeforestation. Threats to the environment, societyand the global economy from climate change anddeforestation are signicant enough that 120 headsof state, negotiators from 193 countries, over 50,000representatives from civil society organizations andover 3,500 members of the world press convened toaddress the issues at the COP15 Climate Summit inCopenhagen in December of 2009.

While reports about the success of the Summit arestill being debated, it was an unprecedented event

that brought attention and support for climateaction at the highest possible level. It also resultedin a political agreement called the CopenhagenAccord led by China, India, Brazil, South Africaand the US. In addition, major progress was made indevelopment of a protocol for Reduced Deforestationand Degradation Forests11 (REDD) in developingcountries. REDD has emerged as a likely component

6 http://www.fsc.org/

7 http://www.sprogram.org/

8 http://www.pefc.org/

9 http://www.epeat.net

10 http://www.energystar.gov/

11 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/24/

redd-reducing-emissions-fromdeforestation


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of the global climate protection regime and is seenas an essential aspect of global efforts to addressclimate change and the economic health of the forestproducts industry.

A growing number of international organizations,countries, states and regional governments, andnon-governmental organizations are producing peer-reviewed reports providing an overview of the stateof the environment. One of the key topics thesereports focus on is the declining health of many of theworlds forests. Food and Agriculture Organizationof the United Nations (FAO) estimates that land usechange resulting in deforestation is approximately50,000 square miles of forest a year, an area roughlyequal to the size of the state of Louisiana.

As a result, its little wonder that consumers havebeen bombarded with calls to go paperless. Inaddition to activist campaigns and the viral spreadof email signatures guilting people into goingpaperless, extremely well funded corporate marketingcampaigns are promoting e-billing as a way to helpthe environment, save trees and reduce their carbonfootprints. But is going paperless really greener?Are there unintended consequences associated withincreased dependence on digital media and depresseddemand for paper and print media?

Consumers are correct to feel concerned about theenvironment, and they should be concerned aboutdeforestation. However, it is misleading to implythat all of the worlds forests are in danger, or thatpapermaking and printing are primary causes ofdeforestation or environmental degradation. Infact, healthy demand for paper and printing fromsources certied as sustainable play an importantrole in preventing land use change that results indeforestation.

Deforestation is primarily driven by the need forland uses such as agriculture, human settlements,infrastructure and mining. Researchers at the EarthInstitutes Center for Environmental Research and

Conservation recently analyzed remote-sensingimages of forest cover across 41 nations in LatinAmerica, Africa and Asia from 20002005. Theirresearch showed that the highest forest losses werecorrelated with two factors: urban growth withincountries; and, mainly in Asia, growth of agriculturalexports to other countries.

Carbon emissions from land-use change resulting indeforestation are estimated to account for one-fthof current global carbon emissions, and maintainingexisting forests through sustainable forestry has

been promoted as one of the least expensive climatechange mitigation options. Your use of print mediaemploying responsibly sourced paper and forestproducts play an important role. According to USSecretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, A healthyand prosperous America relies on the health of ournatural resources and particularly our forests.12

The scourge of illegal

logging and your legal

obligations under theLacey Act

Most of the losses in the worlds forest cover aretaking place in developing countries, in particularin South America, Africa and Southeast Asia whereanother key set of factors behind deforestationare corruption and weak governance for forestconservation and sustainable management of forestresources. Illegal logging is a signicant problem thatUS consumers have a legal obligation to confront intheir choices of paper.

One of the most important steps you can take to helpthe environment and stop deforestation is to knowthe chain of custody associated with the paper youbuy and assure that it came from sources that arecertied to be legal and sustainable. In May 2008the United States Congress passed landmarklegislation to address the U.S. markets role in theglobal illegal logging crisis, becoming the rst countryin the world to ban the import of illegally harvestedwood and wood products, including paper, under theLacey Act. 13

The Lacey Act makes it unlawful for any personto import, export, transport, sell, receive, acquire,or purchase any sh or wildlife or plant taken,possessed, transported, or sold in violation ofany law, treaty, or regulation of the United Statesor in violation of any Indian tribal law whetherin interstate or foreign commerce. Violation ofthe Lacey Act can result in civil penalties up to$10,000 per each violation or maximum criminalsanctions of $20,000 in nes and/or up to ve yearsimprisonment.


