The Origins of Levenger Paper: A Trip to the ForestPart 2 of 2

If you’ve been following the Levenger paper trail in my previous blog, you know that the paper we use for our Circa notebooks, pads and custom cards is made of American reforested paper.

      

In Part 1 of this blog, I took you on my tour of recently harvested forest around Ticonderoga, New York, and then to the nearby International Paper mill. I witnessed the transformation as 8-foot logs became the acid-free, archival-quality paper known as Accent Opaque—the paper Levenger uses.

Long live paper (it does)

As far as we know, Levenger is the only company using this paper for notebooks and other handwriting stock. We know this paper will serve you well in this life, and, should it be important to you that your notes endure, there’s not much better stock you could use.

No one really knows how long this paper will last, but as Stewart Brand of the Long Now Foundation points out, no one knows how long the digital storage devices we now depend on will retain their information, either. So far paper not even as good as Accent Opaque has lasted for many centuries, whereas our present forms of digital storage haven’t had the chance to be tested by time.

Why the best is good for the earth

“Save a tree” is a common eco-refrain, but an equally meaningful one is “Use one tree, plant two.” In fact, that’s been going on for quite a while in the United States.

The paper leaving the Ticonderoga mill destined for Levenger products and book printers bears the seal of the independent forest certification organization: the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, or SFI. The Ticonderoga mill also manufactures product bearing the seal of the Forest Stewardship Council, or FSC. Exploring these websites and International Paper’s own site can give you a good background into the efforts under way by a large number of organizations to ensure we’re operating in a sustainable manner along the whole chain of custody.

My discussions with various people involved in the process have persuaded me that making virgin paper from well-managed forests is at least neutral and perhaps even positive for our planet. 

Harvesting trees to make virgin paper provides an economic incentive to sustain and expand forests. Virgin paper is the first and best yield from the harvest. I can’t think of a better use of this paper than for human expression—words, ideas, drawings, symbols—the work of the people who will save this planet if it is to be saved. Add to this the making of books, those carriers of civilization, as the historian Barbara Tuchman said, that even in our digital age are still used to preserve what’s best about our species.

What you write on is the top of a recycling/replenishing pyramid that works its way down, and that’s a good thing.

The high-quality virgin paper we supply in Levenger products can be recycled seven or eight times—downcycled is the term used when making products of lower grade when recycling—becoming such useful items as paper towels, shipping boxes and other packaging. More than 50 percent of all paper in the United States is now recycled, and efforts are in place to increase this percentage.

From Maine to Memphis to your hand

From our printer in Maine, our finished paper products are secured onto pallets and trucked to the Levenger distribution center in Memphis, Tennessee—FedEx country. The famous FedEx sort takes place just a few minutes from the Levenger warehouse.

We used to have our distribution center attached to our headquarters here in Delray Beach, but South Florida is an inefficiently situated place to distribute from when shipping to homes and businesses across the country. By moving to Memphis, we were able to reduce transit times to our customers, reduce shipping costs and decrease our carbon footprint.

Take note(s) and prosper

There is a school of thought that maintains that the way we think when we write on paper, or read from paper-made books, is different from how we think when we write and read electronically. It is perhaps akin to the difference between pulling nourishment from a backyard garden and pulling it off a supermarket shelf.

At Levenger, even as we embrace iPhones and turn virtual pages on e-readers, we believe that real paper still matters. We’ve even given our high-quality note paper its own Levenger lexicography of “Notationery”: note paper with the feel and value of fine stationery.

How do you, dear reader, integrate the paper and electronic worlds into your way of thinking and reading? I’d love to hear. Just click on the Comments link below. (If you’re reading this as an email, click here and you'll connect to Comments).

I have another request.

Please use our paper hard. Dream, create, record, communicate and inspire. And know that you’re making good use of the yield of healthy, sustainable forestland.

