TL: What can you tell us about the early years of Talking Leaves? What led you into publishing? What was your vision for the journal? How did it evolve during your time as editor?
CM: I started Talking Leaves in 1989 at the suggestion of a friend who felt there was a spiritual hole that needed to be filled in the Eugene area. I had received an inheritance and spent most of it the first year publishing and editing Talking Leaves. Within a few months I met Lone Wolf Circles (Jesse "Wolf" Hardin) and he turned me on to the Deep Ecology movement. The Deep Ecology movement was just beginning and Talking Leaves quickly became a voice for spirit and ecology. We became the voice of all species. Talking Leaves grew rapidly and we gained worldwide recognition. Talking Leaves was a free local publication for the first five years, though we had national and international paid subscribers.
TL: Why did you choose the name Talking Leaves?
CM: I read a book called Seven Arrows by Hyemeyohsts Storm, which is the story of the Plains Native Peoples. In the book one of the native people has a vision of the white man coming and he talks about the power of the railroad, firearms and war and "Even the Power of Talking Leaves." The Power of "Talking Leaves" (pages carrying printed words) to the native people meant an end to their culture which has historically been based on oral storytelling as a way of passing on the traditional ways of living in balance with the land. As a publication, Talking Leaves was established to bring back the stories of both the people and the plants and animals.
Years later I met a Cherokee man and he informed me that the first written Cherokee language was called "Talking Leaves" and was written on the bark of trees.
TL: How did you become interested in alternative-fiber paper?
CM: I had been publishing and editing an ecology magazine for seven years at the time. Because it was an ecology magazine and out there fighting for the forests, when I discovered that I didn't have to use wood to make paper, I knew I had to make the switch. The impacts of the forest-destructive pulp and paper industry are pretty obvious to the people who read this magazine. Old growth ecosystems are being felled at an alarming rate for newsprint and toilet paper as well as other types of paper and building materials. Replacing a percentage of that fiber for pulp and paper with nonwood fibers is a big step in the right direction. You cannot replace an old growth forest with plantation trees and still have a living forest system. Not to mention the greenhouse effect that these forests shield the planet against.
TL: What did you discover as you researched ecologically-friendly sources of paper for Talking Leaves?
CM: In 1994 when I started this process there was little alternative fiber paper to be had for publishing purposes, and that is still true today. Living Tree Paper Company is a pioneer in creating a positive solution to current destructive forest practices. By using alternative fibers in pulp and papermaking we are showing the way to a more sustainable future. I also have to credit the pioneering work of Earth Island's Rethink Paper project which created an activist center where people could learn about what the alternatives were and where to get them. This project became defunct a couple of years ago but there are some people who are currently trying to revive the website. Co-op America and Rainforest Action Network were, and still are, actively promoting the concept of using alternative fibers for paper as well as encouraging consumers to consume less and use products that contain high levels of post-consumer recycled resources.
The paper that I first used when I switched Talking Leaves to tree-free came from China. The paper did not meet the standards of the western world's printing industry and jammed the presses. I ended up traveling to Eastern Europe and Russia in search of good quality tree-free paper. There were a couple of paper mills in Eastern Europe that were making a quality product but it was pretty expensive. In the end I hooked up with one of the world's leading suppliers of nonwood specialty pulps (which included hemp) and we started working together to make tree-free papers.
TL: What led you to seek a new publisher for Talking Leaves?
CM: I started my paper business in 1994 and continued to publish Talking Leaves into 1996. I had a very difficult time doing both. The early stages of my business were a financial struggle and Talking Leaves had always required my energy full-time. I had to let Talking Leaves go if I was to make a success of the business. So I called you and the other people at Lost Valley who had worked with me on the magazine. Thank the goddess it was good timing and you were able to do it. And you've done such a good job!
TL: What did you discover about hemp and other alternative fibers for paper-making in terms of their ecological impacts, social impacts, quality, practicality, and economic viability? How do you judge whether a product is "sustainable"?
CM: At this particular time in history, and because of the way the world moves its economy, nothing is totally sustainable. Until we actually live on the planet in a bioregional economic way, people will continue to depend on fossil fuel, industrial agriculture, plantation forestry, etc. In the meantime we need to develop sustainable models that will eventually replace the current practices of industry.
The paper industry in modern times is obviously not sustainable. With Living Tree Paper Company we are trying to impress upon the paper industry that consumers want more sustainable products. Between businesses like ours and activist pressure, the industry is being forced to make changes that benefit the environment. Using hemp, flax, or straw residue is definitely more sustainable than cutting forests. However, you still have the problem of industrial agriculture and monoculture in the growing of hemp or flax. Straw is probably the most promising fiber for paper as it is a residue of an established industry that is normally burned or landfilled.
TL: What raw materials do you choose for Living Tree Paper products, and why? What processes are used in manufacture, and in what ways do they differ from standard paper-making practices? In what ways do you believe your products are sustainable, and in what ways are you still developing more sustainable methods and sources?
