Tree Farming: A Look Inside

  

Image taken from down2earthonline.com

 How much do you know about tree farming?

Many of you may be thinking Christmas tree farming right now, especially if you went out and cut down a fresh one like my family did. But that isn't they type of tree farming I am referring to. I'm talking about the 11 million individual owners of private forests in the U.S., who use their land to plant and harvest trees to generate income. Over 90 percent of wood harvested to make the paper and wood products we use everyday, comes from these private landowners.

Not only does an important raw material--wood--for the forest products industry come from this land, but forests provide critical ecological and social benefits as well. Land ownership is not free, and without a positive economic balance, many land owners decide to sell their land for development. (Think strip malls instead of forests).

When we lose our forests, we lose valuable ecological and social benefits including:

• Carbon sequestration
• Wildlife habitat
• Clean water
• Scenic beauty and recreation

 So what is tree farming:

• It's a continuous cycle that takes about 35 years
• It's planting 3 trees for every one harvested
• It's private landowners planting 4 million trees per day
• It's responsibly harvesting trees for wood products
• It's managing the land for clean air and water, and for biodiversity

You can help support responsible forestry and the millions of tree farmers in the U.S. by your continued use of paper and other wood-based products, and by promoting the use of certified products. Help by educating your fellow employees, your customers, heck, even your kids, about U.S. forest ownership, the challenges of private landowners and the value of paper products made from wood


Check out the Go Paper. Grow Trees. Campaign from International Paper.

When you buy paper, you help keep forests growing. It’s true. In the next 30 years the U.S. could lose 44 million acres of forest to development. When you use paper, you help keep trees growing.

Trees are planted in greater numbers than they are harvested. Since the 1940s, annual growth of new trees has always exceeded the number cut down. By 1992, tree growth outpaced harvest by 34 percent and the volume of wood in the forest was 360 percent more than in 1920.

 

The latest Down To Earth: A practical look at environmental issues and trends Why Is Tree Farming Important for America and America's Forests is now available? Check it out online here or ask for a printed copy of the brochure from CMP.

 paper is incredible.

paper is

There are some things we think a person should never be without, paper is one of them. Paper plays a vital role in our personal and professional lives. Think about how many times a day paper impacts your life. From cereal boxes to paper towels, tissues to catalogs, “to do” lists to thank you notes, permission slips to recipes, and those are just at home! At work there are daily uses for paper like; copies, faxes, brochures, notepads, invoices and other correspondence. The list goes on and on.

Paper makes our lives easier. It provides us with the information we need to live. As long as we use it responsibly, it will continue to impact your life positively. Don’t let the greenwashing get to you. Paper is sustainable, made from renewable resources and easily recycled.

Paper is here to stay.

The "paper is" printed on our CMP notepads and other giveaway items is our way of gently reminding you that paper is vital, necessary, and essential to our lives. No to mention, it can be pretty darn inspiring.

So think about it, paper is what to you? We'd love to add your word(s) to our list.

Make your mark on paper.

Write your own story.

Paper shapes our lives.

Something About A Book

It surprises me how books still have the power to ignite great emotion. And I don't mean just from the stories they weave.

The doorbell rang on Saturday, it was our mailman, with a package. My 17-year-old came running down the stairs gleefully yelling, "It's my books. It's gotta be my books!" And indeed, it was. Now the fact that a week and a half before Christmas he ordered two books off of Amazon without my consent, does not thrill me. But knowing that it was a book, and not a video game or another electronic gadget, secretly made my heart swell.

The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini

was my son's Christmas gift to himself.

I come from a long line of readers, so part of me is super excited that I grew a couple of my own. Even in this world of so many electronic forms of communication, so many ways to get information, my kids love going to the library and checking out actual books. And as Nancy Drew long ago did for me, when you find a series of books that draw you in and take hold of your heart and imagination, you not only want to read them, you want to own them. With all the other available distractions out there, there is still something about a book that is good for the soul. Kind of like an old friend that you can pull off the shelf, settle down with, and lose track of time.

Beautiful words, well painted stories, and printed on actual paper, now that's a combo that will always draw me in!

