HOW TO SAVE TREES

Protect our trees!

In this world we live in, trees are constantly neglected as forests are cut down to build buildings, and other things we need. Here is how to help conserve the planet's beloved trees.

1) Recycle in a smart way. Some good ways to do this are:

- Throw paper and cardboard in a bag separately from cans, glass and plastics.
- Look for tips on recycling so you know that your efforts will be rewarded with recycled material.
- Cut down on and share magazines, return unwanted catalogs to the sender.

2) Don't make exceptions at restaurants. If a waiter/waitress brings you napkins, just say no nicely.

3) Before printing a picture or document, ask yourself, "Do I really need to print this out?" If you're writing a paper for school, most teachers will accept neat handwritten work.

4) Try to use both sides of your papers. Use a printer that prints on both sides automatically e.g. HP Officejet Pro 8500 A909g Series or a similar printer of other make. Make a draft box(if you are in your office). Put in this box all the papers that have been printed on one side and use them as draft papers.

5) Make sure any paper you buy (toilet rolls, tissue papers, writing paper) comes from recycled sources.

6) Re-use paper bags or compost receipts and torn-up bank statements.

7) Re-use envelopes and make your own cards.

8) Try to use non "glossy" newspapers, as they are difficult to recycle due to their topped coat of clay.

9) Stop cutting trees Remember to plant trees.

10) Re-use wrapping paper. Wrapping paper is hard to recycle.

11) Plant as much trees as possible.

12) Do not cut trees until there is an extreme need.

13) Providing alternate fuel to rural poor for cooking (e.g.bio gas) so as to reduce cutting of trees for fuel wood

14) Creating awareness among people about importance of trees and need for their conservation

15) Making tours eco friendly

16) Avoiding indiscriminate disposal of plastic products (especially thin plastic pick up bags)

17) Online examination system should be preferred instead of taking exams on paper.

18) Behind every paper bag, there are destroyed trees. Don't use paperbacks. Reuse plastic bags, or get recycled carry totes for grocery shopping and put lunch sandwiches into reusable containers.

19) avoiding any human activity that may cause forest fires

SOME FACTS:
	Paper can be made from a variety of other materials like cotton, hemp, grass and even elephant dung but unfortunately in most parts of the world it is made by sacrificing the trees only.
	Paper products are the largest ingredients at a waste disposal sites.
	Pulp and paper production industry is the third largest producer of air and water pollutants, waste products and the gases responsible for climatic changes (green house gases).
	Pulp and paper production is the largest industrial consumer of energy, water and forest resources.
	Huge water consumption involved in paper making process can lead to reduced water levels, required for fish and other aquatic flora and fauna along with alterations in the water temperature.
	Air discharges of the pulp industry include certain hormone disrupting and carcinogenic chemicals like the polyclinic aromatic hydrocarbons.
	About one fifth of the contents of household dustbins consist of paper and card, of which half is newspapers and magazines.
	Industrial nations with 25 per cent of the world's population consume 90 per cent of the world's writing and printing papers.

How to Save Forests ... Without Planting a Tree

Arbor Day is Friday. Try these 11 ways to save trees without getting your hands dirty. By Dan Shapley

Planting Trees

Arbor Day is the day when we focus on trees — appreciating them, talking about them, but most of all planting them.

Don't get us wrong. There are many benefits of planting trees, including increased property values, cleaner air and water, and reduced home energy costs.

The tips in this feature are a little different. In many cases they're easier than planting a tree — and they may even do more to preserve forests, both local and global, than planting a tree would. At least 20% of global forests have been lost in the last 150 years, and the pace of deforestation is growing in many parts of the world, with a number of serious consequences. Deforestation stands next to burning fossil fuel among major causes of climate change (living forests store carbon, whereas burning or clear-cutting them releases carbon), and the loss of forests is pushing many species toward extinction as their habitat is destroyed (an estimated 70% of the world's land species live in forests).

Fortunately, there are many simple lifestyle choices we can make to reduce the pressures of deforestation. Read on to learn about them...

Drink Shade-Grown Coffee

The Arbor Day Foundation did the math for The Daily Green, and found that each cup of shade-grown coffee preserves more than two square feet of rain forest.

