“‘Just see how these trees are maintaining every living entity! Their birth is successful. Their behavior is just like that of great personalities, for anyone who asks anything from a tree never goes away disappointed.’”
PURPORT
According to Vedic civilization, kshatriyas are considered to be great personalities because if anyone goes to a kshatriya king to ask for charity, the king will never refuse. The trees are compared to those noble kshatriyas because everyone derives all kinds of benefits from them—some people take fruit, others take flowers, others take leaves, others take twigs, and others even cut the tree, and yet the tree gives to everyone without hesitation.
Unnecessarily cutting trees without consideration is another example of human debauchery. The paper industry cuts many hundreds and thousands of trees for its mills, and with the paper so much rubbish literature is published for the whimsical satisfaction of human society. Unfortunately, although these industrialists are now happy in this life by dint of their industrial development, they do not know that they will incur the responsibility for killing these living entities who are in the form of trees.
This verse, quoted from Srimad-Bhagavatam, was spoken by Lord Krishna to His friends when He was taking rest underneath a tree after His pastime of stealing the clothes of the gopis (vastra-harana-lila). By quoting this verse, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu teaches us that we should be tolerant like trees and also beneficial like trees, which give everything to the needy persons who come underneath them. A needy person may derive many advantages from trees and also from many animals, but in modern civilization people have become so ungrateful that they exploit the trees and animals and kill them. These are some of the sinful activities of modern civilization.
Chaitanya-charitamrita Adi-lila 9.46
Spare a thought for the trees next time you reach for a tissue or paper towel or newspaper or magazine or book…
New York Times Feb 25, 2009 – LESLIE KAUFMAN
Mr. Whipple Left It Out: Soft Is Rough on Forests
…Fluffiness comes at a price: millions of trees harvested in North America and in Latin American countries, including some percentage of trees from rare old-growth forests in Canada. Although toilet tissue can be made at similar cost from recycled material, it is the fiber taken from standing trees that help give it that plush feel, and most large manufacturers rely on them.
“No forest of any kind should be used to make toilet paper,” said Dr. Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist and waste expert with the Natural Resource Defense Council.
In the United States, which is the largest market worldwide for toilet paper, tissue from 100 percent recycled fibers makes up less than 2 percent of sales for at-home use among conventional and premium brands. Most manufacturers use a combination of trees to make their products. According to RISI, an independent market analysis firm in Bedford, Mass., the pulp from one eucalyptus tree, a commonly used tree, produces as many as 1,000 rolls of toilet tissue. Americans use an average of 23.6 rolls per capita a year. go to story
Speak Your Mind