4 - Sunday, May 20, 1990 -

North Shore News

AS A person who has been writing about ecology — in
newspapers, magazines and books — for over two decades,

I find the current explosion of printed ‘‘green’’

to be a very healthy sign.

It is also, let's face it, over-
whelmingly hypocritical.

The publisher of the North
Shore News, Peter Speck, has been
trying for almost as long as I’ve
been writing to arrange to print
this product on recycled paper. He
kept getting stonewalled by the

pulp and paper industry, which in-
sisted that the process was too ex-
pensive.

Now that Pacific Press in Van-
couver is seriously thinking about
getting into recycling, the suppliers
are starting to accept the idea. It
turns out, as Speck said all along,
that it is perfectly possible, and not
necessarily any more expensive in
the long run.

Of course there is the small
question of demand, which is what

The single
biggest item
taking up space
at landfill sites
is, of course,
newspapers,
followed by
telephone

books.’”’
ee ee

the real objection of the newsprint
industry was all about.

But the demand side has to start
with publishers, not suppliers.

In Toronto, the fiesty little Sun
has been printing on recycled
paper for several years.

Only belatedly, and under threat
of having their curbside dispensing
boxes removed from city streets,
have the Globe & Mail and The
Star gotten around to accepting the
inevitable. By the end of 1992,
they too will be printing on recycl-
ed paper.

This is terrific news at three
levels.

The single biggest item taking up
space at landfill sites is, of course,
newspapers, followed by telephone
books.

Secondly, the pulp and paper
industry is one of the worst sources
of pollution around because of the
use of chlorine to bleach the paper,
inevitably releasing dioxins into the
environment.

Thirdly, the destruction of trees
to create newspapers, magazines
and books is an ecological crime.

I, for one, have always felt guil-
ty about pumping out my opinions
on the hides of dead trees.

And it’s not just the felling of
trees and the spreading of dioxins
that are problems. There is, alas,
no such thing as an environmental!-
ly friendly ink. Ink is a liquid haz-
ardous waste. Even vegetable-

information

based inks contain 25 to 50 per
cent non-biodegradable additives
and pigments.

That’s why the wave of
ecological books that has just hit
the marketplace is so ironic and
hypocritical. Their message is
unrelentingly radical green, which
is great. Yet, almost without ex-
ception, they are printed on
unrecycled paper.

Only one company, Breakwater
Books of Newfoundland, has
iaken the necessary step. This year,
they succeeded in publishing 15 ti-
tles on recycled paper.

Douglas & McIntyre recently
started an office recycling program
and is looking for ways to recycle
warehouse material, but that’s still
only Mickey Mouse stuff.

One publisher, Harper Coltins,
has taken the bold step of paying
to plant two trees for every one
used in the printing of its excellent
print title, 2 Minutes A Day For A
Greener Planet. But they're only
doing it for that one book.

Quill & Quire, the trade paper of

the book industry, published a
thoughtful piece in its May issue
on the dicey question of pulp and
paper-related pollution caused by
publishers, editors and authors.

The magazine refers to this
year’s batch of spring books as a
“sreen cornucopia.”

In addition to Farley Mowat’s
Rescue the Earth (which I’ve al-
ready reviewed), there are nearly
two dozen ecology-minded vol-
umes hitting the bookstores. And
this is just in Canada.

Several of them, like Lorraine
Johnson’s Green Future, Paul
Griss’s The Daily Planet and Gor-
don Johnson’s Environmental
Tips, are quick and easy to dip in-
to if you are looking for how-to
ways to clean up your Own act.

Others deal with subjects that
will appeal to people with a
background in eco-stuff, such as
Augusta Dwyer’s into The Ama-
zon; Chico Mendes and the Strug-
gle for the Rainforest, or Art
Davidson's In the Wake of the
Exxon Valdez.

if you are looking for an over-
view, look no further than Planer
Under Stress: the Challenge of
Global Change, put out by the
Royal Society of Canada.

Or you might try Managing
Leviathan, edited by Robert
Paehike, which asks the very good
question of whether governments
are actually capable of solving our
environmental problems.

Many British Columbians — for
different reasons — will be in-
trigued by Elizabeth May’s Para-
dise Won: The Struggle for South
Moresby.

There are plenty of others, many
of which f hope to review in the
near future, which is nice.

But as Quill & Quire states:
“The publishing industry is still
trudging toward a grey-brown
future."”

While nevertheless proclaiming
their publications — and their
authors — ‘‘green,"’

Drivers guilty of drinking

RECENT CONVICTIONS in
North Shore courts have resulted
in fines and penalties for drinking
and driving related offences:

WEST VANCOUVER: George
Dunkin, 74, 107-1363 Clyde Ave.

West Vancouver (impaired, $500
fine. one-year driving suspension);
Andrew James Muirhead, 29, 3-
174 West 12th Ave., Vancouver
(impaired, $700 fine, One-year
driving suspension).

Shaw show picks up award

THE NORTH Shore-based Shaw
Cable outlet recently picked up a
win in the Youth category of the
B.C./Yukon Region Canadian
Cable Television Association
(CCTA) Excellence in Programm-
ing awards.

A public service announcement
detailing the dangers of using
fireworks, which was produced by
North Vancouver RCMP and
Shaw Cable North Vancouver
program coordinator and auxiliary
RCMP member Dave Toddington,
was picked a winner from among
96 cable system entries.

Shaw Cable was approached in
September by North Vancouver
RCMP Supt. Jack Morton and
recently-retired North Vancouver
District Fire Department Chief
Archie Steacy to produce a video
chronicling the dangers of
fireworks.

The resulting production was
shown by RCMP community liai-
son personnel to North Vancouver
school students.

The video was accompanied by a
question and answer session be-
tween police and students. It was

—
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Dave Gillespie

also aired nightly on Shaw Cable 4
during October.

Said Shaw Cable manager Terry
Medd, ‘*The police and fire
department wanted to do some-
thing in the schools. Dave picked
up the idea and went with it. Our,
department, strangely enough for
its size, wins a lot more awards
than you might expect. The pro-
gramming group here is second to

Only

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none.”’

According to the fire depart-
ment, the number of burn injuries
treated last Halloween season was
down compared with the number
of people injured by fireworks the
previous year.

And according to police, parents
have indicated that the program
had ‘‘a significant impact’? on
their children.

May 31/90

985-0694

Tom Dokin

Watch for our Alpine car stereo ‘“Giveaway’’

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