The link is to an interview my wife, Debra Lyons, did this morning on Georgia Work Ready. Click the link to find out what it is about.
georgia-offers-help-for-online-job-seekers

Quoted from the Good Day Atlanta Web Page:

"

Georgia Offers Help for Online Job Seekers

Updated: Friday, 17 Sep 2010, 10:08 AM EDT
Published : Friday, 17 Sep 2010, 10:08 AM EDT

Finding local jobs online can seem tough, but the state of Georgia wants to help. They've launched Georgia Work Ready, a website designed to help local companies find talented local people. Debra Lyons, the director of the Governor's Office of Workforce Development, joined Good Day Atlanta to explain.

Local Jobs: Georgia Work Ready
Looking for local jobs on Monster and Career Builder can be daunting and time-consuming. To make it easier for Georgians to locate local job opportunities, Georgia Work Ready launched a new, free online job site.
Job seekers who are Work Ready Certified can now look for jobs at Work Ready Connect: "
www.workreadyconnect.org

11th Advanced Coating Fundamentals Symposium Interview

Image via Wikipedia

This is the transcript to a podcast I did yesterday to promote the upcoming TAPPI Advanced
Coating Fundamentals Symposium. 

Have you registered yet? If not please do, I want to see you there!

Hello, I’m Craig McKinney from TAPPI and welcome to our podcast about the 11th Advanced Coating Fundamentals Symposium.  I am joined today by Dr. Tony Lyons, Director of Research for IMERYS Pigments for Paper North America.  Tony is the Session Chair for Session 9 - Advanced Understanding of Coating Layer Structures at the Advanced Coating Fundamentals Symposium, which will be held October 11^th through the 13^th in Munich, Germany.

Tony, welcome and thank you for sharing your thoughts with us today! 

 Tony: Hi Craig, I hope you and the listeners to this Podcast are having a great day. It is my pleasure to share with you my thoughts on the upcoming Advanced Coating Fundamentals Symposium. I understand you have a few questions for me. Fire away!

Question 1:

Tony, Why do you think your colleagues should attend this event?

Tony: There is no better technical event on the coating of paper than this one. I have never been disappointed in one of these events and look forward to this one as much as any before. Where else can you interact with all of the leading thinkers and doers in advancing the science and technology of the coating of paper? I can’t think of one, although Papercon comes close. This is the event where there are no holds barred on the sharing of high tech thinking on the subject.

Question 2:

What is significant about this year’s program, Tony?

Tony: Every one of these symposiums has taught me something new about coating paper. This promises to be no different. The materials science of paper will be highlighted by discussions about fold crack, the mechanisms of how binders interact with pigments and the base substrate, and how light will interact with a paper coating. There will be a whole session on the new and exciting high speed curtain coating process. Sustainable and biobased paper chemistries are also a major highlight for me.

Question 3:

Finally, Tony, can you tell our listeners why the 11^th Advanced Coating Fundamentals Symposium is the can’t miss event of the year for the paper coating industry?

Tony: You mean besides the fact that it is in a beautiful area of Germany, that it is in Munich and that PTS has a great facility for these types of events? Why sure!

Image via Wikipedia

If you are looking for a high technical content event where the focus is on paper coating science then this is the event for you. While the usual conference events are tremendous for gaining technical knowledge and networking with a broad cross-section of the paper industry; this event will bring you up close and personal with the very latest in thinking by world class experts from academia and industry on relevant, but highly technical problems. This does not happen every year. There is no waiting ‘til next year. I can’t wait to go and wouldn’t want to wait another two years because I missed this one!

Tony, thank you so much for your time today and for sharing your expertise with us.  We look forward to seeing you all at the 11th Advanced Coating Fundamentals Symposium, taking place October 11^th  through the 13^th  in Munich, Germany.  Visit www.TAPPI.org/10ACF if you would like more information about the symposium including registration and sponsorship opportunities.

Verso Paper Corp. Launches Facebook Page

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Check out the link. In order to facilitate the HIRING of new people to the company they have launched a Facebook page. Two big pieces of news here. A paper company has joined the social networking world and better yet they are hiring!

Let's Debunk Some "Facts"

Image by tobo via Flickr

The following list is from thedailygreen.com. Under each point is my response.

• Forests store 50% of the world's terrestrial carbon. (In other words, they are awfully important "carbon sinks" that hold onto pollution that would otherwise lead to global warming.)  
• My response: This is an excellent point. Did you know that younger forests sequester more CO2 than older ones do? A well managed working forest, the kind that supplies the wood pulp for paper, is younger and has less CO2/methane producing rot than an older forest. If a forest is not a working one it is in more danger of being clear cut and turned into a paved over development.
  
• Half the world's forests have already been cleared or burned, and 80% of what's left has been seriously degraded.  
• My response: What is left out here is that most of that was for development and conversion to agricultural land. In the USA the number of acres of forest land has been quite stable and has actually grown over the last 10-15 years.
  
