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Fecal threat to Global Warming

Discussion in 'Environmental Discussion' started by bwilson4web, Mar 2, 2019.

  1. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    Source: Wiped out: America's love of luxury toilet paper is destroying Canadian forests | World news | The Guardian

    . . .
    Americans are particularly to blame for this crisis. They make up just over 4% of the world’s population, yet account for more than 20% of global tissue consumption. The average four-person household in the US uses over 100lb of toilet paper a year.

    Major toilet paper brands have refused to use more sustainable materials, the report says, because Americans tend to more concerned than the rest of the world about ideal toilet paper texture in their homes, largely due to decades of marketing around toilet paper softness.
    . . .

    A male, I've noticed that females (OK, one female) seem particularly concerned about the streaks in my underwear. I always figured,"if it is washed and doesn't smell, what is the problem." However, my significant other seems to have a different opinion.

    I've long wondered if 'pre-streaked' underwear with a modified zebra pattern of vertical stripes might resolve the ... difference of opinion.

    Bob Wilson
     
  2. El Dobro

    El Dobro A Member

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  3. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    For some reason this reminds me of

    lunch bag mould.jpg


    ==
    Due to interest in afterlives of trees, I can report that N. Amer. is market for 8 million tons per year of such paper. Global paper and cardboard (spoz to call it fiberboard) is ~410 million tons. So, not tiny but not dominant either.
     
  4. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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  5. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    Getting TMI here? :eek: But if underwear pattern is your preferred solution, why not just go with a solid dark color? If brown isn't to your liking, try black or dark grey.

    Another solution: do your own laundry. What she doesn't see won't hurt her.

    I am quite unable to experience streaking without other simultaneous problems. The solutions lead to no streaks.

    Separately, as a male, I noticed that my all-male households (both alone and simple rent-sharing) had significantly lower per capita toilet paper consumption than a mixed household or when a female visitor was present. Though sample sizes are much too small to generalize to larger populations.

    Also, my significant other has long railed about how many other females leave copious amounts of toilet paper scattered on the ground in hidden corners in outdoor recreation areas. She seems to know that the offenders are female due to the streakless but sometimes yellowed condition of this unsightly litter, general absence of streak-producing piles in the immediate vicinity, and a belief that males generally don't use toilet paper to pee. (She doesn't leave such litter behind.)

    25 pounds of TP per person per year? Measuring a giant multiple-pack in the back room, I find that this (relatively heavy 2-ply soft American stuff) runs roughly 640 sheets per pound. (Common institutional lighter-weight single-ply ought to run far more sheets per pound - a couple thousand?) This means about 16,000 sheets per year, or 44 sheets per day (or far more if institutional single-ply makes a good share of the mix). :eek: This greatly exceeds my individual use, but it is better to not have a metric for the household's use.
     
    #5 fuzzy1, Mar 2, 2019
    Last edited: Mar 2, 2019
  6. El Dobro

    El Dobro A Member

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    Now, that's a lot of sheet.
     
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  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    dear guardian,

    i read that the beatles refused to record at emi studios until the changed the toilet paper to a softer brand.
     
  8. orenji

    orenji Senior Member

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    What have you been drinking??
     
  9. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    [​IMG]

    Bob Wilson
     
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  10. KennyGS

    KennyGS Senior Member

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  11. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    A similar quantity of wood from North America (mostly SE US) becomes bioenergy pellets

    • Global wood pellet production by region 2020 | Forecast

    Production was 8.5 million metric tons in 2015. Increasing but 2018 numbers seem paywalled. By which I mean really paywalled in economic analysis reports costing $thousands.

    Pellet production capacity in SE US exceeds 14 million metric tons

    Biomass Magazine - The Latest News on Biomass Power, Fuels and Chemical

    So this industry is poised to approximately double size of 'tissue' industry in near future. I assume people here are also curious about how roundwood production and wood burned (but not as pellets) compare. But maybe that's just me :)
     
  12. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    Roundwood production, 2017. C'mon you just gotta be interested.

    Canada 92 million metric tons
    US 213 million metric tons

    Construction substantially outweighs wiping.
     
  13. Usle

    Usle Active Member

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    Once was in a rural house, often, that skimmed cow feces onto the walls(once), good texture, good resilience, keep it dry, it was artistically applied.
    Presently burn 3 tons each winter of Douglass Fir pellets, least amount of ash, best source of actual btu, but, now......human waste, hmmm.

    The aluminum and copper might be deal breakers.
     
  14. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    "it was artistically applied."

    Not by cows themselves, then.
     
  15. William Redoubt

    William Redoubt Senior Member

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    I don't think 8 million tons is correct. That suggests 44 pounds annually for each of 360 million asses. Average weight of a roll is 1/2 pound (2 rolls to the pound). That means 88 rolls per person per year, or 1 roll every 4 days. Something smells with the math.
     
  16. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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  17. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    BTW there was a wood-related Executive Order last December:

    EO on Promoting Active Management of America's Forests, Rangelands, and other Federal Lands to Improve Conditions and Reduce Wildfire Risk | The White House

    calling for increased sales of wood from federal lands of at least 4.4 billion board feet. Convert to my favorite units, 6.2 million metric tons. Does not actually say "per year" but that would be my guess. As you are all following along, current US wood sales are 213 million metric tons. So you can compare.

    Also, Executive Order approaches annual US tissue consumption; our initial topic here. I shall not editorialize...
     
  18. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    I buy tissue rolls that weigh 120 grams and use about 60 of them per year. So, 7 or 8 kg per year. Underperforming?

    Same as are offered on (down market) restaurant tables here. Hence the name 'BEP' for both-ends paper.
     
  19. farmecologist

    farmecologist Senior Member

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    You guys crack me up...sorry. :unsure:
     
  20. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    new fecal worry, 'one in six smart phones', usa today.