Toilet Paper

There are people that say that the English are somewhat obsessed with bottoms and related items. I might quibble with regard to the word "obsessed", but I have also read Lucinda Lambton's Temples of Convenience & Chambers of Delight. North Americans, however, who quiver over the moral turpitude that may be engendered by the sight of a female nipple, yet have tv commercials where bears chat in the forest about toilet paper preferences ... well ... pots and kettles and all kinds of household implements.

So, thank you US environment correspondent for the Guardian for bringing to our attention the shocking news that the american bottom is so fragile that it

" is causing more environmental devastation than the country's love of gas-guzzling cars, fast food or McMansions, according to green campaigners. At fault, they say, is the US public's insistence on extra-soft, quilted and multi-ply products when they use the bathroom."

The problem is that the softest tenderest toilet paper is made from virgin forests. Recycled loo roll is considered akin to reusing old tp. I have often noticed in this country that even the most gentle lotioned kleenex tissue is of vastly inferior quality to most bottom-wiping material. The question is, can we change this habit? Read the rest of the article here.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace has produced a cut-out-and-keep pocket guide for paper products, telling us which are the most ecologically sound. Download it on this page.

Save the trees!