[GreenYes] AF&PA

[DavidOrr@aol.com]

On 4/2/01 9:51 AM, Christine_McCoy@afandpa.org 
Christine_McCoy@afandpa.org wrote:

>In the meantime, you may want to check out
>our website for general information on paper and wood recycling.


While I don't know Ms. McCoy, nor do I have any reason to doubt her 
sincerity on a personal level, I would strongly caution all subscribers 
to this list that the American Forest & Paper Association is the timber 
industry's mouthpiece and a major obstructive force against forest 
protection efforts in this country and abroad.  To the extent they 
promote paper and wood recycling, it is as a defensive measure, i.e., to 
be able to defend against charges that they prefer to cut down trees to 
promote recycling.

If the AF&PA and its member companies cared about recycling, we would 
have a lot more post-consumer waste recycling in this country.  For 
example, it was back in the early days of the Clinton Administration when 
the white house proposed a minimum PCW content rule for the Government 
Printing Office.  Who shot that down?  The AF&PA and some of its biggest 
member companies.

So take what they tell you with a block of salt.  I won't be checking 
their website for any information, other than to see what sort of 
self-serving propaganda the timber industry puts out on a given day or on 
a given topic.

Good luck to Ms. McCoy in her job.  It is a serious ethical challenge for 
an environmentalist to work for the world's biggest advocate for forest 
destruction.

David Orr