• 42% of the industrial wood harvest is used to make paper.  
• My response: Keep in mind that that this fact only applies to industrial wood harvest. This is how important that keeping the paper industry alive is. The best managed forests are the plantations used to make paper. The trees are replanted as opposed to conversion to agricultural or developmental purposes. Trees are a renewal resource. Keep them well managed!

• The paper industry is the 4th largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions among United States manufacturing industries, and contributes 9% of the manufacturing sector's carbon emissions.  
• My response: I am going to directly quote the Down to Earth website by International Paper here:

"paper: One of the great things about paper is that its primary raw materials are renewable. The paper and forest products industry replenishes more than it takes and ensures the sustainability of our forests by planting 1.7 million trees every single day, more than three times what is harvested. And the U.S. Dept. of Energy has stated that the carbon sequestered on forested lands in 2006 was greater than the carbon released from harvesting wood over the same period.
electronic: Making a computer typically requires the mining and refining of dozens of minerals and metals, including gold, silver and palladium, as well as the extensive use of plastics and hydrocarbon solvents. The lifespan of a computer is short, and electronics have become the fastest growing waste stream in the world."

• Paper accounts for 25% of landfill waste (and one third of municipal landfill waste).  
• My response: See above and hey at least paper is compostable.

• Municipal landfills account for one third of human-related methane emissions (and methane is 23-times more potent a greenhouse gas than is carbon dioxide).  
• My response: Wait a second there. Doesn't that methane come from food waste and human waste (baby diapers folks).
  

• If the United States cut office paper use by just 10% it would prevent the emission of 1.6 million tons of greenhouse gases -- the equivalent of taking 280,000 cars off the road. 
• My response: And then you have produce the electricity to drive all of those electronic devices that would take their place. I don't think this analysis was done to completion.
  

• Compared to using virgin wood, paper made with 100% recycled content uses 44% less energy, produces 38% less greenhouse gas emissions, 41% less particulate emissions, 50% less wastewater, 49% less solid waste and -- of course -- 100% less wood. 
• response: My only comment here is that we need to use the recycled fiber appropriately. Tissue and toweling is much more appropriate than high end coated paper production.
  

• In 2003, only 48.3% of office paper was recovered for recycling.

• Recovered paper accounts for 37% of the U.S. pulp supply.

• Printing and writing papers use the least amount of recycled content -- just 6%. Tissues use the most, at 45%, and newsprint is not far behind, at 32%.  
• My response: That is appropriate. Cleaning up the recycle content is expensive and inappropriate for coated paper production. Use it in the production of newsprint, tissue and toweling.
  

• Demand for recycled paper will exceed supply by 1.5 million tons of recycled pulp per year within 10 years.

• While the paper industry invests in new recycled newsprint and paper packaging plants in the developing world, almost none of the new printing and writing paper mills use recycled content.  
• My response: there is a reason for this. It is expensive to process the fiber for coated papers. The production of coated paper is lower than those other market segments anyway. 
• China, India and the rest of Asia are the fastest growing per-capita users of paper, but they still rank far behind Eastern Europe and Latin America (about 100 pounds per person per year),
  Australia (about 300 pounds per person per year) and Western Europe
  (more than 400 pounds per person per year).
• The Forest Stewardship Council's certification of sustainable forestry practices is growing, with 50% of the paper product market share and 226 million acres
  accounted for. Advocates say the demand for recycled paper and
  sustainably harvested pulp from consumers, advertisers, magazine makers
  and other users of paper will yield the fastest reforms of the industry.  
• My response: Yes and this is happening at a rapid rate.
  

Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/7447#ixzz0xdUmDF9Y

Related articles by Zemanta:

• Recycling Doesn't Save Trees, It Saves Forests (Going Green)
• Recycling Doesn't Save Trees (Going Green)
• imabonehead: Kenaf Paper - Kenaf Environmental Benefits - thedailygreen.com
• TD becomes first Canadian company to participate in North American closed loop paper recycling system

Hey Look at That! A Forward Thinking Paper Company

Image by johnmuk via Flickr

I would like to applaud Verso Paper Corp. on launching a mobile version of their corporate site. It is heartwarming to see a paper company be forward thinking in how they interact with their customers and other stakeholders.

This new version provides a simple and fast interface to to their product specifications, sales contact information and investor information.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Verso Paper Corp. Launches Mobile Version of Corporate Website (eon.businesswire.com)

Down to Earth

Image via Wikipedia

Is that email worth printing? Are pixels really greener than paper? If these types of questions are on your mind, actually I suggest that they should be, then I have a website to recommend to you. This was put together by the folks at International Paper. It is fact based and delves quite nicely into the economic issues of a working forest. For instance did you know that the production of paper can lead to more trees? If private landowners can't make money as tree farmers then what are they to do? Likely that land would be sold for development. I would say the biggest boon to tree preservation is probably the slowing of the new home starts.

When forests are working ones then the trees that are harvested are replaced. How many trees are replaced when a new development that clear cuts replaces a working forest?

Here is the link. I highly recommend you go there!

