EOTO Technology

 One of the most interesting forms of communication I learned about from one of my classmates EOTO, was the history of paper. Paper is a written form of communication that our society has been using for thousands of years, but first let's take a look back as to how paper was created. Before paper, Chinese Officials recorded their drawings and writings on sheets of cloth, whereas other cultures would attempt to record their findings on bamboo. It was soon realized that these methods were ineffective, this led Chinese court official Ts'ai Lun mixing mulberry bark, hemp and rags with water. This combination would form into a pulp then pressing out the excess liquid and hanging to dry outside in the sun, paper was born. 

The creation of paper stayed relatively local to China, and the news of this discovery did not leave China until the 8th Century, roughly 300 years after it was created. The secret of paper first traveled to the Middle East, but it took another 500 years for paper making to enter Europe as a whole. The first paper mill was built in Spain and from then on Europe had paper flowing throughout multiple countries. Since Europe was extremely successful in adapting the creation of paper from China, in they were able to supply the colonies with a generous supply of paper for many years to come. Unfortunately, the United States was a bit behind on the innovation of paper and it was not until the year 1690 that paper making had reached America. 

America was able to continue the traditional Chinese method of paper making for a bit but the demand for paper grew to be unmanageable and the United States had to shift their methods. The U.S. began to use fiber from wood instead of cloth because there was many more trees than cloth. Fast forward to today, we have various types of communication and technology such as iphones and computers. People would much rather use the new and improved Apple computers than write on a piece of paper. The United States and China produce the majority of paper produced today. We are in a desperate hazardous time with paper making going unregulated, the consequences we experience because of this are pollution, deforestation, and many other environmental issues.