Paper politics.

I'm not really sure what happened to Humboldt County's once proud paper industry. But it appears to be gone for the foreseeable future. As I was reading about our paper industry, I wondered where our paper now comes from, and why. We don’t seem to be using any less paper than we ever have. How can other parts of the world manufacture paper cheaper than a county that is totally surrounded by woody plants, with a bay, with a deep water port, and with a bizillion acre feet of fresh water. It would seem like if we were to need paper products, that Humboldt County would be the prime location to make the stuff. So why aren’t we?




If I can buy Chinese toilet paper for ten cents a roll, and America toilet for a dollar a roll, it is my job as the supreme ruler and provider and protector of my loving family to buy the cheap stuff. My responsibility stops at my door step. Once we are past the door step, and into the rest of the world, our elected leaders are supposed to protect us from countries that pollute and practice unfair trade. So, why don’t they?



Would we allow a coal fired paper manufacturing plant that drained directly into the ocean with NO environmental controls? With no thoughts about the health or welfare or the workers? Oh, hell no! You wouldn’t, I wouldn’t. It just would happen in The United States of America, and especially not in our green by the sea, clean rivers, and pristine forested hillsides of Humboldt County. No-By-God! We will not support pollution in Humboldt county! Why should we, when we can by cheap toilet paper from an off-shore Manufacturer, that pollutes somewhere else. At least it’s not in my back yard.



We are all sold down the river by our politicians, who’s campaigns are financed by the major Wall Street corporations. Most of America is made up of common working people, much like you and I. Most of us are out of work, under-employed or have given up trying to find a job and we are either collecting disability, welfare, or living with our families.



So, where do we start to bring jobs back to America? You and I can’t do it alone. We need to depend on wise management by our country’s leaders. I’m not saying which political party or persuasion is at fault, because they all are. How would we band together as American citizens and do something? As soon as any grassroots movement starts we all pick it apart. Of course there are going to be radicals in any movement, so all anyone has to do to stop the momentum is point out the “nuts”, and it is all over. At what point, and when do we form a group of common folks and move ahead with sending this county in new directions, so we can all earn a living and send our kids to school? And, have a future?

Just so you know that I haven't completely lost my sense of humor, I included below a few things that you can do to get by without imported toilet paper. They are all commonly used practices, or once were:

Prior to toilet paper, these civilizations/classes commonly opted for the following:
- Wealth Romans -Wool, rosewater
- Public Restrooms in Ancient Rome- A sponge soaked in salt water, on the end of a stick
- Wealthy French – lace, wool and hemp; bidet
- Middle Ages – hayballs, a scraper/gompf stick kept in a container in the privy
- Early Americans – rags, newsprint, paper from catalogs, corncobs, and leaves
- Viking Age/England- discarded sheep and lambs wool
- Hawaiians – coconut shells
- Eskimos – snow and Tundra moss
- India – your left hand and water
- Commoners – Defecating in the river is very common
- Sailors from Spain/Portugal – frayed end of an old anchor line
- Medieval Europe- Straw, hay, grass, gompf stick
- United States – Corn cobs, Sears Roebuck catalog, mussel shell, newspaper, l eaves, sand
- British Lords – pages from a book
- Elite citizens – Hemp & wool

From "The Toilet Paper Encyclopedia"


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