Global Warming And Our Itchy Printer Fingers

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Date: Thursday March 14, 2013 08:10:22 am
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    Global Warming And Our Itchy Printer Fingers

    By Tom Lucas

    A few days ago, my usual tranquil demeanour very quickly transformed to a seething but restrained rage during a visit to the office photocopier. Surprisingly, my beef was not with the photocopier itself, though the infernal machines are known to try the patience of the Mother Theresa’s of the world. Rather, I was confronted with a shameful sight commonly found in most offices of today’s so-called ‘digital age’. It was a sight so outrageous in a society that is panicking about global warming, that my morning soon turned into one of researching paper, of all things.

    Sprawled haphazardly all over the photocopier, were dozens of uncollected printouts sourced from every workstation in the office. They spewed from both output trays, on top of the input tray, in random piles, face up, face down, A3 and A4 sizes alike. This was in addition to the large bin beside the photocopier filled to the brim with rejected sheets.

    Every day this happens, in offices all over Australia and the world. Piles of paper are unnecessarily printed, or the culprit simply does not come to collect their stash. They add to the never-ending waste we are piling up around us, and subtract from the rainforests that we so quickly blame others for destroying. We shake our heads and voice our opinions on the perils of global warming, the destruction of the rainforests, and the horrific desecration of Mother Earth, but if you’re an office worker who uses the printer like it’s a free vending machine, you’re not exactly blameless.

    The digital age was supposed help us become ‘paperless’. Instead, consider these alarming facts:

    ·      As recently as 2005, Australians were using more than 3.5 million tonnes of paper each year. Only 11 per cent of Australia’s office paper being recycled, with nearly 9 out of 10 sheets of office paper being thrown away. [1]

    ·      It is estimated that 95 per cent of business information is still stored on paper.[2]

    ·      Over 45 per cent of the files in those cabinets are duplicated information, and 80 per cent is never accessed again.[3]

    ·      10,000 trees are cut down annually in China alone to make holiday cards.[4]

    ·      Every tree provides oxygen enough for three people to breathe.[5]

    Paper manufacturing is the 3rd largest user of fossil fuels worldwide.[6]

    When the digital age was born, many thrilling technological wonders lay ahead. One obvious perk was speed and the ability to perform calculations instantly that would otherwise take hours by hand. Another was the capacity to communicate and network with people all over the world. But importantly, we were supposed to drastically reduce our need for and consumption of paper. What a startling fallacy that last one has become.

    Not only did computing technology evolve, but so too did printing technology. And as printing technology became faster, easier, cheaper and more efficient, our paper consumption got worse. As technology evolved, so did we. We developed ‘itchy printer fingers’.

    Remember when typewriters ruled the world? I have recollections from early childhood of my grandmother sitting at a typewriter clicking away at the keys while my grandfather dictated. Thorough care was taken as she typed, because she knew fixing a little mistake was not as simple as using the backspace key that we all take for granted today. Her typewriter produced printed paper one page at a time, each sheet one of a kind, as unique and precious as the last.

    I work in an industry where some of the old-timers tell me how drafting and map-making were achieved before computers. Again, meticulous care was taken because it was not easy to produce printed sheets of paper en masse. And with the advent of the early computers, it was still not straightforward, so they paid attention to detail before they printed. This was the true quintessence of the old adage, “measure twice, cut once”.

    Then computer technology surged. Suddenly we were printing anything and everything that appeared on our screens. E-mails, documents, photos, spread sheets, charts, presentations, schedules, screenshots of the most inane trivia; nothing was kept purely digital. We had to have hardcopies piling up around us, even if we never looked at them again.

    How many times have you printed something, only to curse when you forgot the tick box that prints in colour rather than black and white? Or mistakenly printed spread sheets in portrait layout rather than landscape? Or found a typo that you didn’t pick up earlier? So, the print job was inevitably done again, because all it took was a simple mouse click. We’ve all done it. And forests are dying because we didn’t take that one extra minute to perform the proverbial measure twice, cut once in the print settings menu.

    So, before we voice scathing opinions and condemn others for global warming and the destruction of the environment, we all need to look at our own habits, and, among other things, re-train our itchy printer fingers. The catastrophic changes that are happening to our environment are not just the fault of mining and oil companies or the manufacturing giants or myriad other industries that belch out tonnes of pollution each year. They are just as much our fault, for those extra few seconds that we do not take to consider the environment before creating unwarranted waste, even in a simple office setting.

    More and more I see, and applaud, an increasing number of e-mail signatures accommodating the phrase, "Please consider the environment before printing this email". It is a simple, but powerful message we all must heed. Only then do we have a right to complain about global warming.

    Remember, if you absolutely must print, measure twice and cut once.

    Sources

    1.     Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW)

    2.     International Institute for Environment and Development

    3.     Price Waterhouse Cooper

    4.     Xinhua News Agency

    5.     North Carolina Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling

    6.     American Forest and Paper Association

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