…If you’re in North America, some of the fiber in your paper towels (and other tissue products like toilet paper) probably started off as a tree in the boreal forest of northern Canada, one of the last big, intact forests in the world… a giant reservoir that stores carbon dioxide. …Collectively, boreal forests lock away about 703 gigatons of carbon in woody fibers and soil. Tropical forests, by comparison, store about 375 gigatons of carbon. …Trevor Hesselink, at the Wildlands League, said it’s important to weigh the value of paper products against the value of intact forests. “If you are thinking through a carbon lens, those single-use products are very short-lived,” he said. Canada is generally seen as being good at forest management. …The bad news is planting a young tree to replace a mature one is not the one-for-one carbon scenario many people imagine, Mr. Hesselink said