Change Your TP and Change The World

Did you know that the using that fluffy, non-recycled toilet paper to wipe your fanny is causing more environmental destruction than driving an enormous, gas guzzling SUV?  Shocking, I know. Furthermore, these days, a lot of the pulp used to create this kind of TP  is actually coming from virgin wood. So, here’s the question: Do we really need to wipe our asses with virgin forests? I think not.

In the United States alone, we use about 7 billion rolls of toilet paper a year. And since 1 tree = 1,000 rolls of toilet paper, that translates to about 7 million trees that we’re cutting down every single year for something that we basically flush down the toilet.  It’s insane. So, here’s the deal: Switch to recycled toilet paper. According to the EPA, if everyone in this country traded out JUST ONE  roll of regular toilet paper for recycled toilet paper, it would save almost a half a million trees.

And before you start thinking “Recycled toilet paper just isn’t as soft”, I’m here to tell you that it can be. As many of you know, I can be a princess. My fanny is somewhat like Goldilocks. She likes it “just right”. So I was trepidatious about making the switch to recycled. But frankly, it was so not a big deal. Having tried most of the brands out there, my two current favorites are:  Seventh Generation (preferably the one that is unbleached) and the 365 Whole Foods brand. Both are soft to the touch and gentle to the behind. They also don’t clog your toilet which is really nice for anyone who is on a septic system.

As our world continues to heat up and our natural resources dissolve, it’s pretty easy to go into a doom’s day mentality and wonder “Why bother?”. But if toilet paper can teach us anything, it’s that it doesn’t take a lot to change the world. Other than our collective effort. So, what are you waiting for? Go switch out that Charmin right now.