Week of 29 July 13: Thank you for spreading the word...

Jim Thompson (jthompson@taii.com)

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Nearly three years ago, in the 30 Aug 10 edition of Nip Impressions, I made a suggestion for what to post at the end of your emails.  Over the ensuing three years, I have seen it spread to many, many people in the pulp and paper industry, as evidenced by their emails I have read.  It was recently brought to my attention that a well-known technical organization has adopted nearly all of my suggested wording as the official tag line at the end of their emails.  It took them three years, but I am glad they have finally gotten on board. 

Here is the original column in its entirety:

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We have talked some about this subject earlier in the year, but maybe because it is August and nothing much is going on, I got to thinking about it again the other day...

I am really getting fed up with people's messages at the end of their emails telling everyone else how to treat our industry.  You know, the ones that say:

"Please consider the environment before printing."  Or something even more ridiculous.

At the end of my emails, I have this:

"Notice: It is OK to print this email. Paper is a biodegradable, renewable, sustainable product made from trees. Growing and harvesting trees provides jobs for millions of men and women. Working forests are good for the environment, providing clean air, clean water, wildlife habitat, carbon neutral energy, carbon storage and can help mitigate forest fires."

You may use it if you like.

But maybe that is not enough, maybe we ought to stick our nose in other people's livelihoods just like they have in ours.

For instance:

Please consider the environment before paving your street.  Paving uses non-renewable natural resources, blocks the natural flow of water and deprives wildlife of forage.

Please consider the environment before taking a swim.  Swimming disturbs the fish, you may step on a living creature, and your obese body will raise the water level, causing microflooding, a recently identified threat to water walking spiders (upsets their sense of equilibrium).

Please consider the culture before you turn on the television.  Encouraging programming that makes fun of people leads to hostile acts.

Please consider walking to the Grand Canyon for your next vacation.  You will meet lots of interesting people, lose that spare tire around your middle, and take in much more of the countryside.

Please consider wearing gloves when handling money.  It is already laden with nasty germs and does not need any more from you.

Please consider, if you ride a bicycle, those of us who don't do expect you to fully stop at all stop signs and obey all traffic lights if you want any respect from us.

Please consider the environment before turning on the lights.  Organized electrical generation and distribution is without a doubt the largest contributor to environmental destruction ever created by humankind.  A pox on Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla!

Please consider the auditory environment before turning up the radio in your car, setting off fireworks outside my home or creating any other noise over 85 dBA.  Just because you like it does not mean I do.

Please be considerate of your neighbors before raising any more zucchini. We are tired of sneaking around in the middle of the night moving the bag you put on our front porch to the neighbor's house up the street.

or, finally,

Please consider the environment before going to the bathroom.  Nothing good comes of this act--just hold it.

The good news is, there is an organization in Europe fighting the unsubstantiated statements being promulgated.  It is here:  http://www.twosides.info/

But, seriously, please consider safety before you do anything, especially things you have not done before.  Safety first always, please.

Be safe and we will talk next week.

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Of course, since then, “Two Sides” has come to North America.

However, perhaps this is an excellent opportunity for us to be serious for a moment about another matter.  Over the years, Paperitalo Publications has had many firsts, both in ideas and in delivery (we still have the only Pulp and Paper radio station, Pulp and Paper Radio International www.pnpri.com).  We have the two highest ranked sites in the pulp and paper industry worldwide.  We have the only weekly column available on the web in your choice of language or as an audio download in English.  We have had our ideas copied and claimed by others.  That’s OK, we want the industry to succeed, and if other organizations cannot have a creative thought of their own, adopting ours for the good of the industry is fine by us.

However, you regular readers have benefited from these ideas and innovations in a timely manner, not years after we develop them.  Yet, our efforts do not happen by magic.  It takes resources, lots of them, to support our organization, an organization that today stretches from Durban, South Africa to Zurich, Switzerland, across the continental United States and all the way to Hawaii.  This does not include our faithful regular columnists in New Brunswick and Australia.  This takes money folks.

The money comes from advertising.  The advertising sales season is of the same timing as the US professional football season—roughly the first of September until the end of January.  Like football teams, we have been gearing up for the season of our lives this year.  We started on June 1st and expect to have a full head of steam by September 1st.  To borrow from another sport, we want to “blow the doors off” this fall.  Won’t you help us?  If you like what you see, if you like to hear about innovations up to three years before the legacy organizations have a clue as to what is going on, we ask for your help.  Tell your suppliers you read Paperitalo Publications and you expect to see their advertising here (after all, they get their advertising dollars from you).  Send them our way.  Tell them to email me, jthompson@taii.com or call me at +1.678.206.6010 with their advertising order.  I’ll either handle it personally or put one of our advertising team members to work for them today.

Fair warning, we’ll continue this theme in our quiz this week.  It will ask for your help in specific ways.  You may take it here.

For safety this week, in the Northern Hemisphere, we are in the peak of the heat of summer.  Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate.

Be safe and we will talk next week.

 

Special note: Some of you may know Bob Bergstrom of Appleton, Wisconsin, formerly a sales person for Marathon Engineering. I received a sad call from his wife, Artie, this morning. Bob is in hospice and not expected to live for too many days. You may know Bob was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer about four years ago and has been fortunate to survive this deadly disease this long. I enjoyed working with Bob and will miss him greatly.

 

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