Click Here to Visit Down to Earth

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Importance of Tree Plantation (socyberty.com)
• Recycling Doesn't Save Trees (Going Green) (whattheythink.com)

eBooks and Paper

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Exactly how will eBooks affect paper usage? There have been many emotional as well as factual responses to this question for several years now. The latest eBook technology is actually quite interesting. The hardest thing about electronic reading had been eye strain. Reading on a backlit screen, even the very cool iPad, will tire your eyes and cause some strain. That is one of the reasons why many people prefer to read printed books. eReaders solve that issue in that it takes some type of external lighting to read the screen just like print. The current readers are all monochrome and are best for reading books. Not very good yet for reading magazines, comic books and such.

I actually own a Nook. My bride gave it to me for father's day. I have to say that my reading rate has gone up because of it. Maybe it is the novelty of it, but it is true nonetheless. The cost of a book is reduced so I have less of a monetary hurdle to acquiring books. The Nook does not seem to strain my eyes. Carrying my library is now extremely possible. You can truly get thousands of books into one of those devices. It has WiFi and 3G connectivity at no charge so downloading new books is easy. And there are plenty of free book offers as well to help add to your library.

How does this affect paper? The first obvious affect will be on book grades of paper. If I were a college student again I wouldn't buy paper based text books. I would save my back and my pocket book depletion rate that is for sure. If the quality improves, as in color displays, that animate well under external lighting then magazines will start to get hit. Books, magazine and printed comics will be left to just the collectors I think.

This all does not bode well for my future as I am paid to make paper better. How do I do that and compete with these new communication devices?

TAPPI Coating and Graphic Arts Division Issues Call for Papers

Papercon Coating Call for Papers

The deadline to submit an abstract is September 17th. Click the link for details.

I've Been Busy

I am involved in planning for three TAPPI conferences. I am on the technical program committee for the  Nanotechnology Conference (Espoo, Finland, September 27-29, 2010 TAPPI Nanotechnology) and the Advanced Coating Fundamentals Symposium. (Munich, Germany, October 11-13, 2010 TAPPI ACFS). I am also chairing the technical program committee for the Coating and Graphic Arts Division's contribution to the 2011 Papercon. The call for papers will be released soon for Papercon.

We are trying something different in planning for the Papercon technical program. We have put together the session structure and will work to fill it. It is designed to meet our conference attendees needs. We will also have an interactive poster session to provide opportunities for networking. Stay tuned for the call for papers!

Proper English

I have a bit of a complaint about the use of the English language found in papers, presentations, articles and memos when the subject is the paper industry. This is a general pet peeve that I have in working within the paper industry or should I say paperindustry? As you just noticed I put these two commonly found words next to each other together. I am sure you didn't like it very much. Many words are being put together in reports and such in the paper industry. I really don't like it. It is hard to read. I wonder if there are other industries that do this as well?

A few more examples where the English language is hacked by putting words together that don't belong together are basecoating, topcoating, coatweight, papermachine, freesheet, topcoat,basecoat, lightweight, heavyweight, lightscatter and so many others. To me why not then extend this to other commonly found words that are next to each other like rampup, beenresolved, greasebarrier, oxygenbarrier, waterbarrier, paperindustry, sizepress, milltrial, pilotcoater, tropicalconditions, salesgroup, pigmenttechnology, technicalguide, particlesize, conferencecall and so on. Ugly and hard to read isn't it?

So please refrain from doing this pet peeve of mine (or is it petpeeve?). Here is what I prefer in place of putting two words together to create a new one:

• top coat
• base coat
• base paper
• light scatter
• coat weight
• free sheet
• light weight
• heavy weight
• paper machine

Drop some comments if you have a different opinion or are in support of this one.

A "Treeroots Movement": It is OK to print this e-mail.

Please Note: It is OK to print this e-mail. Paper is a biodegradable, renewable, and sustainable product made from trees. Growing and harvesting trees provides jobs for millions of people, and working forests are good for the environment. Working forests provide clean air, clean water, wildlife habitat and carbon storage.

I started including this as part of my e-mail signature in September 2009 after reading an editorial by Glen Ostle in the June/July 2009 issue of Paper 360. In his editorial he was pointing out that the paper industry has bemoaned their lack of ability to "get their message out" for going on about 30 years. There have been numerous attempts with things like press releases from AF&PA, the Disney World display and demonstrations about paper and the industry's stewardship, lobbying in Washington and elsewhere and of course trade journal articles espousing the progress made in paper technology. It isn't enough and paper is being hammered on by the green movement. Something has to be done and as this is a political issue as much as anything else political tactics are needed.

One of the most powerful are "grassroots" campaigns. Glen is encouraging a "Treeroots Movement". A statement similar to the one I use is part of his signature after he received it from a friend of a US Forestry Department employee. It is a simple and powerful statement of a set of truths about the paper industry. There are so many people in this country focused on the negative who have a voice that the positive is drowned out. I encourage those disturbed by that to put an end to it. Several of our customers were delighted by this signature to the point of making special note of it in a return e-mail to me and several others in the NA paper business unit who are also using it. Some have asked permission to use it too.

This is exciting. Let's keep this going. If you agree put it in your signature too.Most of my business unit uses it now. Recently our global CEO started using it as well. I've started a movement! It is OK to print this blog by the way.