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In 2006, the World Bank estimated the annual globallosses from illegal logging of forests at more thanUS$10 billion, plus annual losses in governmentrevenues of about US$5 billion. Other than weak

governance and corruption, the underlying causes ofdeforestation are complex and less well understoodparticularly when it comes to ways in which demandfor consumer electronic devices and digital mediaimpact deforestation.

It is also not well understood that greater demand forresponsibly sourced paper helps to save forests andprotect the environment. Increased awareness andsupport for the purchase of wood and paper productscertied under the major sustainable forestry schemeshas resulted in a more than tenfold increase since1998. Unfortunately forest certication is limited in

developing countries with less than 2% of forestsin Asia, Africa and Latin America being certied. Incomparison, the Food and Agriculture Organizationof the United Nations (FAO) reports that 90% of allcertied forests are in North America and Europe.

The little known links

between digital media,

deforestation and

our riversWhile deforestation is an acute problem in developingworld in countries such as Indonesia, where tropicalforests are being destroyed at an alarming rate, theUSDA Forest Service reports that forest cover inthe United States has increased over the past 100years despite the fact that Americas per capitaconsumption of paper is over 700 pounds (lbs)and second only to Finlands.

The World Resources Institute (WRI) maintainsthat new means of production and more efcient

consumption patterns are needed to satisfy theworlds growing appetite for wood and paper. WRIalso sees recycling as an important component ofreducing overall demand for virgin wood ber, but itis not a catchall solution since forest products cannotbe recycled indenitely nor does it make economicor environmental sense to recycle all such products.According to WRI: Improved forest governance

and greater demand for certied forest products arealso needed to ensure that production is sustainable.A combination of such efforts could go a long waystoward curbing worldwide deforestation, maintaining

the health of forest ecosystems, and, consequently,promoting human well-being.

The major drivers of

deforestation

Ironically one of the most signicant causes ofdeforestation in the United States can be linked togreater use of digital media in an effort to reducepaper use and save forests. Americas adoption of

networked broadband digital media alternatives toprint is driving record levels of energy consumption.According to the US Department of Energy, theelectricity consumed by data centers in the UnitedStates doubled from 2000 to 2006, reaching morethan 60 billion kilowatt hours per year, roughly equalto the amount of electricity used by 559,608 homes inone year.14 According to the EPA that number coulddouble again by 2011.

The growing energy demands of consumer electronicdevices, desktop computers, cellular networks,Internet servers and data centers are contributed tothe destruction of more than 500 mountains and over

600 square miles of forest. The Southern Appalachianforest region of the U.S. is responsible for 23% ofall coal production in the United States and 57% ofthe electricity generated in the US comes from coalincluding the rapidly growing power consumed bymany U.S. datacenters, networks and consumerelectronic devices. One of the more signicantdirect causes of deforestation in the United States isMountaintop Removal Coal Mining in the states ofWest Virginia, Kentucky and North Carolina.

12 http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdahome?contentidon

y=true&contentid=2009/08/0382.xml

13 http://www.eia-global.org/forests_for_the_world/lacey.

html

14 http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=prod_

development.server_efciency_study


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Your digital connection

to deforestationIf your home or business is on the electric grid,chances are that the electricity owing through yourdigital media devices and their servers is linked tomountaintop removal coal from the AppalachianMountains. To nd out how much of the energyyou use comes from mountaintop coal you can visitWhats My Connection to Mountaintop Removal?15It is an interactive tool built by the nonprotorganization Appalachian Voices. By enteringyour zip code it allows you to see if the electricityyou are buying came from a coal mine employingmountaintop removal. If you thought you were

saving forests and protecting the environment bygoing paperless think again. The real dilemmayou face is that you may be doing more to causeenvironmental degradation and deforestationby going paperless than you think, and makingresponsible choices requires make informed decisionsand rational tradeoffs.

