Our trees are in danger — The Rainforest Action Network (ran.org) has estimated that 7 million hectares of forest are lost every year, leaving us with only 4 billion hectares remaining. Trees are used for a number of different resources, spanning household furniture, food packaging and toilet paper, all of which are causing an increased need for more to be cut down each day. Andrew Lee, director of campaigns for World Wide Fund for Nature comments: “Every day about 270,000 trees are effectively flushed down the toilet or end up as garbage around the world.” It has been estimated that a staggering 10 per cent of this figure — 27,000 — is used to produce toilet paper — but what is this doing to our planet?
The world is home to approximately 3 trillion trees — 46 per cent less than at the start of humanity. As the global demand for toilet paper is heightening due to factors such as improved sanitation and a growing population, the number of trees being cut down each day increases, destroying habitats and contributing to climate change.