Stop the Junk Mail!
Posted: 11:38AM September 16th, 2011 | Comments
Apparently and according to some Natural Resource survey, it takes more than 100 million trees to produce the total volume of junk mail that arrives in American mailboxes each year—that's the equivalent of clearcutting the entire Rocky Mountain National Park every 4 months.
Yes, I’m taking my first step down the warpath about junk mail. Ever since I moved into my new house on the near eastside, I have received a remarkable and obscene amount of junk mail—daily packets of coupons for Pizza Pit and Home Depot, catalogues for furniture and stacks of smudgy, but colorful coupons. I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire life: Maybe the previous owner was a shopaholic who craved 2-for-1 Big Macs and bought sofas from Crate & Barrel daily? Maybe my house (in a neighborhood of down-to-earth families) is in such a desirable neighborhood for marketers? Maybe the laws in Wisconsin regarding junk mail are more permissive than where I’ve lived before (Vermont, California, Oregon)?
Whatever, the case: So far I have found out that junk mail attributes to nearly half of landfill mass, and rips down millions of trees annually; an ecological double-whammie.
What am I going to do about it? I’ve tried filing paperwork with the postal service, a PS Form 3982-R, but the flow hasn’t slowed. Yes, I’m going to get to the bottom of this . . and save a tree or two! ! Stay tuned, crusaders.
