WWF document format saves paper by refusing to let you print
WWF document format saves paper by refusing to let you print There are gads of programs, downloads, and even fonts that help you conserve paper when you print. And there are those little taglines on emails that encourage readers to think before printing. However, there is one new strategy from WWF that really gets people to stop printing. They’ve created a software program that allows you to save a document as a file that literally cannot be printed out. Talk about cutting off the problem at the source!
The software is a free download, and is compatible with Macs, though a Windows version is on its way. When choosing a file format for saving a document, you simply select WWF, and it does the rest. Whether it will really take off or not is up for debate – people like to at least have the option of printing something if needed. But with the growing prevelence of reading devices like iPads and e-readers, the idea of the success of a file format that can’t be printed out is intriguing!
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Brazilian trees implanted with microchips for forest management
According to a story on Reuters, trees throughout the Amazon rainforest will be equipped with microchips to gather data in the event they are illegally cut down. Now when a tree falls in the forest and there’s no one there to hear it, we’ll still know its story.
New microchips implanted into Amazon rainforest trees are another tool in the battle to protect the largest rain-forest on earth. According to the story, the microchip attached to the base of the tree will hold key information like the tree’s location, size, and who cut it down.
Sustainable land owners can ensure that the wood they purchased wasn’t sourced from illegal loggers that destroy huge areas of land each year, but rather from responsibly managed forests.
“People talk a lot these days about wood coming from sustainable forestry practices – this is a system that can prove it,” said Paulo Borges, of the organization Acao Verde, or Green Action, which is managing the project on a large farm.
The chips would stop a system of corruption that allows illegal loggers to garner bogus certifications. It would ensure that the tree actually came from where it was supposed to come. Though the project is still quite small, similar successful projects are going on in Bolivia and Nigeria.
“If there is fraud taking place between the forest owner and the mill, then a microchip would be great help in combating illegal logging,” said Gary Dodge, director of science and certification at the nonprofit Forest Stewardship Council.
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