Coal powered digital media can be destructive toforests and the environment in many ways. Coalred power plants are responsible for 93% ofthe sulfur dioxide and 80% of the nitrogen oxideemissions generated by the electric utility industry.16

These emissions cause acid rain that is destroyingred spruce forests in the Northeast and Appalachia,and killing brook trout and other sh species in theAdirondacks, upper Midwest and Rocky Mountains.According to a paper published in the journal Science,researchers found that recent scientic studies showedmountaintop removal coal mining does irreparableenvironmental harm. The researchers said theiranalysis of the latest data found that such miningdestroys extensive tracts of deciduous forests whilealso hurting sh and plant life.17

The widespread practice of mountaintop removalhas been described as strip mining on steroids in

which forests are clear-cut and topsoil is scrapedaway. Next, explosives are used to blast up to 800feet off the mountaintops and then dump tons ofoverburden the former mountaintops intothe narrow adjacent valleys, thereby creatingvalley lls. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Serviceestimates that mountaintop removals destructionof West Virginias forests buried over 1,500 milesof biologically crucial Appalachian headwaters

streams, disrupted key nesting habitat for migrantbird populations and decreased migratory birdpopulations throughout the northeast United States.The Ofce of Surface Mining reports that more

than 1 million acres of land in northern and centralAppalachia were undergoing active mining operationsas of 2004. In some areas of West Virginia, more than25% of the land surface is under permit for currentor future mountaintop removal.

It is ironic that print media and the papermakingindustry are so often targeted for killing trees anddigital media is so often characterized as the greenerenvironmentally friendly alternative. In fact, theNorth American forest products industry has madegreat strides in the adoption of sustainable forestryand certication practices. In addition, the majority

of the U.S. paper industrys power and electricityneeds are derived from renewable biomass fromsustainably managed forests. On the other hand,the reliance of digital information technology oncoal-powered electricity derived from mountaintopremoval goes largely unreported. If your goal is tofeel that you are saving trees or doing somethinggood for the environment by going paperless, thechoice to go digital may not be as green or simple assome would like you to think.

If you care about the environment and the healthof forests you should become more informed aboutthe energy sources used by digital and print media.

Research recently published by Bell Labs concludedthat todays Information and CommunicationTechnology (ICT) networks have the potential to be10,000 times more efcient than they are today!18 Infact, they can also be powered by forest bio-reneriesthat sustainably produce energy, biofuels, polymers,and paper with renewable forest biomass.19

ICT network and digital devices will need to becomefar more efcient and far less dependent on coal-red power before they can be called sustainable.Forest biomass can provide valuable baseload backupcapacity for more intermittent renewables, suchas wind and solar. When you purchase paper, youshould consider if the brands you buy are investingin the development of renewable energy projectsthat employ sustainable forest biomass. If consumersmake enlightened choices, the forest productsindustry will play an increasingly important role inproviding data centers with the green power they willneed in the years ahead.


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What are some of the

resources you can relyon to help you make

responsible paper,

print and digital media

choices and feel good

about them?

In addition to the numerous reports, websites andreferences in the body of this report there are a fewkey resources that you can rely on to help you makebetter informed decisions and feel better about theuse of responsibly sourced print media:

Sustainable Procurementof Wood and Paper-BasedProducts20

This WRI/WBCSD publication is an informationand decision-making tool to help customers develop

their own sustainable procurement policies for woodand paper-based products. It also has informationon existing approaches to procurement from legaland sustainable sources organized around ten keyissues, posed as essential questions related to thesustainable procurement of wood and paper-basedproducts:

Origin: Where do the products come from?

Information accuracy: Is information about theproducts credible?

Legality: Have the products been legally produced?

Sustainability: Have forests been sustainably

managed? Special places: Have special places, including

sensitive ecosystems, been protected?

Climate change: Have climate issues beenaddressed?

Environmental protection: Have appropriateenvironmental controls been applied?

Recycled ber: Has recycled ber been usedappropriately?

Other resources: Have other resources been used

appropriately? Local communities and indigenous peoples: Have

the needs of local communities or indigenouspeoples been addressed?

This publication is a decision support tool providinginformation on twenty-two existing approaches to theprocurement of wood and paper-based products fromlegal and sustainable sources.

