Bamboozled by Activist Zealots
Bamboozled by Activist Zealots
How Business Insider was pulled into an NRDC toilet paper campaign
In the future, will we all be wiping ourselves with bamboo? This is what the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) would want us to do, and they are ready to burn the planet to win that argument. But is bamboo a better solution for toilet paper than recycled paper and softwood from Canada’s boreal forests – our present main source of toilet paper? Given the NRDC has been investing heavily in a campaign to block the North American forest industry, they would say “Yes!”. But pushing untested alternatives simply to provide counter-arguments, although common with activist campaigns, is not always for the better.
The NRDC is a ‘zealot-based organization’ meaning they will say and do whatever they can for the purpose of winning a campaign, even if the outcome is far worse for the environment. The Firebreak has published several articles on this American NGO’s campaign against the Canadian forestry industry: how they created fictitious numbers to challenge the Canadian government data and presented misinformation to small media groups to try to amplify their activism.
In the case of their campaign promoting bamboo toilet paper, the NRDC once again hijacked a small video production organization affiliated with the newsgroup, Business Insider, to promote a misguided forestry ideology. This cleverly convincing YouTube video on how bamboo can replace plastics and paper (including, yes, toilet paper) was produced by a production company call World Wide Waste. I could not find any information about them so I suppose they are an affiliate fully funded by Business Insider who have a section dedicated to their YouTube clips and use the Business Insider title on their video pages.
In the short “promomentary”, some of the uses and options for bamboo, as bio-plastics, were interesting, apart from the corporate com tactics from the companies involved. But when the report turned to bamboo-based toilet paper, it became a full out NRDC campaign video, with their activists, footage and, yes, talking points. We have heard many of their claims before:
The NRDC referred to Canada’s boreal forest as the Amazon of the North
These “globally important forests” are home to “threatened species” like caribou.
These forests are home to over 600 indigenous communities.
But now they are telling us there is a simple solution (and it is not: “Use less toilet paper!”). Bamboo is the alternative and the NRDC want a roll in every bathroom.
But what would happen if our regulators watched this Business Insider video and thought: “Sounds convincing. Let’s run with this. From today, we’ll incentivize bamboo-sourced toilet paper”? Endorsed by the NRDC, the big consumer paper companies will shift full force into marketing their ‘Bumboo’ brands (sorry, I couldn’t resist), letting consumers know how virtuous everyone will be in buying this new sustainable (high margin) toilet paper, saving the environment with every flush. What could possibly go wrong with this idea?
Well, a lot.
According to an NRDC 2019 report, the average American runs through 141 rolls of toilet paper a year (2-ply?). Most of this comes from a mix of recycled paper and pulped softwood remains from the forest industry. So how much virgin bamboo would have to be grown, harvested, pulped, processed, produced and transported for the average American bum?
Well, a lot.
The NRDC’s strategy of shifting from sustainably managed boreal forests to new bamboo plantations would be catastrophic to the environment. If the bamboo were to be planted on tree farms in North America, as an invasive species, it would have a significant ecological impact on wildlife, land-use, soil quality and water tables. Bamboo farms, given the speed at which bamboo grows, would need to either be left to fallow after every cycle or farmers would need to use an enormous amount of fertilizer to keep yields up and avoid soil degradation.
Destroying the Rainforest with Every Sheet
If the NRDC recommends to source bamboo from Asia, as they seem to, just the American market demand for toilet paper and facial tissue would lead to massive deforestation in already vulnerable tropical rainforests. It would make the impact from palm plantations look mild in comparison.
Shouldn’t the NRDC know this? Are they so caught up in winning an argument against managed forestry in North America that they would force the ecological collapse of the last remaining Asian tropical rainforests? Surely they are not that stupid (or maybe they know something otherwise).
Well … in that 2019 report, The Issue with Tissue, the NRDC acknowledged that shifting in part to bamboo-based toilet paper could have devastating effects on Asian tropical forests.
“Consumers and tissue producers must use caution, however, when purchasing products made with bamboo. Bamboo production, like the production of many alternative alternative (sic) fiber plants, often lacks robust supply chain monitoring, and bamboo plantations are sometimes grown in recently deforested areas.” The Issue with Tissue, NRDC, 2019
So in 2019, the NRDC was warning of the sustainability challenges from sourcing bamboo-based toilet paper and was well aware of the deforestation risks. By 2024, one of the authors of the report was promoting it whole-heartedly in a Business Insider video.
Hmm.
Was the deforestation of tropical rainforests solved in those five years? Have all of these different FSC certifications now become reliable? Hardly. It seems that winning their North American anti-forestry campaign took precedent. Somewhere in the NRDC Manhattan office tower, directors and lawyers met and decided that their North American campaign took precedent. This decision was not based on ecological data or environmental concerns … at all!
Curiously, by the fifth edition of the NRDC’s Issue with Tissue report, in 2023, deforestation risks from any massive bamboo harvesting were not mentioned at all, with the NRDC focusing instead on the many different FSC certifications for bamboo.
It is sad that there was no editorial control or critical analysis from Business Insider. They just ran the NRDC representatives with their talking points as news. It seems their affiliate, World Wide Waste, merely produces cheap YouTube videos that promote the interests of certain organizations (in this case, the Taiwanese bioplastics company, Lastic, and the NRDC). These organizations provide the content and Business Insider labels it as “news”. Such is the pathetic state of journalism today.
Zealot Syndrome
The NRDC is an activist organization but it cannot, under any circumstances, ever be referred to as an environmental organization. Their bamboo campaign, if ever taken seriously, will certainly cause enormous deforestation of the last remaining Asian tropical rainforests. For them, it is only about winning.
The NRDC is suffering from zealot syndrome. They know the consequences of their alternatives are worse for the environment, but winning their campaign, providing a return to their funders and “giving it good” to industry are more important factors. So the NRDC look the other way as they burn the planet.
This zealot syndrome can also be seen in NGO attacks on nuclear energy (and their woeful renewables alternative), on organic food and the consequences of lower yields, on vaping as a smoking cessation strategy and on the blanket opposition to any plastic solutions to sustainability concerns. Zealots refuse to reconsider their views in the face of clear evidence, rational arguments and overwhelming negative consequences. No responsible policymaker should ever listen to them.
The NRDC is a zealot-based organization.