Education system conspiring against trees?

How many trees are killed each year for high school and college term papers/reports?

Being a full time college student myself, I was pondering this question today, and trying to figure out a way to lessen the impact that getting an education has on the planet. Ideally, emailing term papers, research papers, reports, etc. would be the easiest way, however I can understand professors wanting a hard copy of the actual assignment as well. One thing has me perplexed though:

I found it ironic that my environmental science professor (like almost all of my professors) wanted our research papers to be double spaced. Coming from a super liberal hippie-esque professor who preaches sustainability and conservation, how could he have the audacity to request a double spaced paper? It uses twice as much paper! Granted, a single spaced paper is not as easy on the eyes, but in order to practice what is preached, one would think that this optical nuisance would be outweighed by the reality that single spacing is a more sustainable practice.

Sorry for the not so exciting topic, but its just food for thought.

Last Edited by sleevedheart on 01/21/2012 05:27 AM