Almost everyday I see a new commercials saying “No more plastic, we switched to paper [straws/bags/whatever]!” I understand that it’s good to not use plastic, but won’t this contribute to cutting down more trees and hurt our environment as well?

Question

Almost everyday I see a new commercials saying “No more plastic, we switched to paper [straws/bags/whatever]!” I understand that it’s good to not use plastic, but won’t this contribute to cutting down more trees and hurt our environment as well?

In: Earth Science

Answer 1

tl;dr = yes, paper bag manufacturing is bad for the environment.

Firstly, studies have shown that the buying of plastic bags dramatically increased since the widespread disuse at supermarkets (often purposed for trash and things like picking up dog poop), esp. 4 gallon bags which use more/thicker plastic.

Secondly, studies on climate change have shown that trees aren’t as viable a solution as people believe. For starters, overheated forests often release more carbon than they absorb. Overall, forests can’t really begin to help solve the climate crisis until we first stop emitting. (And even then, climate scientists are now arguing that even if we stopped all fossil fuel emissions today it’s already too late, and the effects of over a century of intense greenhouse gas emissions would outlast even their disuse.)

Then there’s the reality that a huge number of tree planting projects have been done without proper foresight as to their greater impact. Certain tree planting projects have been executed in highly problematic geographic terrains. A massive U.K. project was done in a peat bog, dried out the soil and led to thousands of years worth of carbon being released. Furthermore, people ignorantly plant hundreds of thousands of invasive species which have no business proliferating in certain regions and end up having disastrous ecological impact.

Paper bags *are* actually bad for the environment, as is plastic in general. They require cutting down and processing trees, which involves lots of water, toxic chemicals, fuel and heavy machinery. Not only is manufacturing paper bags more energy-intensive, the product is heavier therefore it requires more energy spent on transport.
Just do the research.
http://www.allaboutbags.ca/papervplastic.html

And I laugh at business that claim to be eco-friendly yet still use massive amounts of paper for receipts.

So as it turns out, the only coherent and honest thing that’s good for the environment would be to cease liberal/industrial ideology and end consumerism.