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The paper industry ranks #5 in carbon intensity and is responsible for something like 9% of global CO2 emissions. Do you honestly think that industry uniformly

The paper industry ranks #5 in carbon intensity and is responsible for something like 9% of global CO2 emissions. Do you honestly think that industry uniformly manages their forestry in an environmentally friendly manner? You could use renewables but the fact is that most of the input energy into paper mills is natural gas co-generation because you need both heat and electricity. Petrochemicals are used in 90% of the regular every-day items we live our lives with. Clothing, furniture, our homes, cars, personal belongings… banning single use plastics isn’t going to change that. I’d rather plastic waste in landfills than more CO2 emissions.

mdorazio 5y ago
You really need to provide sources for claims like that. Here's the EPA saying that land use and forestry is a net carbon sink in the US [1]. If you're talking about international then that's a completely different conversation entirely, especially since the US exports about as much paper product as it imports, and unlike plastic, paper is actually recycled really well [2]. If you want to talk about countries that don't give a shit about the environment... not giving a shit about the environment, then there's really no conversation to be had here. [1] https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions#land-use-and-forestry https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emis... [2] https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/paper-and-paperboard-material-specific-data https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-...
- relax88 5y ago
  Yes I’m talking international. The impact varies depending on land use, so the forestry piece is vastly different depending on where you look. https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/wood-products#.VxfvaJMrJZ1 https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/wood-products#.VxfvaJMrJZ1 On paper recycling: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-00624-z https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-00624-z https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/oct/paper-recycling-must-be-powered-renewables-save-climate https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/oct/paper-recycling-must-be-...

mdorazio 5y ago

You really need to provide sources for claims like that. Here's the EPA saying that land use and forestry is a net carbon sink in the US [1]. If you're talking about international then that's a completely different conversation entirely, especially since the US exports about as much paper product as it imports, and unlike plastic, paper is actually recycled really well [2]. If you want to talk about countries that don't give a shit about the environment... not giving a shit about the environment, then there's really no conversation to be had here. [1] https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions#land-use-and-forestry https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emis... [2] https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/paper-and-paperboard-material-specific-data https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-...

relax88 5y ago
Yes I’m talking international. The impact varies depending on land use, so the forestry piece is vastly different depending on where you look. https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/wood-products#.VxfvaJMrJZ1 https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/wood-products#.VxfvaJMrJZ1 On paper recycling: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-00624-z https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-00624-z https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/oct/paper-recycling-must-be-powered-renewables-save-climate https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/oct/paper-recycling-must-be-...