I'm constantly writing. I'm not just writing the end product - newspaper articles, for example - but through the entire process. Shorthand notes from interviews, shorthand notes and jottings during research, drafts and so on. I'll confess that I've rarely contemplated the number of plastic pens I've discarded over the years, the petroleum-based ink I've used or the countless leaves of shorthand notepaper I've run through. But I bet if somebody brought put it all on my desk I'd be horrified. As daily users of ink, paper and plastic, should we as shorthand practitioners be more considerate for the impact our work/hobby has on Mother Nature? Well, what can we do? First off, 100% recycled paper has to be the way forward. Next up is pens. Throwing used biros away has got a be a naughty thing to do, and I'm not sure they can be recycled everywhere. I've seen ballpoint pens which have been recycled from old CD cases and the like. But what do you do with them afterwards? Can they too be recycled? I haven't got an answer to that yet. So I'm thinking a refillable fountain pen has to be the answer because then you'd not be throwing anything away. ...