Move on to paperless, really?
I have been keeping this story for a long time and almost forgot about it until I dealt with certain papers at home. Then, I know that it’s time to write it here. What do you think with paperless or similar idea?
Having a paperless office means no paper to print, no filling cabinet to keep various documents, enabling quick search, etc. Shortly, we can reduce cost.
Using paper in nowadays has been viewed as contributing to deforestation. Many green activists claimed that going paperless is the best way to save the environment, not only for the sake of deforestation, but also polution due to chemical substance in ink and toner.
So, we are surrounding with a lot campaign and slogan about using less and less papers. We are encouraged to read papers, letters, magazines, newspapers, etc. on screen. Even now, softwares to enable similar thing like highlighting, underlining, adding note and signature, etc. have been available. However, not all functionalities as we work on paper are replaced, e.g., writing a formula to explain something requires special pen. So, reading scientific papers or books with a lot of formula requires me to print it.
Paperless also enable to zoom graphics for more detail view. Some legends that are too small can be easily zoomed out to make them visible. This is something we cannot do on paper, even magnifying glass failed to do it when the printing resolution is not high.
Shortly, we have used many efforts to campaign paperless. Those who come from developed countries seem to promote it more eagerly. The developed countries have no problem with technology and money to implement paperless policy; it is something different from developing countries. Some developed countries may mock the developing countries for not implementing paperless policiy. Really?
Nevertheless, when COVID-19 started spreading to other countries in the beginning of 2020, I was laughing to read news about toilet paper. Many supermarket in developed countries reported that they ran out of toilet paper. People just rushed to buy it because they anticipated lock down scenario. Even, they fight against each other to get it.
What about developing countries? Indeed, we could read similar phenomenon, but not so intense. People in developing countries use water (and hands) in toilet business. They rarely use toilet paper, so they don’t worry about running out of it. BTW, isn’t it disgusting?
Most developed countries claim that we have to implement paperless office to prevent more deforestation. It is a green policy and must be supported. However, what about using paper for toilet? I have never calculated the effect of using toiler paper to deforestation, but I think it contributes as well.
It means, both developed and developing countries contribute to deforestation due to not implementing paperless policy (fully). So, why do some developed countries boast themselves as countries which save the earth from deforestation but at the same time they still use toilet paper (a lot)?
Let’s be fair to other as you want to be judge fairly.
