Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Catalog Creep


Do you have uninvited guests in your living room? That's what Bill Moyers calls the avalanche of catalogs that floods our mailboxes starting every October....and continuing throughout the year.

More than 19 billion paper catalogs are printed and thrown away each year -- that's 53 million trees and 3.6 million TONS of paper. The waste water discharges from this volume of paper comes out to 53 billion gallons of water, enough to fill 81,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Take ten minutes right now to do something about it, and do the earth a favor. You'll save yourself the time spent sifting through unwanted catalogs, save the energy spent producing them, and help retailers target their audience to someone who cares.

Go to catalogchoice.com and go through their alphabetized list, check off everything you no longer wish to receive, and within ten weeks' time, you should be removed from the retailers' mailing lists. I thought I would have maybe 10 or 11. Would you believe my total was 53 catalogs and flyers from various companies? But I'm actually on the low end -- the average is 63 catalogs per year for every man, woman and child in the U.S. -- about 40 lbs per person!

You might be surprised at how much junk mail you receive without really noticing, but it all adds up. 'Tis far nobler to never receive than to receive and toss into the recycling bin -- where 98 percent of all catalogs end up. (Some go into the trash can -- even worse.)

Watch Bill Moyers and Daniel Katz, the founder of catalogchoice.org:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/11162007/watch4.html

It's very easy (and free) to sign up for this service at Catalog Choice. Do it today!