The Unkindest Flush

[DainBramaged]

There is a battle for America's behinds.

It is a fight over toilet paper: the kind that is blanket-fluffy and getting fluffier so fast that manufacturers are running out of synonyms for "soft" (Quilted Northern Ultra Plush is the first big brand to go three-ply and three-adjective).

It's a menace, environmental groups say -- and a dark-comedy example of American excess.

The reason, they say, is that plush U.S. toilet paper is usually made by chopping down and grinding up trees that were decades or even a century old. They want Americans, like Europeans, to wipe with tissue made from recycled paper goods.

It has been slow going. Big toilet-paper makers say that they've taken steps to become more Earth-friendly but that their customers still want the soft stuff, so they're still selling it.

This summer, two of the best-known combatants in this fight signed a surprising truce, with a big tissue maker promising to do better. But the larger battle goes on -- the ultimate test of how green Americans will be when nobody's watching.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/23/AR2009092304711.html

[Quantess]

1. Interesting article. I think I'll wipe my ass with it.

Just kidding, of course.

Seriously, though, I think the soft TP is less effective and you need more of it.

[DainBramaged]

2. One sheet wonder..................

Can't beat those baby wipes.........

[stuball111]

3. Or get with the French...install a bidet...nt

[BlueJazz]

4. I use my own "hose"

[Historic NY]

5. toilet paper history.....hemp was popular too.

history of toilet paper
http://nobodys-perfect.com/vtpm/ExhibitHall/Informational/tphistorycontent.html

Newsprint, paper catalogue pages in early US

Discarded sheep's wool in the Viking Age, England

Frayed end of an old anchor cable was used by sailing crews from Spain and Portugal

Straw,hay,grass,corn cobs,Sears Roebuck catalog,mussel shell,newspaper,leaves,sand-United States
Water and your left hand, India

Coconut shells in early Hawaii

Lace was used by French Royalty

Public restrooms in Ancient Rome- A sponge soaked in salt water, on the end of a stick

The wealthy in Ancient Rome-wool and rosewater

French Royalty-lace, hemp

Hemp & wool were used by the elite citizens of the world

Defecating in the river was very common internationally

Bidet; France

Snow and tundra moss were used by early Eskimos

[Berry Cool]

8. I can't picture some of these.

Corn cobs?? Not as in "insert and turn," I hope??

Mussel shell? Not exactly absorbent. What?? As a scraper??

Sand?? What, just throw it up there and wipe it off??

Lace?? Lace has HOLES!!!! :scared:

[izquierdista]

6. You THINK nobody's watching

May I remind you that Jesus is ALWAYS watching: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c9ppDdotbU

[JVS]

7. They can have my quilted Northern when they pry it from my cold dead ass