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August 16, 2009 8:19 AM

The Future Of Paper

Posted by Mo Rocca
This first episode of The Tomorrow Show, concerning the Future of Paper, was an adventure for us. And I never thought I'd use the words "paper" and "adventure" in the same sentence.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not one of those paper haters, blaming the sorry state of the environment on office workers with hair-trigger printer fingers. Yes, it's inefficient to print out the 24-page Wikipedia entry on the Beatles when a simple Google search will remind you that the name of Ringo's predecessor was Pete Best. (You really should know this without having to look it up.)

But paper consumption is not even near the top of our list of eco-threats. A sheet of paper can be recycled five times before the fibers grow too short. And while paper consumption doubled between 1980 and 2000, it's been on a slow decline since then.

No, I'm not anti-paper. I just thought it was kind of boring. I took it for granted. (I hadn't set foot in a Kate's Paperie in years.) When you watch this piece, hopefully you'll come to appreciate and care for paper in the same way I have.

What you won't see in the piece:

Jim Juczak, the guy who lives in a house made of paper, was really generous and gave us lots of snacks, including homemade jerky.

A few weeks back Roy Blount, Jr. fell in a creek with his iPod and only barely kept it from going underwater. This kind of danger is one of the reasons he's not really comfortable with a Kindle. (Yes, he understands that you can't be electrocuted by holding a wet Kindle.)

Origamist Sok Song's portfolio is mesmerizing. You can also download easy-to-follow sheets to make your own paper space shuttle and fortune teller.

Wiggle chairs by Frank Gehry available at: www.Vitra.com

Paper table available at: Waybasics.com

Special thanks to:
  • Robert C. Williams Paper Museum
  • Roy Blount, Jr.
  • Plastic Logic eReader
  • Xerox
  • Sentinel Bioactive Paper
  • Fisher International
  • Jim Juczak
  • Pennsylvania Paper Supply Company
  • Sok Song
    • Tags:
    tomorrow show ,
    mo rocca ,
    paper
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    Tomorrow Show Episode
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    Add a Comment
    by pulpgirl01 October 6, 2009 9:56 PM EDT
    As Mo states in the The Future of Paper, papermaking is a 2200 year old technology.

    Paper has only been made from trees for 125 years. That's right. 125 years.

    The dollar bills in your pocket are not made out of trees. Have you ever wondered why nothing much happens to a dollar bill that get washed with your jeans? Because it's made out of the same "stuff" your jeans are made out of: cotton rag (with some flax and silk). Actually, "halfstuff" -- stuff is originally a papermaking word. It's the pulped rag and water.

    So -- what was paper made from before it was made from trees? Like, for 2,100 years?

    Linen (flax), hemp, cotton, mulberry and a number of other non wood fibers.

    Paper can be made from sugarcane, corn husk, cloth trim, bamboo. About 500 different cellulose fibers.

    Photos printed on hemp paper look much better than on woodpulp paper. Richer.

    You want to buy artwork on archival cotton paper.

    Oh - archival? Another reason for treefree papers. It lasts longer.

    I sold antiquarian books for a long time -- which got me into paper 15 years ago. Still love it!

    Helen Driscoll
    http://InviteSite.com
    Reply to this comment
    by BO SOUR September 3, 2009 12:58 PM EDT
    Great story. I've shared the video with many at our museum / science center - The Paper Discovery Center, where we 'celebrate all things paper - the wonder and the legacy' in Appleton, WI.

    After spending nearly 20 years in research and development for a paper company / consumer products company, I welcome the evolution of supply and demand; it breeds creativity and entrepreneurship. Paper production for communication venues may decrease, but then new markets are pursued - such as health and hygiene. If you think about it, paper (bieng one of the oldest inventions, yet still around!) has evolved through many of these market changes. At one time, paper was the best low-cost insulator for electrical appliances (ever see the old light bulb fixtures with cardboard tubes?), but plastics came along and weren't so flammable.

    I take environmental stewardship to heart. We should never forget the advantage of a naturally occurring, bio-degradable, renewable resource. Likewise, we should remember our 3-R's: reduce, recyle, and re-use. I just dropped off a son to college, as we unpacked, we used every bit of packaging waste for needed items in his room. 1 box became a shelf, another became a pencil holder, and a plastic container is now an ice cube bin! Necessity, and poor college students, are perhaps the greatest mother of invention! I'm sure his innovations will be revered by penny pinching peers, rather than condemned as 'ghetto-like'. Maybe we could all learn a lesson.
    Reply to this comment
    by neilschubertdotcom August 31, 2009 1:47 AM EDT
    Paper has its uses. I do alot of electronic work and often will print out a schematic diagram of something, just so I can see it as a whole picture. Magazines are just more user friendly then any of the gadgets out there. Books, though they draw no power and work anywhere, are often subject to the page flipping problem. You know what happens when you are trying to read something and the page flips on you and you get lost and have to re-read to where you were. The kindle eliminates this.

