By Kelly Brooks-Staub
This year, the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing will save 62 lives—not through newly applied unique nursing interventions or community health promotion initiatives, but through the publication of this magazine. Printing Johns Hopkins Nursing on an environmentally-friendly paper will save 62 trees in 2007-2008.*
Johns Hopkins Nursing is the first magazine within the university to use paper endorsed by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), North America’s most prominent organization certifying forests managed for environmental sustainability. While 30 percent of our new paper consists of post-consumer waste, SFI certifications mean that the remaining fiber comes from forests with management standards that protect endangered forests; preserve water, soil, and wildlife; fight illegal logging; and recognize indigenous peoples’ rights.
The switch to certified paper follows the announcement of a new Johns Hopkins University climate change policy, outlined by President William R. Brody in a recent university-wide e-mail: “There is near-unanimous agreement in the scientific community that the emission of greenhouse gases caused by human activity is contributing substantially to global climate change… Johns Hopkins is eager to rise to this immense challenge,” he noted.
The university aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions—with the eventual goal of becoming carbon neutral—and help find solutions to global climate change issues, share knowledge and experience with the community, and incorporate student involvement in these efforts. For more information on the Johns Hopkins Sustainability Initiative, visit www.sustainability.jhu.edu.
Each year, printing Johns Hopkins Nursing on paper containing 30% post-consumer waste reduces the environmental impact of production and saves the following*:
Trees: 62
Solid Waste: 5,223 pounds
Wastewater: 20,916 gallons
Greenhouse Gases: Equivalent of one car’s emissions
Particulates: Equivalent of one bus’ emissions
* Environmental impact estimates were made using the Environ-mental Defense Paper Calculator at www.papercalculator.org.