Guy Goes Green

Wannabe green guy going green

Posts Tagged ‘trees’

Week two in review: Green guy vs. junk mail

November 2nd, 2009

Over the past week, I have learned quite a bit about junk mail and the impact it is having on the environment. Although this is only my second task, I believe this may be one of the tasks that end up having the biggest impact on my long term behavior and on the environment. Not only is it staggering how much waste junk mail generates, but also how easy it is to stop and reuse.

A few days ago I created a list of 24 ways to stop or reuse junk mail and I have either completed or am working on several of these items. I admit that we already have been putting much of the junk mail into the recycle bin, but this is mostly Ashley’s doing. I will do my best to be a bit better about separating these items. I went to www.dmachoice.org & OptOutPrescreen.com to remove myself from junk mail mailing lists.

Every day that I receive junk mail, I note the company that is sending it and contact them directly to get myself removed from the lists. I even created a template that I use and you are more than welcome to take. I write down the companies I contact and hang it on the fridge in order to keep track of the companies that should not be sending me things.

I have 6 phonebooks from four different companies. I have contacted each of these to stop sending me these phone books. Honestly, I have no need for these anymore since I have the internet. At most, we should only need one. I certainly do not need 6 phonebooks delivered to my house.

Finally, I am going to try and save the junk mail we receive to try some of the other suggestions I put on my list. I am not sure exactly what I am going to do, but I do think it would be fun to try some of the crafts like Franke James’ suggestion of gift wrap or the Daily Green’s suggestion of making artsy paper. We will see….. Possibly I will save up my junk mail all year and make one of the most epic paper mache statues of all time.

Well, Ashley, I hope I have made you proud this week with the progress I have made on stopping junk mail. Beyond any ‘green’ agendas, junk mail is one big waste of our resources and a huge annoyance. I have honestly learned something this week and will continue to be vigilant on this.

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Posted in General Green, Week 2 Junk Mail

Tags: forest green green mail junk mail tree trees

Remove yourself from junk mail list – email template for you

November 1st, 2009

This week’s challenge is officially ending today, but this green guy (me) will continue to be vigilant on removing myself from junk mail lists. There will be more on this task, as well as the new task, tomorrow morning, but I wanted to make sure to share. This week I put together a small template that I have been sending to companies informing them to remove me from their mailing list. Also… possibly…. just possibly, it might change the habits of those reading the email. I am posting the template here for you to use if you would like:

Dear XXX,

Please remove me from your mailing list. Although I may enjoy your product or possibly have done business with you, I would like you to stop sending me junk mail as a matter of preserving trees. Over 100 million trees are cut down every year for junk mail. Over 40% of junk mail ends up going straight into the garbage without being opened or looked at. These two statistics combined imply that 40 million trees go straight from the paper mill to the land fill and I would like to do my part to stop this. Hopefully, I can save a tree or two by reducing the mail that I ignore and possibly you can too. My address is as follows:

{YOUR ADDRESS HERE}

Thank you,

[Your Name]

1 comment »

Posted in Week 2 Junk Mail

Tags: green green mail junk mail trees waste

Ashley’s take on junk mail and this week’s task

October 28th, 2009

In choosing my second topic for this blog, I consulted my list of ways I would like to see my husband go green. However, the topic I selected wasn’t on my list at all. This is something that I have always frustrated me, but I just never did anything about. I had come across this link that gives stats and a visual description of how much companies use to produce those junk catalogs that we don’t even look at anyways. Also as Ben said, 41 pounds of junk mail is what an average person receives a year, most of which we don’t even look at. This is what made me want to take action, once and for all.

Many people argue that you can just recycle the catalogs that you receive instead of throwing them away. But I have a better idea. Removing your name from mailing lists not only saves the forests that are cut down, the oil extracted and water needed to produce these catalogs, but it will also save you “70 hours a year” while sorting through junk mail. Now I work at a company that sends out catalogs to customers each year, so I understand how it works. You purchase from one company; they can then sell your name to other catalog companies.

There are many resources out there now to remove your name from mailing lists. I am new at this but so far I have signed up at DMAchoice.org, and catalogchoice.com. These websites seem easy to navigate and user friendly. I have yet to encounter a problem. Throughout the year we will keep tabs on what type of junk mail we get and remove our names from their mailing lists. I think that one year of this will mean many more years of junk mail freedom.