Greening It Up
I have been trying to go green in as many aspects of my life as possible. I know it is super hard for most people including me, but there are little steps you can take. For example, this month I have decided to opt out of mailing lists and discontinue receiving paper catalogs.
First, I contacted a number of catalogs I know that I get and don’t want anymore. If you don’t remember all the ones you get, you can go to www.dmachoice.org/MPS or www.catalogchoice.org. I’ve decided not to opt out of Ikea because I get it once or twice a year and I read it over and over. Plus, their website stinks.
Then, I opted out of all those pre-approved letters I get that just end up in the garbage. I went here: www.optoutprescreen.com.
If anyone knows of any other ways to stop receiving junk mail, please let me know! If I could get rid of those coupon circulars, that would be ideal.
More paper saving and earth-friendly ideas for the rest of the year:
- Use 100% recycled copy paper
- Buy a fake Christmas tree and forgo the lights this year
- Buy recycled paper holiday cards printed with soy inks or send e-cards
- Give reusable grocery bags as holiday gifts
Anybody else want to participate? Leave your tip in the comments.
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14 Responses to “Greening It Up”
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The fact that you take the time to open the mail…use their postage free envelope and re stuff all the paper they have sent you back in that envelope and mail it back to them…trust me…after they have to pay additional money because of the weight, they will take you off their list….stick a little postie note on inside that says not interested…it works..good luck, Namaste, Donna
Hi there,
I’m curious as to why purchasing an artificial tree is preferable to a farmed one. Most of the ones available are polyethylene and while they can be reused for quite some time, I don’t see any family hanging onto one for the few hundred years it’ll take for the materials to decompose. Further, the benefits of having living, growing trees and keeping American farmland viable (in my mind) far outweigh the environmental impact of the petroleum industry in general. As far as I can tell, getting an artificial tree is the equivalent of choosing plastic shopping bags over reusable canvas bags. Real trees: renewable resource. Fake trees: not so much. Maybe a live tree would appeal to you if you have the space to plant it afterwards.
I think it depends on what kind of tree you purchase and what it is made of.
I purchased my aluminum tree on ebay but that is just my choice. Here is a great post with great comments on this particular topic:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2004/12/how_to_pick_a_g.php
Oh and for those of you who decide to purchase a live tree, here is a good resource for when you are finished with it:
http://www.earth911.org/master.asp?s=misc&a=misc/xmas/treecycle.html
GreenDimes is also a good service for saying goodbye to junkmail!
http://greendimes.com/
Greetings from GreenDimes,
Hey thanks for commenting about us. We’re working real hard to get rid of the holiday rush of unwanted catalogs and junk mail.
Hello from Greendimes,
Thanks for commmenting about us. We’re working hard to cut down on the holiday rush of catalogs and unwanted junk mail.
I just did a search on craigslist and there were at least 10 posts of pre-owned artificial christmas trees for sale.
Gidday,
There is one important fact to remember about the the Xmas rush (which Sanjiv mentions). Catalog companies bulk mail up to 2-3 months in advance of holiday seasons. Catalogs for Xmas shopping were mailed in September/October.
http://www.stopthejunkmail.com has been helping consumers opt out of postal junk mail since 2001. We help our members more clearly define their shopping preferences and at the same time protect their privacy by reducing the number of times personal information appears on mailing lists.
Margot at stopthejunkmail.com
Using recycled paper is great! But you may want to take it a step further and purchase 100% PCW (post consumer waste), as well as PCF (processed chlorine free). PCW paper consists of reused end products which would otherwise end up in a landfill and PCF means the paper is bleached without chlorine. newleafpaper.com has some great environmentally sound papers.
green dry cleaning… carolinadcs.com (they use silicon instead of petroleum to clean the clothes…so its like liquid sand,it’s non toxic, odorless and environmentally friendly… not sure if there’s one where you live…but you could check it out)
I highly recommend signing up for the Ideal Bite Daily Email. http://www.idealbite.com/
They give such sensible, easy to achieve ‘green’ tips for the average person.
Here’s their tip for getting rid of junk mail: http://www.idealbite.com/tiplibrary/archives/mailbox_or_mausoleum/
Reusable grocery totes are a great holiday gift for everybody on your list — there are lovely ones at http://www.minusbags.com.
And you get one free when you buy three!
http://www.minusbags.com
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