Green Design

Save Environment: how to reduce paper consumption through the use of poster design?

1. Introduction

In recent years, the world is alert to the importance of conserving energy, protecting environment and reducing the emissions. Therefore, today’s business and people alike have realized their responsibility towards making the world greener and healthier. This draws the attention of most people on the heavy felling of trees and deforestation. It has been generally concerned that that paper is the largest eater of forests. Paper is currently produced by wood pulp which needs of cutting trees. This harmful activity can impact the entire system of the environment. Moreover, it is reported that the chemical substances utilized for paper production process, for example, the bleaching process to whiten the paper can finally deliver the pollution created through the disposal process of paper. In fact, according to Vance (2010), global paper consumption has tripled in the past thirty years and continues to rise as the United Nations expects the world’s population to grow by another 2.6 billion at the end of 2050.  Foster (2010) reported that the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that the world’s paper consumption will increase up to fifty percent by 2010. More to the point, Loran (2008) showed the current statistics which indicate that U.S. is the world’s largest consumer of paper. The consumption rate is over six times greater than the world’s average and about 25% greater than Japan, the world’s second largest paper consumer per capita (see Figure 1).

Figure 1 The comparison of paper consumption rate between US and world’s average

Source: Adapted from Vance (2010)

It can be concluded at this point that it is very hard for the world to stop this rapid growth of consumption without destroying the natural resources and further plundering the planet. As a result, all people including designers must work together to create a sustainable consumption of...