I was browsing through topics on sustainability on The Global and Mail website and I came across an article describing something with which we have a love/hate relationship: paper.

It passes through our hands at least a dozen times each day, often simultaneously giving us headaches (not to mention paper cuts!). It has the power to give us pain or pleasure (or both). It bridges the gap between hands and minds. We have designed elaborate systems and products for organizing, storing and presenting it. These facts ring particularly true in the office, where paper has virtually become a defining component.

This really makes you wonder: is it a tool in our service, or are we the ones being enslaved?

This article discusses growing initiatives in companies to reduce paper usage (and ultimately, disposal) for environmental, as well as financial reasons. Ironically, despite the rise of technology and the sparkling visions of digital texts, Statistics Canada has found in 2006 "that Canadians' paper consumption 'more than doubled between 1983 and 2003' and that 'the production and use of paper products is at an all-time high'" (Silverman 2009). These statistics, however, need not overshadow the reality of tactics and technologies that are being developed and applied to ease our obsession. In addition to the option of electronic pay statements, companies can now provide Web-based time-sheets (offered by Nexonia, a Toronto company), snail mail by email (Earth Class Mail, in the United States), and a digital archive of a company's paper receipts (Shoeboxed). Here, we must insert another "however"; our generation still clings tightly to these artifacts of our culture. Only 35 per cent of employees at Indigo have subscribed to electronic pay statements. The University of Calgary is still towered by the 20,000-feet stack of paper it produces per year. As much as I cringe at the sight of new pages spilling forth to correct a single word, I cannot yet imagine a world without our fine printed friend. I don't believe there is a need to. Like other issues in sustainability, the first step should be awareness, followed by reduction and moderation. In this vein, the article closes with a more realistic perspective on the situation, proposing the more reasonable goal of shifting to the 'less paper' - rather than 'no paper' - office.

By the way, I found it very interesting, almost touching, to see the dedication of a Xerox executive (François Ragnet) to the future and sustainability of his company's product. His blog, titled The Future of Documents, can be found here.