It was just a small article about a children's book author, but a passing reference to the author's commitment to using chlorine-free paper caught Deborah Bruner's eye. Intrigued, she tracked down the Lyons Falls paper mill, the only U.S. manufacturer of totally chlorine-free (TCF) book paper, and asked for more information.

She quickly learned about the serious health hazards stemming from the use of chlorine. But the more information she found in favor of TCF, the more she also found claiming that it was unnecessary, that lesser "fixes" were good enough. The difficulty in sorting out the truth might have daunted many people, but it brought out the sleuth in Bruner. After researching the issue thoroughly, she concluded, "I found out that big mills, which have invested in less demanding technologies, have a lot at stake in putting out misinformation to protect their business."

This research was not just academic. Bruner was in a position to make a difference, and she had the courage and skill to influence an industry. As senior manufacturing manager at Jossey-Bass, a San Francisco publisher of professional and academic books as well as a number of periodicals, Bruner bought one million pounds of paper a year. When she switched Jossey-Bass publications to TCF paper in 1994, other book publishers took notice.

In April 1996, Bruner took a job as manager of production and design at Cornell University Press in Ithaca, New York. Within the following eight months, not only had she established Cornell as a model for other university presses in using TCF paper, she had also influenced many Ann Arbor, Michigan printers (where Cornell, along with many other university presses around the nation, prints its publications) to start stocking TCF paper on their floors. The University of California, Harvard, the University of New Mexico, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Georgetown Law Center have now also ventured into using TCF paper and other university presses are studying it.

Bruner has even worked with Lyons Falls to develop a book paper with a percentage of tree-free pulp, as well. She will be testing it along with the University of California and Jossey-Bass. "The university presses are very receptive," she says. "We have a good communication network and are collaborative. We have regional conferences as well as regional production managers' meetings. There we talk shop, discuss issues and compare products." When Bruner tells other production managers about totally chlorine-free paper and why it's important, they listen. She criticizes paper mills that install only elemental chlorine-free (ECF) technology - replacing chlorine chemicals with chlorine dioxide, a derivative of chlorine that reduces, but does not eliminate, cancer-causing emissions and pollutants.

"ECF is just a tail-pipe solution that tries to reduce the problem after it's been produced. Why not go the extra step and incorporate TCF technology, which eliminates the problem altogether? TCF is a win-win solution." However, Bruner does not look for guidance to state or federal legislative processes, which she finds frustrating. "If people wait to have rules forced on them, it kills a lot of incentive and builds up resistance." Instead, she shows how the commitment of one individual can influence so many others to invest in environmental quality. "If you set a positive model by sending a message using your dollar power, that's how you create choice in the market that then is available to others, too." Deborah Bruner can be contacted at Cornell University Press, phone 607/277-2338 ext. 235, e-mail: dnb5@cornell.edu.