Protocols Exist

I am a huge proponent of well-managed forests and am an avid reader of Bill Cook’s Column. His column about the supremacy of the paper towel, while written with good intention, pushed the use of paper towels to new sacred heights. Making me think, “Are there paper towels in heaven?”

I like Mr. Cook’s column because it forces me to think. How do we analyze our lifestyles to be responsible?  I agree with Mr. Cook. The use of paper towels in the big picture of struggling to save the planet is tiny. If we cannot wean ourselves off fossil fuels, we need not worry about paper towel use.

But that will not stop me from having a little fun with paper towels and our long wiping history. The “wiper”, at one time, was a worker who went around machines cleaning moving parts of dirt and excess oil. Steam locomotives, ship engine rooms and the Quincy mine Nordberg engine employed workers who made sure machines were cleaned and oiled. Today, the wiper is still employed on the big Military Sealift Command ships I served on.

If our helicopter mechanics and our wipers used paper towels exclusively, there would be little storage room left for our soldier’s and sailor’s veggies, potato chips and bombs. I like cotton shop towels and rags. Many helicopter companies I worked for preferred them because they were sturdier and reusable after washing. Washing and reusing paper towels has not worked well for me.

Today, I use paper towels as napkins. Counterintuitively, Mr. Cook’s article inspired me to re-evaluate this. When I used to travel in Europe, I stayed at family run hotels. The dining rooms were kept spotless and tables were adorned with tablecloths and cloth napkins. The napkins had different designs, so each guest knew which was his of hers. The help who cleaned the table would inspect the linen after each meal. I do not know what the criteria was for a napkin to go to the washing machine. Mine usually went for cleaning while my compatriots did not, leaving me questioning my table manners and my proficiency with a fork and knife.

I doubt this practice of napkin reuse will meet our stringent public health rules but why not do this at home?

Are paper napkins or cloth napkins better? Are paper towels better than shop towels?  I do know and it points to why Mr. Cook’s statement high-lighted in bold letters is key: “The environmental impacts of items that we use every day can be difficult to fully understand. Protocols exist to assess a, “cradle to grave” life cycle of any product, but not everything has been put to this sort of intense examination.”

For instance, here is a short “cradle to grave” evaluation of using coal to produce electricity. The cradle of coal energy often means a whole mountain top is removed to get at the coal. The mountaintop is moved to a valley, burying it. This means the loss of habitat for thousands of birds, animals, and fish. A productive forest also falls victim.

  Then the coal is transported to a power generation plant for burning. Burning the coal emits thousands of tons of carbon dioxide creating our climate crises. Other pollutants are released destructive to our health, especially young children. In fact, coal fired powerplants emit more radioactive particles than nuclear power plants.  

Additionally, coal plants (and natural gas, and nuclear power plants) need vast amounts of cold cooling water sometimes depleting aquifers.

The coal grave is even toxic, the waste is poisonous coal ash.

Few products have this long a trail of tears.

Solar and wind power have externalities too, but they are minor compared to fossil fuels.

If, as Mr. Cook says, “Protocols exist to assess a ‘cradle to grave’ life cycle of any product…” why is this not done?

We have an EPA who with about a dozen other federal scientific agencies who assess the truth. Unfortunately, Republican administrations appoint agency heads whose mission is muzzling, misrepresenting, or skewing science. The worst administration, to date, is the Trump administration.

Until the Republican Party embraces science, as it has before, or we elect a different party to lead the nation, we will remain dim bulbs unable to see our way to a brighter future.

Until we are allowed to read the non-partisan, scientific, cradle to grave assessments we have to manage as best we can. I read fine articles like Mr. Cook’s or ones in science magazines to help me but sometimes I must rely on the wisdom of my parents.

First, if I do not need it, I try not to buy it.

Second, if I can reuse something, I use it again. This saves me money.  If it is not reusable, I try to imagine a new use. This can be fun. And lastly, I recycle, which gives me the pleasure of knowing raw materials go back into the industrial marketplace.

And, often, the convenience of cleaning up a mess with a paper towel makes me happy too…especially after reading Mr. Cook’s column.  Thanks Bill!

There must be paper towels in heaven, right?