What is shade-grown coffee? It's coffee grown on plantations that preserve native rain forests, rather than on clear-cut open fields. To find it, look for Bird Friendly coffee (certified by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center) or Rainforest Alliance-certified coffees.

Coffee isn't the only commodity grown in rain forests. While they can be harder to find, look for shade-grown and Rainforest Alliance-certified chocolates, fruits and teas, too.

Some of our favorite shade-grown coffee brands include:

Arbor Day Foundation coffee ($6.95 for 10 oz.)

Audubon Shade Grown Coffee ($8.99 for 12 oz., or $34 for a three-coffee sampler at amazon.com)

Equal Exchange While not certified shade-grown, much of Equal Exchange's fair-trade coffees are grown on re-forested plantations previously denuded. ($9.75 for 12 oz. of Organic breakfast blend or many other coffee blends. Also available at amazon.com.)

Birds & Beans ($19.25 for 32 oz.), which you can purchase through some local non-profits (like one of our favorites, the Mohonk Preserve) to share the purchase price with a worthy cause.

Search for more bird-friendly coffees, shade-grown coffees and Rainforest Alliance-certified coffees at amazon.com.

Related: More Shade-Grown Coffee Brands

Stop Receiving Junk Mail

It takes 100 million trees to produce the junk mail delivered every year to U.S. mailboxes, including the roughly 800 pieces that arrive in your mailbox, if yours is a typical household, according to donotmail.org.

It's fairly simple to stop junk mail deforestation, though. Just opt out with a few keystrokes. Register for the Mail Preference Service on the Direct Marketing Association website. For $1, your name and address will be removed from prospective mailing lists, ending 75% of junk mail within about 90 days.

You can also opt out of home phone book delivery. Contact your local publisher, and/or try opting out using www.YellowPagesGoesGreen.org or www.YellowPagesOptOut.com.

Buy Recycled Paper Products

Did you know that toilet paper in the U.S. alone is responsible for the chopping of 1 million trees? When buying paper products — whether it's toilet paper or office paper — look for products made with post-consumer recycled fiber. "Post-consumer" means that the fibers came from paper that had previously been recycled. The higher percentage of recycled fiber, the better.

Also look to replace paper products with reusable items wherever possible. Instead of paper plates, napkins and towels, choose reusable cloth napkins and towels, and ceramic tableware.

When buying recycled paper products, here are some brands to look for:

Green Forest toilet paper ($36 for 48 rolls at amazon.com), paper towels ($40 for 30 rolls at amazon.com) and tissues ($46.21 for a 24-box case at amazon.com)

Seventh Generation toilet paper ($50 for 48 rolls at amazon.com, paper towels ($67 for 30 rolls at amazon.com) and tissues ($46.21 for a 24-box case at amazon.com)

Marcal Small Steps toilet paper ($35 for 48 rolls at amazon.com) and paper towels ($23 for 15 rolls at amazon.com)

Earth Friendly Products toilet paper ($62 for 96 rolls at amazon.com) and paper towels ($59 for 24 rolls at amazon.com)

Boise Aspen office paper (100% recycled content, $45 for 5,000 sheets at amazon.com)

Hammermill office paper (30% recycled content, $40 for 5,000 sheets at amazon.com)

Printworks office paper (30% recycled content, $7 for 500 sheets at amazon.com)

Of course, don't forget to recycle paper, plastic, metal and everything else you can. You can't find products made from recycled materials if you don't recycle in the first place

Use Paperless Billing

It's been estimated that the average household can save 24-square feet of forest — about two trees, left to grow for 10 years — in the first year of using paperless billing.

Oh, and we estimate you can save up to $70 a year by switching to electronic billing for just four monthly bills. There's a reason so many billers have been pushing customers to accept paperless billing; it saves them money too, not only in paper, but in stamps and processing.

While you're at the home office, commit to printing on both sides of the page, reusing scrap paper for as many print jobs as possible, reviewing drafts electronically before making the final print, and only printing the text you truly have to — all of which will help you reduce your paper waste.

Green Earth

How To Save Trees