We need the boreal forest. And not just for wiping our bum.

2025/05/22|Exploring Cultures / Natural Health / Sustainable Living

The boreal forest covers 1.9 billion acres of forested lands. That’s 14% of earth’s land, of which 28% is in Canada. That’s a lot of numbers and the covered area has changed a lot over the decades. Today, it starts just below the Arctic Circle, and spans nearly the entire Northern Hemisphere. With some breaks, it encircles the globe, like a crown. A green crown.

Boreal forests occur in the more southern parts of the taiga ecoregion that spreads across the northern parts of the world. Artwork by Mark Baldwin-Smith, Wikipedia

This area stores 30 to 40 percent of crucial land-based carbon, critical in the fight against climate change. Along with the Amazon rainforest, boreal forests are considered the lungs of the earth.

The crown and the lungs!

Threat to the Boreal

When we read about wildfires in the Canadian north they are often in the boreal forests. In addition to fires, several industries like oil and gas (drilling and mining), exploit the boreal, but one of the biggest threats to this crucial landmark is logging.

“Each year, industrial logging operations clearcut approximately one million acres of intact forest, equivalent to five NHL hockey rink–size areas every minute.” – nrdc.org

This is being done to feed the world’s demand for Canada’s lumber, of which the United States is the largest purchaser. This brings me to the point of this write-up.

Much of the wood harvested from Canada’s boreal forests is used to make virgin wood pulp that goes towards toilet paper, paper towels, and facial tissues.

Treating trees like we treat poo

The ‘best selling’ TP producers, the “Big Three” U.S. tissue producers – Georgia-Pacific, Kimberly-Clark, and Procter & Gamble – almost exclusively use forest fibre sourced from Canada’s boreal forests. These brands in general have 3X the carbon footprint of those that are made from recycled paper. Many use harmful bleaching processes too.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Many, less popular companies already use eco friendly alternatives, such as recycled paper, bamboo or even wheat straw.

See where your favourite brand lands on the NRDC report card.

So what can we do to protect our forests:

Choose a toilet paper product that is made from at least 50% recycled or forest-free materials. There’s a ton of choice in the Best and Worst list here.
Have you ever tried a spray bidet?

Read these links for more information: