Sustainability is a practice that all businesses preach, but it often seems that they are sharing notes for the same sermon. “Buy Green,” “Reduce. Reuse. Recycle,” “Carbon Footprint”— these terms are all well-intended and were created for a purpose, but as their popularity has grown, they’ve lost some of their punch. Our blog has a number of resources on the topic of sustainability, just sort accordingly, but now we’re bringing you the Paper Matters Podcast Partners in Sustainability Series. Our podcasts explore the issues of responsible forestry and sustainability and detail how we work in conjunction with others to benefit our planet for future generations. If you have an interest in understanding how others go about preserving our earth, learning how businesses like Domtar ensure sustainability is inextricably tied to their structure or stripping the corporate talk from environmental buzzwords, then these episodes are for you.
The Paper Matters Podcast Presents: The Partners in Sustainability Series
When we introduced the Paper Matters Podcast last fall, our goal was to share a paper-focused podcast that celebrates and inspires the evolving world of the paper, printing and business industries. We craft each episode with the intention of showcasing the variety of essential roles that Domtar Paper and print support and play for a variety of businesses every day, and it doesn’t get any more essential than environmental responsibility. The Partners in Sustainability Series is made up of three podcasts that we are highlighting today, featuring Samantha Morrissey of Rainforest Alliance, third-generation landowner Donna Janssen and Paige Goff, our own Vice President of Sustainability, all talk about sustainability with a different goal in mind.
Real-World Lessons about Sustainability from the Rainforest Alliance
Samantha Morrissey’s podcast defines Rainforest Alliance’s role as an international non-profit that works at the intersection of business, agriculture, and forests to make responsible business the new normal. Our time with her runs nearly an hour, as her depth of knowledge and infectious passion for our environment carried our conversation effortlessly.
We cover several topics, including:
- How the pandemic has affected sustainability
- The Rainforest Alliance’s holistic approach to sustainability and making responsible business the new normal.
- The human and the environmental aspects of deforestation and climate change.
By the end of this episode, we hope that listeners will know more about sustainable practices and have learned how sustainability is more than just environmental issues.
Sustaining for the Future: How Landowners Manage Their Lands for Today and Tomorrow
Donna Janssen watched her mother and her grandmother preserve and protect their land using sustainable practices for years before taking up the mantle herself. In this episode of the Paper Matters Podcast, Janssen talks about responsibly sourced wood and the timberland that she, her mother and her grandmother have managed for decades. Watching the generations before her take care of their land taught her the value of a well-managed sustainable forest and gave her perspective on how sustainability has changed over the years. During our time with Donna Janssen, we cover:
- How sustainability has changed over the years
- Producing a sustainable crop of timber that helps the environment and wildlife
- How the forest is used and preserving it for the next generation
When this episode is over, listeners will know more about the evolution of environmental sustainability and how landowners like Donna are making sure that the Earth is here for generations to come.
Bogus or Benefit: Buzzwords in Sustainability
Finally, Paige Goff invites us into the weeds of the sustainable industry and breaks down popular buzzwords during a rapid-fire round, giving us her perspective on what is beneficial to the sustainable industry and what is bogus.
Paige is well-versed in all things sustainable, and with her, we cover the misconceptions and misdirections within sustainability, including:
- How and why do companies exaggerate their sustainability practices?
- Bogus sustainability buzzwords versus beneficial buzzwords
- The real reason why a paper company is focused on sustainability.
By the time our conversation with Paige is done, listeners will understand more about avoiding falling prey to greenwashing messages and learn how to dig deeper into making sustainable choices. Recognizing pitfalls and knowing where to research is a large step towards truly understanding sustainability.
Ultimately, our goal is for these three episodes to help listeners demystify sustainability by giving the spotlight to women who have worked to protect our earth alongside their parents and grandparents and experts who practice sustainability professionally and providing them the chance to discuss what they know in easily digestible portions. This series can serve as a comprehensive introduction to corporate sustainability for newcomers or fill in the gaps with new perspectives for seasoned sustainability researchers. No matter your experience in environmental sustainability, we are confident that you haven’t heard these voices in one place like this before.
We hope that our Partners in Sustainability Series is showing that although corporate-speak, generic terms and a general lack of education around effective sustainable practices help companies sound environmentally responsible, there are ways to get to the truth. As we celebrate Earth Day today, our goal is not just to toast a healthy environment but to take actionable steps towards sustainable education. Domtar has been invested in sustainability for decades—it is embedded in our very DNA. Our approach is comprehensive; we value responsible sourcing and our communities, so we put effort into preserving the lands that we work while supporting the people who live there. Additionally, we use our years of experience to educate and share what we know about a range of topics, including sustainability, forestry with purpose and our communities.
Between our blogs and our Partners in Sustainability Series, we want our audience to learn more about how Domtar defines sustainability, what we do to be sustainable and who we work with to achieve our goals. Earth Day is every day for us, but we will still take this chance to celebrate it with you. For more information on sustainability or Domtar’s partners, subscribe to The Paper Matters Podcast.
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