Our forests play an important role in keeping our planet healthy for future generations. We’re committed to using only 100% recycled papers, so no trees are harmed when we make your Scout Books…but we can do more! Our Future Forests initiative aims to be tree-positive by planting a tree for every order. It’s a small step that can have a big impact for a greener tomorrow and another way that Scout Books is making the world a better place — one tree at a time.
We picked tree planting for this initiative for a variety of reasons. Even though we use 100% recycled paper for our product line, the fiber for most paper is originally sourced from trees. With this natural connection between trees and paper, it just seemed right to place forests at the front and center of our sustainability goals. Through Future Forests, we will be planting thousands of trees a year, which has a positive impact on the environment. Here are just a few examples of the powerful benefits from trees
- According to onetreeplanted.org, the shade from one tree can save the same amount of energy that 10 room-size air conditioners would use running for 20 hours a day. One tree really makes a difference!
- Trees are natural carbon sinks. As trees mature, they can consume 48 pounds of carbon dioxide per year, and releases enough oxygen for a person to breathe for two years. Trees also clean the air by removing other pollutants from the atmosphere, like nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter.
- Trees create the habitat for dozens of small mammals, bugs, and other plant life that together form a connected ecosystem. Trees are often keystone species that are essential to the survival of many other organisms.
It’s impossible to list out the many ways trees are essential to healthy ecosystems and the environment, never mind their spiritual and cultural significance or their aesthetic qualities. As Rebecca Solnit beautifully put it in her essay reflecting on the relationship between libraries and forests, “The same kind of shade and shelter that can be found in an aisle of books and an avenue of trees…” Trees and forests are magical and awe-inspiring, and we’re excited to have a tree-positive impact on the planet.
To help make this initiative happen, we’re partnering with the National Forest Foundation, whose mission is to promote the health and enjoyment of our National Forests. They have tree planting and sustainability initiatives across the country, so if you’re inspired by their mission, get involved!
Trees are an important part of what we do, but we also work towards balancing people, planet, and profit across all of our efforts as a business. We consider that balance core to our mission at Scout Books. We’re so excited to add tree planting with Future Forests to that mix. Here are a few of the other things that Scout Books does to create a more sustainable and equitable future.
- Every notebook we make is made from 100% recycled paper! Using recycled paper has a huge impact on the number of materials needed and carbon produced to make our product. By using recycled paper instead of virgin paper, we saved over 2500 trees from being cut down in 2018.
- Using recycled paper also reduces the other ecological impacts of production, like saving over 619,000 gallons of water from being used and keeping over a million pounds of CO2 from the atmosphere. A million pounds each year, just by choosing 100% recycled paper!
- Since our product is paper-based, nearly all our waste can be recycled! We work to limit waste wherever possible, but we’re glad that what we can’t use gets put back into the system. In 2018, we recycled 56 tons of paper!
- We power our shop with 100% carbon-neutral energy, and ship with partners who provide carbon-offset programs, so that even if you’re not local, your books have a lower climate footprint.
- In 2018, we planted 1,000 trees with our Grow Together notebooks, with the belief that together, we can create something amazing, and cultivate a greener and more creative world.
We believe the future can be bright, but it’s going to take all of us, and we’re definitely going to need more trees. Thank you, from all of us here at Scout Books, for working with us to make that future possible one tree at a time.