Comments

[Donnie Fischer]

Hi Steve,

I've thoroughly enjoyed learning where my fine Levenger paper comes from. As a freelance web designer, most of what I do ends up being digital. But however much I may adore Bindi (my MacBook Pro), I still savor the experience of writing by hand and reading exquisite leather books. I send on average over 300 emails a month, but they won't last - and they don't need to. But my thoughts, my dreams, my ideas, my memories - those are captured and stored in my Levenger journal. The things that are most important to me, I still record by hand with a Levenger Fountain Pen. Because while I love the technology... sometimes, life can be a little too convenient. And there is something so timeless about putting ink on paper. I've tried journaling electronically, but it's jut not sustainable for me. It feels shallow, hollow and empty. It seems that my most treasured memories can only truly flow from me as ink being set down on paper. I think I've achieved a happy balance between my digital and traditional worlds. But I would never want to be completely digital so I hope that Levenger will continue to provide us with our favorite writing tools for many more years to come. Thanks for the behind-the-scenes tour, I really enjoyed it. And thanks for all the dreaming you encourage with your wonderful products.

-Donnie Fischer
Atmore, AL

[Kim]

Check out Eco-Libris, www.ecolibris.com, they are a company that allows people to "balance out" their books by purchasing trees to be replanted in developing countries. We did a post about them recently and it looks like a good idea.

[jimmy Springett]

Hi Steve,
Your company is a great one, not only for the paper--but remember the pens used to work with paper, like yin-yang one is no good without the other. As an artist of fine art, my sketching and journaling notes all start with your products, paper and pen from there to my canvas if the design speaks to me, once this painting is done I use my digital camera to make a high resolution jpeg, this is the basis of what ends up in my artistic website for view and sale. The beginning of my process and I feel the most important part is in my sketching using your pen and paper. What a rich world I have because you help in so many ways, please keep making all the old fashioned,yet inspiring products, my wish is for you for your family to prosper all your days. A grateful artist, smiling, ,Jimmy Springett

[Ulises]

I am actually happy with my Levenger yellow pads. It is delicious to write on them with my fountain pens.

[Neil Allam]

Having spent 40 years in the paper making industry in the United Kingdom, it was with immense pleasure I read your two articles, which were concise, apposite, accurate and timely.Many thanks

[Chuck Green]

Interesting discussion Steve.

First, I am a designer of both digital and print media--and I love both. Each has its strengths. Yes, we are transitioning many tasks from paper to digital. But to say paper is somehow going away in the foreseeable future seems rather silly.

For one, there are literally billions of people who do not use computers--some because of access issues, others because they simply haven't made the change of mind, and perhaps will not in their lifetime. We are at least one or two generation from uniform access and acceptance.

I don't deny printing a hundred pages on newsprint and delivering to everyone's front door once a day isn't a dying approach, but I don't think many will disagree that many types of print communications will survive.

I believe that as publications and communications find their primary place on one or both platforms, print will become a more exclusive property. It will be less used and hence more noticed and prized.

[Ebba Åsly Fåhraeus]

Hi Steve,
Anoto is a believer in paper too - countless cases shows how people just like taking notes and collecting information on paper vs all kinds of digital devices - although we do like to have a digital copy available. If you have not encountered our digital pen and paper technology please check our website. The product penDocuments lets you add a pattern on any paper and then whilst writing with a digital pen collect that information or drawing and give you a pdf file.

Best regards,
Ebba Åsly Fåhraeus

[Steve Leveen]

Dear Folks,

It's inspiring to read your comments and to learn how so many of you seek a good balance between the old and the new--a balancing act in motion, since the technology, old and new, as well as our lives are constantly in motion. I'll write soon about some relevations on this front from here in San Francisco...Many thanks to you all.

Steve

[Katie Garland]

I concur with Donnie--it is lovely to know the origins of the products we consume, and to know we are supporting a small community.

As a chronic list-maker (from grocery lists to life goals), nothing compares to handwriting on quality paper and a fine pen.

[Bruce Garlock]

One thing that cannot be said enough about paper, is how long it will last versus digital media. I need not worry about my paper "crashing" or have an issue with newer technology, making older media technologies obsolete. Hard drives fail, USB sticks can only be written to a finite number of times, and paper does not require a power source. If anything, based on what I have read here about how paper could actually be helping the environment, think about the other hidden cost to digital media: power consumption. As computers get faster, they require more cooling, and use more and more electricity. I do consume digital media in a variety of ways, but the power of paper is understated in today's world.

[Sue von Baeyer]

I would like you to create something. Everyone I know sits at the dining table with a laptop on the table to add to whatever discussion is going on--Would you please invent a rolling table similar to the readers table/rolling desk for laptop? It would be smaller, lower to fit at the table but not on the table, and would make the laptop easily accessible without setting a place for it at the table.

My reward for the idea would be that you send me one!
Thank you.
Sue von Baeyer