How about you? What is your favorite book or series?

Paper is powerful.

Here is a link to the history of book publishing courtesy of  Brainpickings.

Who Knew? Holiday Stamps Are Printed On NewPage Paper

I chose this stamp design for my family Christmas cards, who knew they were printed on NewPage?  That's just an added bonus. ---Terri

 This holiday season, NewPage has teamed up with MACtac® Printing Products to produce the new Holiday Baubles Forever® stamp series from the U.S. Postal Service. Inspired by ornaments from the 1950s, these stamps are sure to add beauty and nostalgia to your holiday correspondence.

Printed on NewPage paper, MACtac supplied the pressure-sensitive adhesive label materials for more than 1 billion of the 44-cent first-class stamps issued.

The first holiday stamps to be released in the Postal Service’s forever series, the Holiday Baubles stamps feature four colorful, glass ornaments based on styles popular during the 1950s. These stamps were art directed by William J. Glicker and  illustrated by Linda Fountain.

This season’s Madonna stamp is also printed on NewPage paper.

Paper is functional.

iPads Vs. Textbooks: Which Side Are You On?

Many US schools adding iPads, trimming textbooks

Many US public schools providing iPads to students, moving away from traditional textbooks

Stephanie Reitz, Associated Press, On Saturday September 3, 2011, 4:25 pm EDT

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- For incoming freshmen at western Connecticut's suburban Brookfield High School, hefting a backpack weighed down with textbooks is about to give way to tapping out notes and flipping electronic pages on a glossy iPad tablet computer.

A few hours away, every student at Burlington High School near Boston will also start the year with new school-issued iPads, each loaded with electronic textbooks and other online resources in place of traditional bulky texts.

While iPads have rocketed to popularity on many college campuses since Apple Inc. introduced the device in spring 2010, many public secondary schools this fall will move away from textbooks in favor of the lightweight tablet computers.

Apple officials say they know of more than 600 districts that have launched what are called "one-to-one" programs, in which at least one classroom of students is getting iPads for each student to use throughout the school day.

Nearly two-thirds of them have begun since July, according to Apple.

New programs are being announced on a regular basis, too. As recently as Wednesday, Kentucky's education commissioner and the superintendent of schools in Woodford County, Ky., said that Woodford County High will become the state's first public high school to give each of its 1,250 students an iPad.

At Burlington High in suburban Boston, principal Patrick Larkin calls the $500 iPads a better long-term investment than textbooks, though he said the school will still use traditional texts in some courses if suitable electronic programs aren't yet available.

"I don't want to generalize because I don't want to insult people who are working hard to make those resources," Larkin said of textbooks, "but they're pretty much outdated the minute they're printed and certainly by the time they're delivered. The bottom line is that the iPads will give our kids a chance to use much more relevant materials."

Read the full article here.
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I have mixed feelings about learning via electronics vs. physical printed books, for a couple of reasons. The first and obvious one is that "yes", I work for a paper merchant, and I want to sell more paper.

The second has to do with my particular learning preference. When I was in school our only option was to learn from printed textbooks. There are so many different options now for the younger generation (iPad, Kindle, notebook, laptop) etc, but back in my day it was a good old fashioned book.

Studying (learning) for me involved having that book on my lap, a highlighter poised at the ready, and a pad of paper next to me for note taking.

Even now as a user (and lover) of several electronic devices, I still revert to paper when I am attempting to learn or absorb something new. I have to print out what is on screen, because if I really want to remember something, I have to hold it in my hand. That is simply how I learn best. I need to read and reread things often, and doing that with paper is much easier than attempting to do it on a screen. Running my finger under important passages is frowned upon when using a screen.

There is something about being able to flip back and forth between pages, clarifying, rechecking to make sure I really got the information properly that cannot be achieved via a screen.

And being a true paper lover, I also need to take notes in the margins, on the back of the sheet, to really make things gel.

Reading fiction for pleasure works okay for me on an electronic device, but if I need to learn, really grasp something new, I need a book. I need paper.

Paper is important.

How about you? How do you learn best? Which side of the iPad vs textbook issue are you on?