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in reply to Bread and Circuses

Yeah, if I remember correctly, the paper industry is always in the top 5 of energy use in any given western country.
in reply to Bread and Circuses

Well the article states:
"One of the major reasons that pollution levels are so high, Bernhardt explained, is that many paper plants continue using outdated equipment that is far less efficient than modern machinery. The boiler at the Covington mill, for example, is 85 years old. The average age across the 185 facilities that the report found data for was 41 years."

BTW: "biogenic emissions" of CO2 aren't "buried deeper", they don't count to nat. totals (=UN/IPCC Memo item).

in reply to Bread and Circuses

I’m all for degrowth and lower consumption, but let’s be realistic: swapping plastic production (which is leading to horrendous microplastic pollution) for something that produces just as much CO2 but without the microplastics is still a win in one area, at least.

(However we also need to stop using things like plastic-coated/lined cardboard at the same time)

in reply to Bread and Circuses

The real solution is producing and buying locally, degrowth, the repair movement, public transport, walkable neighborhoods, working from home, renewable energy and much less consumerism. Our climate crisis is the result of a dysfunctional and sociopathic economic system that benefits nobody except from a tiny handful of people who are obsessed by power and abstract numbers in their banking accounts.
in reply to Bread and Circuses

I mean I'd argue if we HAVE to have a false dichotomy we should probably choose the one that can regrow over the span of less time than "millions of years". but I'd also argue that we don't, in fact, need a false dichotomy.
in reply to Bread and Circuses

Yeah. Paper mill that used to be in a city by me spewed arsenic into the air. People in the suburbs up the hill had to wear masks outside on bad days so they didn't breath the dust in.

They like moved to Chili or something to avoid EPA regulations rather than stop. The stench of the place took some 30+ years to remove.

in reply to Bread and Circuses

At least paper is actually degradable so the packaging is not polluting the world.
in reply to Bread and Circuses

a lot of papermills are also their own power generation stations as well... But because they don't sell their power, I don't believe they are regulated like other tower plants too.
in reply to Bread and Circuses

even if the CO2 emitted in production per equivalent package was the same for plastic and paper, at least the product is renewable and easier to recycle.