The Yale University Program onForest Policy and Governance21

The mission of the Yale Program on Forest Policyand Governance, a core program within theGlobal Institute of Sustainable Forestry at the YaleSchool of Forestry and Environmental Studies, isto research, teach, and conduct outreach to fosterinnovations on sustainable forestry managementand policy. The Program maintains a strong focuson forest certication as one unique and potentiallyrevolutionary policy approach that harnesses thepower of the marketplace to encourage compliancewith environmental and socially responsiblestandards. This website provides comprehensiveinformation about forest certication to those

conducting research in the topic or who are curiousfor additional information.

15 http://www.ilovemountains.org/myconnection/

16 http://www.eia.doe.gov/fuelcoal.html

17 http://www.reuters.com/article/

idUSN0719066720100107

18 http://www2.alcatel-lucent.com/blog/2010/01/green-

touch-making-communications-networks-

1000-times-more-energy-efcient/

19 http://wecnews.wisconsinenergy.com/news/newsrel/

pages/newsrelease_143

20 http://www.wri.org/publication/sustainable-procurement-

wood-and-paper-based-products

21 http://www.yale.edu/forestcertication/


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The Global Forest & TradeNetwork (GFTN)22

The GFTN is a WWF-led partnership that linksmore than 360 companies, communities, NGOs, andentrepreneurs in more than 30 countries around theworld to create a new market for environmentallyresponsible forest products and increase the economicincentives for responsible forest management. Inaddition to providing information on illegal logging,sustainable forest management and responsible woodsourcing, The GFTN provides a wide selection ofmarket information on forest products and searchengines listing certied companies globally.

Institute for EnvironmentalResearch and Education23

IERE is a nonprot organization that supportsenvironmental decision-making based on factualinformation gathered through Lifecycle Analysis.Environmental Decisions are made based on twothings: what is known about the environmentalimpacts of human activities (the facts), and how wevalue the different aspects of the environment andhuman activities. Our knowledge of the environmentis incomplete, but in many cases we have enoughfactual information to have a reasonable prediction

about the effects of our choices. Unfortunately,environmental decisions are rarely based on the factsof the matter, but rely simply on value judgments.That means we are ignoring information aboutpotential environmental damage, and it means thatour decisions are just as likely to cause damageto the environment as to benet it, even whereenvironmental protection was the goal of thedecision.

The Electronic ProductEnvironmental Assessment

Tool (EPEAT)24

EPEAT is a tool to help large volume purchasers inthe public and private sectors evaluate, compare, andselect desktop computers, notebooks, and monitorsbased on their environmental attributes. EPEATprovides a clear and consistent set of performancecriteria for the design of products and providesmanufacturers with the ability to secure marketrecognition for efforts to reduce the environmentalimpact of their products.

Recognizing the environmental impacts associatedwith the manufacture, use, and disposal of electronicproduct, growing numbers of purchasers wereseeking ways to buy more environmentally preferable

computer products. Purchasers were beginning to askfor a standard set of environmental attributes theycould use to compare products. At the same time,manufacturers were seeking clarity about how todene a green computer.

Energy Star25

ENERGY STAR is a joint program of the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S.Department of Energy for the rating of energyefcient products and practices. Among the devices

rated are computers

26

, displays

27

, printers, scannersand multi-function devices28. EPA is also workingwith interested parties to identify ways in whichenergy efciency can be measured, documented, andimplemented for data centers and for the equipmentthey house, especially servers. The EnergyStar ratingmodel for data centers is currently being nalized anda release date of June 2010 is anticipated.

The Climate Savers ComputingInitiative29

The Climate Savers Computing Initiative is anonprot group of consumers, businesses andconservation organizations that is supported bythe EPA and numerous nonprot organizations.Climate Savers Computing Initiative promotes thedevelopment, deployment and adoption of smarttechnologies that can both improve the efciency ofa computers power delivery and reduce the energyconsumed when the computer is in an inactive state.

