So Is This How the World Ends, Not With a Bang But With a Wiper?

A strange comparison but it has been claimed that the American obsession with extra soft, quilted, multiply toilet paper has a greater environmental impact than the driving of the gas-guzzling 4x4 Hummer cars (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/feb/26/toilet-roll-america). It has been pointed out that more than 98% of the bottom-friendly paper is derived from virgin forests meaning that the cutting of the trees and the chemicals used in pulp manufacture have a very powerful impact on 'greenhouse gas' emissions. Apparently, an enormous amount of money is directed by 'luxury brand' toilet roll manufacturers for extolling the merits of their products over less gentle equivalents.