But What If I Never Throw It Away?

Sad news on my New Favorite Thing, my stone paper.... I was told it is NOT recyclable. I thought it was. But.. but... I SO love to write on it. It's so smooth. Now, am I a giant hypocrite for using it? It's still compostable, right? I mean, it's stone, it will take forever, but it's at least natural, right?

And that's all it took to send me into one of my brain-spins. Ok, yeah yeah yeah, I know, it doesn't take much most days. But here we go. So, this stuff can't be recycled, but it IS natural, but trees are natural, and that's recyclable, and that breaks down pretty quickly, But it takes too many trees to make paper and isn't it better if we are making paper out of something else that is a waste product and natural and BESIDES - what if you never throw it out anyway? I have notebooks from COLLEGE. I don't get rid of them. Sure I'll die someday and they'll get tossed eventually, not put into some Good Green Witch Museum for all time to come. But...

What's right, what's wrong? I think I am OK using my stone paper. I think I am OK with my plastic Neti pot. I have a very anti-plastic friend who had that conundrum in her life. They make ceramic Netis which are awesome, but then it's slippery trying to use it in the shower and you drop it and it shatters and now you are using resources to buy another. They are made of stainless steel too, but ouch doesn't that get hot? A plastic Neti will last the entire life span of your showers, will it not? Does that make plastic OK in this instance? Just this once? If I have it for years and years and years and no new resources are being used to replace it? Does that expand to other things that I would avoid? Plastic things break and cannot be fixed. A Neti will likely not break or wear out. But cups? Plates? You know, those ones that are meant to be used again and again but that I say to avoid anyway for other materials?

It's enough to make a poor little witch fly right 'round the bend.

Thoughts? I don't consume very much. I don't buy a lot. I try to conserve and reuse when I can. I don't avoid plastic as completely as I would like. But I try to use the hell out of everything I have. Does that count? I'm the Good Green Witch, not the Perfect Green Witch. I'm not asking people to be perfect, just better. Just be good, too. We live, we learn, we find out not everything is as good as we think it is, we find out about BPA, eggs are good for you / eggs are bad for you no they are good.... oatmeal will save you no it won't...

Life is a work in progress. A journey.

I think I'll write that down in my stone paper notebook. You know, to save it for later.

Tree Free Paper

This paper is made of what? STONE? AWESOME!!!

When I think tree-free paper, I think maybe recycled or made from hemp. (Hemp. Hah. The perfect answer to most if not all our economic woes and many environmental ones, too, and we can't grow it in the US. Go figure.) But I never heard of paper made from stone. Apparently I am a little behind the curve on that one.

The people who introduced me to stone paper are Buffalo Natur out of Canada (http://buffalonatur.com/index.php). They have lots of other great green products too - basically everything you (used to) need for school supplies. I mean, who uses PAPER anymore. Well, I do now, because I will find any excuse to write on this stuff. There are plenty of other brands out there, and they really are not that much pricier than regular paper tree-killing notebooks. These particular notebooks are made of stone which is recycled from construction sites. Think what an endless supply that is. Think about your paper usage. Sure, you may not use a notebook very often... but at work? Your printer? Or your kids?

This paper is cool because it is apparently recyclable, it is water and grease resistant, very durable, and hey you do NOT get paper cuts with it! I swear! It feels great  Everyone I show it to wants to write on it then wants to steal my notebook.

Trees are precious. We need not cut them down just so we can throw them away. These other ideas for "paper" are the kind of ideas that really make me happy. If you can't easily find hemp paper (Thanks W.R. Hearst for that SO much), then check out this stuff in your local drug store. If it cost a few cents more, well, how much paper are you REALLY using, it's worth it and maybe, just maybe, you will be a little more judicious with it?

Cost, price, value. These are topics for another one... but in the meantime, this stuff is SO cool! I encourage you to look for things like this. I'll point them out when I find them. I'm still trying to nail down where to buy products from these guys, but there are other brands out there.

I love it!