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Colin said...

While I get the point, I still think that using as little paper as possible is a good idea from an efficiency perspective. The less money I spend on paper, the more money available to purchase other products. In a world of limited resources, the whole key to prosperity is doing as much as possible with as little as possible.

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PeakTrader said...

Colin, unnecessary constraints are a waste.

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Doug said...

It's worth correcting the myth that using paper permanently kills off forests, but it's a bit like the broken window fallacy. It takes energy to create paper, and then more to throw it away. Those are costs that could be used for other economic endeavors. The fact that the production costs and future environmental effect is less than environmentalists argue is irrelevant. It's like a broken window that only costs 1c to fix. It may create jobs, but there's always the opportunity cost.

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PeakTrader said...

Doug, if you need 50 pages of paper and you're limited to 10 pages a day, couldn't that be inconvenient and costly?

I doubt anyone intends to print out paper just to throw it away.

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Jim said...

Using paper unnecessarily cost money, harms the environment, causes job losses and kills and maims workers through accidents. I have to spend money to print an email on ink and paper. Producing paper uses lots of energy and toxic materials. Trucks delivering trees and paper take up highway space and cause accidents. Accidents can also come from killing trees (ever watch Ax Men?). The money I could have saved by not printing paper could have been spent on other things that would create jobs in other industries. I suppose you want me to dump my Kindle and read my books from the backs of dead trees! Maybe we can really improve things by using sheepskin parchment. Think of all those shepharding jobs we can create. Baaaaaad advice!!!

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PeakTrader said...

According to Jim, is it necessary to drive a car, since they cause tens of thousands of deaths and many more injuries each year in the U.S., along with killing people in the oil industry?

The money I save on cars can be used to take a bus and buy solar panels, or we could drive cars similar to the Flintstones.

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Jet Beagle said...

Colin: "I still think that using as little paper as possible is a good idea from an efficiency perspective."

I have seen highly valuable professionals and executives struggle to navigate small print and double-sided documents - documents provided to them by well-intentioned but shortsighted persons who wish to save money on paper. I am convinced that efficiency of valuable executives and professionals is daily compromised in exchange for saving a few pennies on paper.