My college is a small private institution in rural New England. We love our trees here. We love conserving land, we love nature, we love emitting the earthy-hippie vibe.
And yet, ironically, we love love love our paper. In some ways, it’s the nature of the beast: college students must have a medium for reading and writing, and paper is the age-old option. 
But it’s getting a little ridiculous. As small as my college is (under 1000 students), we commission the killing of 288 trees a year just to serve our paper purposes. That’s 1,152 trees in my college career. That’s an entire forest. And that equates to 12 TONS of paper waste once we’re through using it.
This is after integrating digital forums into our curriculum that would allow students and faculty to communicate through online copy. And after making an effort to encourage double-sided printing.
If changing our consumption habits isn’t resolving the problem, we must at least change the nature of our use. By switching to 100% Recycled Paper, we could significantly reduce our environmental impact. Switching to soy-based and/or non-toxic ink products would have a positive effect as well.
[Information compiled by GreenRoutes, a community-based environmental research project based out of my institution]
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