CM: We use hemp and flax and post-consumer waste (recycled office paper). Our nonwood fibers are grown in western Europe and shipped over to the US as dry pulp. We hope to be a part of a nonwood fiber pulping project here in the US or Canada over the next few years. Shipping across the ocean is not exactly sustainable. However, our nonwood pulps are processed in a state-of-the-art pulp mill that uses a closed-loop system and is totally chlorine-free. I believe we have the most environmentally sound pulping process available. Some of the bigger companies have used sugarcane waste (bagasse) but all of the bagasse pulp is chlorine bleached. The sugarcane industry is also as unsustainable as cotton due to chemical impacts.
Papermaking is not the problem--most of the pollution from the industry is in the pulping processes.
TL: How would you like to see the paper and fiber industries evolve in this country and around the world? How can consumers, farmers, government, and industry people work together to promote this evolution?
CM: I would like to see a moratorium around the world with respect to extraction from old growth ecosystems. I think we need state-of-the-art regional nonwood pulp mills that are built next to fiber sources. For example, in the midwest corn belt, a pulp mill could use all the corn waste. In Winnipeg, Canada there is plenty of flax straw to feed a mill. On the west coast of the US we have wheat and rice straw available. Along with the straw waste we should be growing some flax and hemp to strengthen the shorter fibers for producing quality paper products.
I think the industrial hemp movement is a good example of how consumers, farmers, industry, and government are working together to promote this evolution. The farmers have been key in passing legislation for the legalization of industrial hemp in a lot of states. North Dakota has had the strongest legislation to date. A Republican House Representative for the State of Hawaii, Representative Cynthia Thielen, passed legislation allowing the first hemp seed in around 50 years to be planted on Hawaiian soil.
There is a nonwood sector of the paper industry and many people in that sector are looking towards new ways of utilizing nonwood fibers within the paper industry. A lot of research is being done on creating new types of pulping facilities in different regions of North America.
TL: Is "sustainability" determined more by what specific materials are used or consumed, or by consumption levels? Does it matter whether paper is made of trees or of old socks, if we still consume too much of it?
CM: Consumerism, of course, is the problem. The internet was supposed to alleviate a lot of paper consumption but from what I understand it has had the opposite effect. The world's population continues to grow and more resources are bound to be consumed. I think we are better off consuming products that are made from renewable or recycled resources.
TL: How can we consume less?
CM: Live simply so others may simply live!
TL: Permaculture is a design system which attempts to create more ecological, sustainable ways of living through (among other things) greater use of perennial plants and less reliance on annual plants. Wes Jackson's Land Institute is attempting to do the same thing by developing "natural systems agriculture," replacing our annual grain crops with perennial grain crops. The campaign to replace trees (perennial plants) with hemp and some other alternative fiber crops (many of them annuals, requiring frequent soil disturbance) seems to run counter to this trend. What do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of annual versus perennial fiber crops? What do you think are the ideal fiber crops?
CM: I think you are comparing apples and oranges. The permaculture model is not intended to create a bast fiber crop to feed a paper machine. The amount of hemp and flax and straw needed to feed the economies of scale of a paper mill is still enormous. Hemp and flax should be grown rotationally with crops that can replenish the soil. Natural systems of agriculture and agroforestry are being implemented on a global scale. I believe this is the direction we need to flow into but in the meantime big industry continues to gobble up the forests.
TL: What different stages has Living Tree Paper gone through? Do you have any advice for others starting this kind of business?
CM: When I started this business, I had little money but great determination. The idea of paper made from something other than trees touched the deepest level of my convictions. It was difficult going in the early years because of lack of money and the need to develop a product that was cost-competitive with similar types of paper. My business partner and I spent a good six months writing a business plan and creating a private stock offering and in the end were able to raise money to move forward. A couple of years ago we finally hooked up with a mill that could produce our paper at a competitive price. Now we have some large volume customers like Nike and Patagonia.
Anyone starting an entrepreneurial business has to take the first step and develop a business plan. The business plan tells the entrepreneur how much money is needed to get the business going, and helps one to know what the markets are and who are the competitors. Creating a business plan is the hardest part but the most necessary one.
TL: What have you learned in the last five or six years about "sustainable" fiber materials? How has your understanding of the paper business evolved?
CM: The most sustainable way to use alternative fibers would be to have processing plants near the fiber source, as I said before. What I have learned about the paper industry is that it is controlled by a handful of very large companies and distributors. All of the buy-outs, mergers, and bankruptcies have actually benefited a small niche market company like Living Tree because the bigger companies concentrate on selling large volumes of their wood paper products. The wood part of the industry has little understanding of the environmental movement or what people want and why. Some grassroots activists' organizations are focusing on pressuring large corporations to sign pledges not to use old growth and other endangered forests in their products. This works faster than trying to get government environmental regulations. It has been amazingly effective and very helpful in our marketing efforts.
