A Groundbreaking Step

Books are made from paper, paper comes from trees. So, as it presently stands, book publishing in Canada contributes to ancient forest destruction and global warming. But this is quickly changing.

With 80% of the world’s ancient forest having already been logged, and global paper consumption being expected to double in the next 15 years, this is truly a monumental step forward in support of Canada’s literary and environmental heritage.

As Canadians, we depend on books to define both who we are as a people, and who we would like to become. The initiative taken by Canadian book publishers today will shape the planet for centuries to come. Please support them in this important commitment

Ancient Forests, New Initiatives

In October 2001, the names of these environmental literary leaders will be revealed. Watch your newspapers. Attend the Writers Festivals in Vancouver and Toronto. Revisit this website for further information.

For the first time in publishing history, visionary Canadian writers and book publishers are pursuing environmental paper solutions by joining a groundbreaking initiative to eliminate ancient forest papers from their books.

Markets Initiative, an exciting new environmental project dedicated to helping Canadian companies shift away from the use of ancient trees in their business practices, has been working in collaboration with the Canadian book publishing industry for the past year. What the publishing world has moved quickly to discover is that it is possible to keep publishing beautiful and important writings, in an economically competitive way, without destroying our precious ancient forest heritage.

Statistics:

Seventy-six countries have already lost all of their original forest cover.

Only 20% of the world’s ancient forests remain.

Canada, Brazil and Russia contain most of the world’s remaining old growth forest. All three countries continue to log in ways and at rates that threaten the survival of our ancient forests and the animals species who inhabit them.

"We would never buy paper made from dead bears, otter, salmon and birds, from ruined native cultures, from destroyed species and destroyed lives, from ancient forests reduced to stumps and mud; but that's what we're buying when we buy paper made from old-growth clear-cut trees."
- Margaret Atwood, Greenpeace USA report "Chain of Destruction" (1998)

This fall, a number of Canada’s major publishing houses will be releasing upwards of thirty titles on ancient forest free paper. This means that in this year alone, more than 470,000 pounds of paper have been produced without one ancient tree falling; 3500 old growth trees have been preserved, or a pristine forest area approximately five times the size of the Toronto Skydome.

And this is only the beginning. This same group of progressive publishers have formally committed themselves to the elimination of ALL ancient forest fibres from their books within the next three years. Canadian publishers save one old growth tree with every 90 ancient forest free books produced. Multiple this by the thousands of books being produced in Canada each year, and then imagine what this means for our ancient forests and the animals who inhabit them.

Home Who We Are Our Company Partners Go Ancient-Forest-Free Alternatives Contact