On April 22, 1970 over 10% of all Americans took part in what would become the first ever Earth Day. 

Today, Earth Day has an estimated 1 billion participants in 193 countries across the globe. This year we’re doing our part by working to protect North America’s largest forest, the boreal.

What exactly is a boreal forest? 

If you were dropped into the boreal forest right now, well you’d probably wish for a warmer jacket. But first you would witness a vast, piney woodland, lush with dew-speckled ferns, towering white spruces, and roaming herds of caribou. 

You’d be standing in the world’s largest uncut forest, one that spans the planet’s northern latitudes, filled with hardy evergreen conifer trees like spruce, pine, and firs. It’s named, fittingly, for Boreas, the Greek god of winter and the north wind. 

Spreading across Alaska, Canada, Russia, Scandinavia and even parts of Japan, Scotland and the Lower 48, the global boreal forest constitutes the largest terrestrial biome on the planet. The North American boreal forest alone covers over 1.5 billion acres.

But even one of the world’s largest forests is vulnerable to overconsumption. In just the time it takes you to read this article, we will have lost seven football fields worth of North American boreal forests.  

Boreal forests are a haven of biodiversity 

Home to two thirds of all Canadian species, the North American boreal forest fosters 85 mammal species, over 300 bird species, 130 species of fish and 32,000 insect species, making it one of the most biodiverse areas in North America.

The boreal offers a haven for critical predators. Animals like the Canada lynx, gray wolf and the three North American bear species help keep the boreal ecosystems in balance. These predators have been driven from much of their historical range, but the untouched boreal forests still manage to support some of the biggest populations of large mammals in the world. 

Also hiding amongst the boreal’s trees and snowdrifts are large herbivores such as elk, moose, herds of caribou and even the rare and elusive wood bison.

The boreal offers shelter to its smaller mammal residents too. Snowshoe hares, lemmings, and voles scurry through the undergrowth and snow, while beavers tirelessly dam the boreal’s over 1.5 million lakes and river systems. 

Over 3 billion birds, totaling nearly half of all birds in North America will nest, breed or migrate in the boreal forests. This includes some of your favorite backyard visitors such as woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, sparrows and owls.

Boreal forests: Earth’s other lung

The benefits of this ecologically dense woodland are difficult to overstate. But beyond providing essential habitat for wild creatures, boreal forests also act as one of nature’s most effective means of absorbing the pollution that’s warming the Earth and disrupting its climate. 

Every year, boreal forests absorb 300 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, that’s equivalent to the emissions of over 24 million cars. Studies show boreal forests store carbon with over twice the effectiveness of tropical forests. 

The North American boreal forest also contains the largest concentration of wetlands on Earth, responsible for nearly a quarter of all the world’s wetlands. These areas not only offer vital breeding habitat to over 13 million ducks, nearly 40% of the entire North American duck population, they also filter millions of liters of water each day.

Now, for the first time in over 20,000 years, the boreal has stopped expanding. Every day we lose over a million acres of these forests, and every minute another 1.5 football fields.

Wiping out forests, one ply at a time

In the pursuit of new lumber and virgin fiber pulp, we have clear-cut over 22 million acres of the boreal forests since 1996. That destruction is roughly equal in area to the state of Indiana.

Not all boreal wood is turned into pulp, but enough that there’s a significant economic incentive to support and continue this harmful logging.

Virgin pulp is the main component in the production of extra fluffy and soft toilet paper, an industry the Natural Resources Defense Council considers one of the most environmentally damaging in the world. 

Every year, Americans use 36.5 billion rolls of toilet paper. That is equivalent to three rolls each week per person, or 57 sheets of toilet paper each day, much of it made from virgin pulp. In fact, several of the largest toilet paper suppliers in the world use virgin pulp sourced almost exclusively from our boreal forests.

Soft on you, hard on the planet

One of these popular brands is Kirkland Signature, Costco’s in-house toilet paper. In many ways, Costco has been an industry leader in the environmental movement. Its website promises “a holistic and integrated approach to sustainability”, and it is committed to a broad and considerate climate plan that ensures its products have a minimal impact on our planet and its inhabitants. 

We applaud Costco’s diligence and care. But that being said, we can all do a little more to help our planet this Earth Day.

Toilet paper is Costco’s best-selling product. Every year the company sells over 1 billion rolls. At 4.5 inches a roll, stacked up that is roughly equivalent in height to: 

• 250,000 Empire State Buildings 
• 780,000 Great Pyramids of Giza
• 53 million Shaquille O’Neals 
• Nearly a third of the distance to the moon 

… being flushed down the toilet every single year, in Costco products alone. 

Some of our planet’s biggest environmental issues may require complex solutions, but this one is simple. We have to stop chopping down pristine forests for, in large part, toilet paper that’s just slightly softer than the sustainable alternatives.

Costco has the chance to set a new industry standard by making a public commitment to stop sourcing its paper products from critical habitat in the boreal forest — habitat where caribou calves play and snowshoe hares scamper under the watchful vigil of ancient, towering trees. 

We are calling on Costco to lead the charge in the fight for a sustainable future by making a public commitment to stop sourcing toilet paper from our crucial boreal forests. 

This Earth Day, tell Costco to choose the climate over our comfort, trees over TP, and people over pulp. 

Sign the petition and urge Costco to help save our boreal forests today.