22 http://gftn.panda.org/

23 http://www.iere.org/

24 http://www.epeat.net/

25 http://www.energystar.gov/

26http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=nd_a_

product.showProductGroup&pgw_co

de=CO

27http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=nd_a_

product.showProductGroup&pgw_co

de=MO

28http://www.energystar.gov/index.

cfm?fuseaction=products_for_partners.

showPrintersScanners

29 http://www.climatesaverscomputing.org/


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Important steps you can take

Better access to facts about the environmental

impacts associated with our choices is essential. In aworld where decisions based on rhetoric rather thanfacts can have unintended consequences we cannotafford to be swayed by purely emotional appeals,simplistic slogans, half-truths or catchy tag lines.

The health of our forests is too important to be takenin by vague and unsubstantiated claims that adoptingpaperless digital solutions will save trees or planttrees.

There are many ways to use paper more wiselyincluding the default use of duplex (two-sided)

printing mode and the use of recycled ber contentwhere appropriate. In addition, the purchase ofcertied sustainable paper and forest products willplay an essential role in ensuring the health of ourforests and the environment. Likewise, understandingthe connections between digital media and ourenvironment will help you to avoid making choicesthat you may later regret.

The next time someone tells you that their printor digital solution is green ask them if they havean Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) or aLifecycle Analysis for it. If they say their solutionsaves or plant trees ask them if they know what treewash is and tell them to show you where the treesare on Google Earth. They may not have an answertoday, but asking the question will help to raise theirawareness and bring about change.

In addition, consider the following:

1. Know if the paper you use came from sourcesthat are certied to be legal and sustainable.

2. Know if the energy that powers your electronicdevices and digital media comes from non-renewable sources emitting greenhouse gassesor causing deforestation.

Lastly, consider using this as a signature line on your

print and digital media communications:

All forms of communication use energy andmaterials. Please consider the lifecycle impacts thatcreating, storing, copying, sending, printing ordisposing of this message may have on the economy,the environment and society. Our common futuredepends on making sustainable communicationchoices.

Our next report in this series will address ways thatleaders in industry and government are using lifecycleassessment, carbon footprinting and eco-labelingto make their print and digital supply chains more

sustainable. Until then, ISC hopes that you nd thereports in this series useful. Please tell us how youare putting the information to use. We thank you foryour support and look forward to your questions,comments and suggestions.

Please feel free to contact us at:

The Institute for Sustainable Communication250 East 40th St.New York, NY 10016212.922.9899

[email protected]://www.sustaincom.org

Deforested mountaintop-removal coal mine site inWest Virginia Photo provide courtesy of Vivian Stockman.http://www.ohvec.org


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Links

http://www.ickr.com/photos/vivian_stockman/4360015819/sizes/l/in/set-72157623442542522/

http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2009/06/embodied-energy-of-digital-technology.html#more

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/campaigns/toxics/hi-tech-highly-toxic/e-waste

http://www.endofcyberspace.com/2010/01/digital-devices-and-embodied-energy.html

http://hmi.ucsd.edu/howmuchinfo.php

http://www.fsc.org/

http://www.sprogram.org/

http://www.pefc.org/

http://www.epeat.net

http://www.energystar.gov/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/24/redd-reducing-emissions-from-deforestation

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdahome?contentidonly=true&contentid=2009/08/0382.xml

http://www.eia-global.org/forests_for_the_world/lacey.html

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=prod_development.server_efciency_study

http://www.ilovemountains.org/myconnection/

http://www.eia.doe.gov/fuelcoal.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0719066720100107

http://www2.alcatel-lucent.com/blog/2010/01/green-touch-making-communications-networks-1000-times-more-energy-

efcient/

http://www.risiinfo.com/techchannels/powerenergy/Domtar-partners-for-250M-biomass-power-plant-at-Rothschild-WI-paper-

mill.html http://wecnews.wisconsinenergy.com/news/newsrel/pages/newsrelease_143

http://www.wri.org/publication/sustainable-procurement-wood-and-paper-based-products

http://www.yale.edu/forestcertication/ http://www.yale.edu/forestcertication/

http://gftn.panda.org/

http://www.iere.org/ http://www.iere.org/

http://www.epeat.net/

http://www.energystar.gov/

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=nd_a_product.showProductGroup&pgw_code=CO

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http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=products_for_partners.showPrintersScanners

http://www.climatesaverscomputing.org/

Printvsdigital False Dilemmas and Forced Choices

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