    The kindle is for those who do serious reading. A laptop computer or even an i-phone is just as handy, however, the screen on the kindle rules as far as comfortable reading.

    Newspapers are big and can be cumbersome. Not only that, you have to throw them away when you are done with them. The electronic paper that was demonstrated a few years ago may eliminate the "paper" in newspaper. But then again, the internet essentially merges the newspaper with the TV news. A website with video is like a newspaper only with video and sound in place of the pictures. The video online has a long way to go before it is as good as TV.

    Yes, the idea of "interactive TV" was actually created in 1980 by Warner cable and Viacom. Their idea was that subscribers could respond to what they saw on TV - kinda like American Idol. Only, 29 years ago. If it wasn't for that "dead" product, the internet would be much different.

    The internet lets you save what you want, or just read and move on. Nothing wrong with saving a tree. We still have plenty of uses for paper and printed stuff. Paper is not dead, just going through changes.

    Neil Schubert,

    http://www.neilschubert.com/
    Reply to this comment
    by talcoolone August 18, 2009 1:10 PM EDT
    If you don't like paper, try wiping your rear wnd with a plastic bag.
    Reply to this comment
    by phlipster August 18, 2009 9:22 AM EDT
    Why this guy has his own anything here on CBS News surprises me. He is not a journalist, not a good one anyway. This video appeared extremely scripted and not well written. It left me wondering if he was trying to do a Colbert-style interview intended to make me laugh or if he was being serious. Please, for crying out loud, don't make me continue to see this guy's face on the homescreen everytime he makes one of these stupid videos.
    Reply to this comment
    by Hosheen August 18, 2009 6:59 AM EDT
    Paper for books is on the way out. Electronic storage is far more efficient, environmentally friendly and batter for the use. I have an ebook reader and, for all of its imperfections, it is far beyond paper books. I have 700 books on mine and all were legally downloaded for free from the internet. Had I paid even $1 each for hem at a used book store, they would have cost far more than the reader.

    Yes, it is a little different from holding a regular book. So is driving a new Mercedes different from a Model T. So is using a new digital camera different from a box brownie. That's a good comparison, as e-book readers are now about where digital cameras were with the original Kodak 50. Then, I heard it said that you could not buy a 35MM film camera as bad as the best digital. Now, you have to search to even FIND a film camera.

    It will be like that with electronic books, no matter what the Luddites say. In a few years, every student, teacher, and anyone serious about reading will keep their library on a tablet PC, netbook, or e-book reader. They can be backed up quickly and easily on your PC or a pen drive. Can you do that with a library of 700 or more paper books?
    Reply to this comment
    by Emphelung August 17, 2009 3:18 PM EDT
    The person from the paper company predicted a future where we will all behave environmentally. Maybe. Maybe not. Perhaps in some places and not others. I'm on the west coast where some of us may already be living in that kind of future - at least according to the NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/fashion/14ecotopia.html?_r=1).On Google there are a lot of references to the novel mentioned in the article and mentions of where the novel is 'happening'.
    Reply to this comment
    by mo-NEEK-a August 16, 2009 10:07 PM EDT
    I haven't done it in a long while, but making your own paper can be quite fun as well. Not for office use, necessarily, but good for snail mail and condolence cards, etc.
    I love paper because I like writing on paper.
    Reply to this comment
    by brett49--2008 August 16, 2009 5:32 PM EDT
    OK, I like paper. I like to read magazine, and books. I print out a lot if stuff, even though 90%+ of my information comes from the internet.

    While I like paper, I don't really get Mo's point that it's ok to use it because it's recyclable.

    Of course it is, but that doesn't mean we should waste resources, cut down trees, send paper to be recycled, and spend lots of energy doing it.

    Where we can cut down on paper, why not do it?

    So while I agree that this piece does give us all the chance to review how useful paper can be, I believe it misses a key point.

    Don't use paper if you don't really need it.

    And Mo, dig a little deeper for these type of pieces. Your topic seems, well, "recycled".
    Reply to this comment

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    Tomorrow Show host and Sunday Morning Contributor Mo Rocca shares his opinions on a range of topics that concern him. This is the place to meet Mo, get to know him, share your thoughts, and maybe even establish a long-term relationship with him.

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