Extra Large with Cream and Five Splenda... and Bleach

My wife bought some coffee filters the other day. Unbleached.

I could have spent my whole life not realizing they actually use bleach to make coffee filters white. Why they are white is one of those things a person fails to question. But it sure opens up a bunch of other questions...

Why do they bother bleaching them in the first place? Are unbleached coffee filters like BGH-free milk? Should I not be using the white ones? Am I saving the environment by using brown filters? Maybe I should grow my own tomatoes fertilized with natural compost, eat eggs from free-range chickens and brew my coffee with unbleached filters.