One thing each of us can do to help the Earth is cut down on our junk mail. Did you know that 100 million trees are cut down to produce junk mail each year? That’s like cutting down every tree in the Rocky Mountain National Forest every four months. What’s worse, millions of tons of this junk mail ends up in landfills; almost half of junk mail sent is unopened, and most of it is not recycled. Aside from the trees lost and the waste generated, there’s also the energy used to produce and distribute junk mail in the first place: more than 3 million cars’ worth! Almost everything about junk mail is bad for the planet, and Earth Day is the perfect time to cut junk mail from our lives and do our part to help the Earth.

So how do you kick the junk mail habit? Sign up for the Privacy Council’s List Removal Service today and make your own contribution to the reduction of junk mail. When you sign up for the Privacy Council’s service, your name is removed from the major junk mailing lists, making your junk mail drop off and giving the Earth and your mailbox a break. Click here to get started, for Earth Day and every day!

In the article the Sierra Club refernced a company called Greensender.  So I took a few moments and followed the link.  Greensender is the founder of “Green Pride” as well as a number of other “go green” products. Greensender exists to help bridge that gap between good intentions and taking action.

I personally am a single mom.  I recycle my aluminum cans and make sure they are out on the curb every Wednesday.  That’s about it for me.  I know that change is a necessity at this point.  My heart strings are tugged with every tree saving project.  I get nervous about the future for my child when I hear about global warming and pollution.

I know that it is time to make a change and that the time for procrastination has ceased.  That is why when I ran accross the last line of Michael Aaron’s (Founder of Greensender.com) mission statement, I knew exactly what to do.  Here is the mission statement that rang oh so true for me:

“No one can do everything today. And no one can do it by themselves. But, we all have the responsibility do something. So, let’s get started.”

I was grocery shopping in the Navy Commissary recently (a store for military folks), when I noticed a big sign with a picture of a Compact Fluorescent Light bulb (CFL) that said “Change your light bulb, save the world”.  The sign is part of a promotion to raise environmental awareness among military personnel, and I was excited to see it. The U.S. military has historically been one of the worst polluters and, as one of the country’s largest bureaucracies, it is often resistant to change.

Digging into the campaign, I discovered that the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCa) had partnered with General Electric to offer discounted CPLs to military families with the goal of selling 1 million in 2008. CPLs are typically more expensive than regular incandescent light bulbs, but they last up to 10 times as long and use 75% less energy than typical bulbs. I was skeptical that military families would buy these bulbs, but when I did some research, I found that DeCa easily surpassed its goal, selling 1 million CPLs by August, 2008.

This is awesome news. If every American family swapped out five regular bulbs for five CPLs, in one year we would prevent greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to the output of 10 million cars, and we would save $8 billion in energy costs. There are roughly 3 million personnel in the US military; when their family members are counted, that number rises closer to 10 million. If the military commits itself to “going green”, the global impact would be phenomenal, not only pulling 10 million people into the environmental movement, but also greening the ships, vehicles, housing, and construction processes wielded by this powerhouse.
DeCa’s campaign is truly inspiring. If DeCa can convince military families to change out 1 million light bulbs in 8 months, I know that the Privacy Council can do the same for 1 million trees.  Environmental change is coming, people!

-Emily Paterson