Submitted: The Two Sides Team February 12, 2020

In addition to just visiting the Two Sides North America home page, our readers were interested in a variety of topics covering CO2 emissions, busting environmental myths and anti-greenwashing.

Here is a summary of the top 5 most visited pages for Two Sides North America

#1 – Our Carbon Footprint: How do paper products fit in?

This blog post explores the carbon footprint of the average household and breaks out the emissions by category. The findings show that, overall, paper and print products make up about 1% or less of our human carbon footprint which, interestingly, is also the overall contribution of the pulp, paper and print industries to the global greenhouse gas inventory.  As a comparison, the following numbers are reported for other sectors:

• Transportation: 15%
• Land-use change (incl. agriculture and forest loss): 15%
• Energy supply (incl. coal mining, fossil fuel extraction, refining and processing): 13%

#2 – In North America, we grow many more trees than we harvest

Did you know that there are more trees in the U.S. now than there were when we celebrated Earth Day in 1970?

Although deforestation (the permanent loss of forest) is occurring, it is primarily caused by urbanization, agriculture and other developments – not sustainable forestry operations that generate forest products such as pulp and paper.  This myth and facts page explains that by providing a dependable market for responsibly grown fiber, the paper industry encourages landowners to manage their forestland instead of selling it for development or other non-forest uses.

#3 – Ready to bust some myths?

There are so many misconceptions and myths surrounding forestry and the use of paper. This page helps bust the most common environmental myths related to print and paper.

• Myth: Going paperless saves forests
• Myth: Paper is bad for the environment
• Myth: Electronic communication is more environmentally friendly than paper-based communication
• Myth: Paper production is a major cause of global greenhouse gas emissions
• Myth: Only recycled paper should be used to make new paper
• Myth: Digital is always the preferred means of communication
• Myth: Packaging is wasteful and unnecessary

#4 – Anti-Greenwashing Campaign

Environmental claims such as “go green – go paperless” and “save trees” are regularly used by banks, telecoms, utilities, insurance companies and many other service providers, as they encourage their customers to switch from paper to lower-cost electronic bills and statements.

Did you know that because of the Two Sides ongoing educational campaign, over 125 leading North American companies (over 500 globally) have removed or corrected environmental claims?

#5 – The carbon footprint of email (is quite large!)

 This article first appeared in PI World in 2017, and it is even more relevant today. The article explores the carbon emissions generated by the volume of emails we send daily. As our dependence on email and other aspects of the digital economy grows more extensive – and it will—we need to be aware of the energy demands that will follow.