Know What You Flush: Your Dumps = Stumps

Published February 5, 2008
One Comment (at bottom of article)

By Hillary Jane Archer

On the frigid morning of January 24, a group of 50 student activists kicked off their premiere campaign event with dramatic and unusual symbolism when a toilet on wheels was rolled onto campus. The toilet appeared as if it were ready to flush what was at the heart of their campaigning efforts: a tree. It didn’t matter that it was near 15° F and snowing; the UVM Forest Crimes Unit was on a tenacious mission to enlighten everyone about why our toilet paper and tissues need a little more attention.

Rarely do people think, as they are crumbling a freshly collected wad of toilet paper, that they are about to wipe their ass with 10,000 year old tree fiber. Even more rarely do people think, as they flush it down the hatch, that the “disposable” toilet paper that they literally have no choice but to use, is being robbed from one of the largest ancient forests left on Earth. And if that doesn’t grab you, perhaps knowing that many of the people and cultures that depend on these endangered forests are also under threat.

Who’s responsible for this atrocity? Well, currently, UVM sources all of its custodial paper products from a multi-national company called Kimberly-Clark. For years, Kimberly-Clark has claimed that they do not source from old-growth forests, when extensive research has discovered clear and irrefutable evidence that, in fact, their actions indulge in quite the opposite.

Their products, among which include Kleenex® tissues and Scott® toilet paper (yes, that utterly uncomfortable stuff), are derived from deliberate, unsustainable clear-cutting practices which you may know as deforestation.

UVM’s hypocritical purchase of Kimberly-Clark disposable paper products is not necessarily in harmony with its “green” mission. Above all else, this mission is geared toward enhancing the environmental, cultural, social, and economic life of Vermont, the nation, and the world. For a campus that prides itself on being prestigiously green, it would only make sense to cut ties with companies like Kimberly-Clark–at least until they adopt Green Seal or Forest Stewardship Council sustainable logging practices and higher post-consumer recycled content in all their products.

As you probably witnessed last week, the Forest Crimes Unit was armed with petitions and ready to engage the UVM community with contagious energy. Their goal-to rid the campus of the forest- consuming, paper-pulp giant Kimberly-Clark.

If UVM shows sustainable progress with everyday resources such as food, energy, transportation, and copy paper, then it should also know what they flush.

As for the Forest Crimes Unit, if all open dialogue fails with UVM, they are not afraid to use non-violent direct action as a means to their sensible ends. So, you may want to keep your eyes and ears open…

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