TL: During your years starting and running this business, what have you learned about people, about the business world, about our society, about yourself?
CM: I started out as a do-gooder activist from Oregon who knew relatively nothing about business or paper. I had to learn a lot of paper and print industry lingo as well as learn about paper. I also had a crash course with my pulp supplier in learning the properties and uses of nonwood fibers in pulp and paper. I am now a member of the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI) and I sit on the nonwood fiber committee. In 1998 I was invited to be on a panel at the prestigious TAPPI Nonwood Symposium and the paper I wrote was published in their journal along with the papers from the "real" experts in the nonwood pulp and paper industry. It was pretty intimidating giving a talk in front of the world's most experienced industry players. But I managed to pull it off and make a lot of good contacts.
TL: What is your personal relationship with your work, and how has it evolved? What keeps you going? How much longer do you think you will work in this field? Is the work still exciting? What do you like, and not like, about your job? Do you consider it "sustainable" personally?
CM: I really love what I do and how I have set up my business. The home office is the hub and we are connected to the world through phone and internet. Many things are connected to paper and there is always something new to learn. The business is my activism and my livelihood. By 2050 it is expected that pulp and paper manufacture will account for over half of the world's industrial wood demand. The pulp and paper industry uses more water to produce a ton of product than any other industry.
Worldwide, pulp and paper is the fifth largest industrial consumer of energy. These are some of the realities that keep me going from an activist viewpoint. Living Tree Paper Company is reaching a level of sales and consumer interest that is making industry players take a harder look at their environmental records.
This work takes me all over the world to network and attend relevant conferences. This is still exciting. I have made a lot of new friends over the past seven years creating this business. I am also on the Board of Directors of the Hemp Industries Association (HIA), and this allows me to be politically active as well. I have also helped to create an industrial hemp Non-Governmental Organization (as a part of the HIA non-profit) to bring to the international arena issues surrounding the growing use of hemp, nonwood fibers, and subsequent value-added products insofar as they relate to the development of sustainable ecosystems, communities, and economies. The hemp NGO is requesting that the UN Commission on Sustainable Development appoint a special commission for study of crops and plants that can contribute to more sustainable bioregionally-based industries.
TL: What is the future of Living Tree Paper--in the near term, and in the long term? Is it a sustainable business? Why, or why not?--or what will determine whether it is or not?
CM: The future is looking bright at the moment. We have a lot of irons in the fire. We are researching and developing new products. The markets and interest continue to grow. We have been developing cutting-edge products from an environmental point of view. Living Tree paper products encompass both the idea of using annual plants instead of trees for fiber, and the concept of recycling and reusing. All of this saves trees, energy, and reduces water use. The growth of consumer demand and the continued pressure of activists' organizations toward big corporations will ultimately support our long term success and viability.
TL: What are the principles, concerns, or passions that have guided your life and your work throughout their different stages? How do these manifest themselves now, in addition to your work with Living Tree Paper? How do you see them being manifested in the future?
CM: The strongest passion and concern that has guided my life has been for environmental issues. I have been a lover of nature and animals ever since I was born. When I was a kid I brought home every stray animal I came across. I learned how to ride horses when I was five years old and continued to use horseback riding as my excuse to get out of the suburbs and into nature. In the mid-'70s I was part of the "back to the land" movement and lived in the Oregon coast range for over a decade tending a large organic garden. This is where I received my first bird's eye view of what is happening to the forests in the northwest. I started this business endeavor as a way of offering a better solution to current destructive forest practices. I am committed to making this business a great success and I don't see myself straying off this path for the foreseeable future.
TL: What has been your relationship with Talking Leaves since Lost Valley assumed publication? How do you feel about its direction in recent years?
CM: Most of my relationship with Talking Leaves since Lost Valley assumed responsibility is to make sure at least the cover of the magazine is published on Living Tree paper. I was so grateful that Lost Valley and you were able to take it on when I was being totally consumed by the paper business. I think you are doing a great job and it has been a wonderfully smooth transition. It is a great honor to watch something one has poured their heart and soul into for almost a decade continue to flourish.
TL: What, in life, is most important to you?
CM: Health, good friends, family, nature, plants and animals. Though my work is extremely important, it does not take the place of the community of support that has helped me through the difficult times and celebrated with me when things are running smoothly. I also have a family of felines that are a very important part of my life. Times of solitude and contemplation also rank high on the list of importance.
TL: What else would you like to say to our readers?
CM: Stay close to the Earth, as that is where the real power comes from. And, as my dear departed friend Harriet Kofalk used to say, "Expand that place of peace within."
Carolyn Moran is founder and President of Living Tree Paper Company, phone: 800-309-2974, 541-342-2974, website: http:// www.livingtreepaper.com , email: [email protected]
©2001* Talking Leaves
Spring/Summer 2001
Volume 11, Number 1
Tools for Sustainability/Eco-Humor