A little junk mail comedy:
| Andrew Kennedy – Junk Mail | ||||
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One Man’s Solution to Junk Mail Jan 4th, 2010
Helping America keep a New Year’s Resolution Jan 2nd, 2010
We resolve to put our mailbox on a diet.
Whenever you receive an unwanted catalog, rip off the back cover, recycle the rest and set the back cover next to your computer. Next time you go online or at least once a week, login to your Catalog Choice account and enter your opt-out request. It takes less then 30 seconds from start to finish.
If we all resolve to spend at least one minute setting our mail preferences every week, we will eliminate hundreds of pounds of unwanted mail. Be part of the solution.
Why Tree Farms are not a solution Dec 23rd, 2009
When talking to the DMA and other advocates for direct mail, it is often argued that any impact caused by the harvesting of trees for advertising mail is offset by the fact new trees are planted and some of the paper comes from tree farms. I was always troubled by this argument but did not have a solid response, until now.
Bernd Heinrich, emeritus professor at the University of Vermont, wrote an excellent op-ed in the December 20th New York Times titled Clear-Cutting the Truth About Trees.
Heinrich notes:
Part of the problem is the public misunderstanding of how forests and carbon relate. Trees are often called a “carbon sink” — implying that they will sop up carbon from the atmosphere for all eternity. This is not true: the carbon they take up when they are alive is released after they die, whether from natural causes or by the hand of man. The only true solution to achieving global “carbon balance” is to leave the fossil carbon where it is — underground.
Beyond that, planting more trees is decidedly not the same thing as saving our forests. Instead, planting trees invariably means using them as a sustainable crop, which leads not only to a continuous cycle of carbon releases, but also to the increased destruction of our natural environment.
The solution is to reduce the volume of natural resource consumption. Catalog Choice is dedicated to providing a service that allows us, as a society, to reduce the volume of unwanted mail.
Vision of a paperless future Dec 22nd, 2009
We are often asked about catalogs on e-readers. Magazines will lead the way. Here is an interesting piece on this topic from the Vimeo.com blog.
This conceptual video is a corporate collaborative research project
initiated by Bonnier R&D into the experience of reading magazines on
handheld digital devices. It illustrates one possible vision for
digital magazines in the near future, presented by BERG.The concept aims to capture the essence of magazine reading, which
people have been enjoying for decades: an engaging and unique reading
experience in which high-quality writing and stunning imagery build up
immersive stories.The concept uses the power of digital media to create a rich and
meaningful experience, while maintaining the relaxed and curated
features of printed magazines. It has been designed for a world in
which interactivity, abundant information and unlimited options could
be perceived as intrusive and overwhelming.The purpose of publishing this concept video is first and foremost to
spark a discussion around the digital reading experience in general,
and digital reading platforms in particular. Thus, we would be more
than happy to hear what you have to say regarding the concept and
ideas expressed in the video: the magazine reading experience, digital
browsing, text versus images, as well as hear about your own digital
reading experiences and thoughts. We are all ears.Follow the discussion in the Bonnier R&D Beta Lab:
bonnier.com/en/content/digital-magazines-bonnier-mag-prototype
Garbage collector gets the value of waste reduction Dec 22nd, 2009
CleanScapes, a garbage-collection company in the Seattle area, is challenging five Seattle neighborhoods to reduce the amount of things stuffed into garbage, recycling and yard-waste bins. The winning neighborhood gets $50,000 for a project of its choosing.
According to this article in the Seattle Times:
“Rather than governments passing a law, we want to see what happens with a carrot,” said Chris Martin, president of CleanScapes, which took over the garbage collection in certain Seattle neighborhoods last March.
Ray Hoffman, head of Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), said that every week Seattle loads 5,100 tons of garbage onto a mile-long double-stacked train heading to a dump in Oregon 300 miles away. Recycling is taken to Allied Waste in SoDo; yard waste is trucked to Cedar Grove in Maple Valley and Marysville.
The most significant thing people can do to shrink their garbage footprint is to buy a mulching lawn mower so residents don’t fill up their yard-waste containers with grass clippings, Martin said. Another huge step would be canceling junk mail, which fills recycling bins, he said.
Happy Holidays from Catalog Choice Dec 21st, 2009
How Green is Your Country? Dec 16th, 2009
All the climate change chatter in Copenhagen has us wondering, how green is America, anyway? Can we make a meaningful commitment to truly address the daunting issue of global warming? Can we be a world leader? As Americans, we tend to pride ourselves on our eco-friendly lifestyles, but when it comes to the task of planet-saving, there are many countries that rank higher than the United States. We found this interesting blog on Green Diva Mom that lists the world’s most eco-friendly countries, based on several different surveys. Many European and South American countries score as some of the world’s greenest.
Take Recycled Rates for example. The Unites States does a pretty good job at 31.5% of waste recycled, but there is plenty of room for improvement. We are outranked by six countries:
- Switzerland, 52%
- Austria, 49.7%
- Germany, 48%
- Netherlands, 46%
- Norway, 40%
- Sweden, 34%
- United States, 31.5%
Take a look at the post to view some other interesting statistics and see how the United States compares to our fellow global citizens.
Having problems accessing your Catalog Choice account? Dec 13th, 2009
On November 17, Catalog Choice moved our hosting operations. We’ve received reports from a few members that have not been able to access our service since then. So far, we’ve learned these problems are limited to members who use HughesNet (and companies owned by them) for their internet service. But there may be others who are also having problems, and we’d like to hear from you.
Are you having problems logging in to your account? Please send an email to help@catalogchoice.org. Include the following details (you can skip #3 if it’s too difficult, we understand):
1) Your internet service provider (eg, Comcast, HughesNet, DirecPC, AOL, AT&T, etc)
2) The email address used to login to your Catalog Choice account
3) Optional: Your external IP address. Open this website: http://whatismyip.com/ and copy the long number in the line that says ‘Your IP Address Is xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx’
If you have had problems the past few weeks, we made a change on Friday, December 11, that might help. Please try to login again and let us know if you were successful or not.
Naughty or Nice? Dec 9th, 2009
‘Tis the season! And with all the holiday merriment comes lots of beautiful catalogs and other solicitations in the mailbox. Catalog Choice has brought cheers of relief to many consumers inundated by catalogs they no longer wish to receive in the mail. With the Christmas lights and eggnog, it’s also that time of year for Forest Ethics’ annual Naughty & Nice Scorecard on the Direct Mail Industry. Catalog mailers as well as companies in the financial sector were scored this year on four criteria related to paper sourcing, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) paper, recycled paper, and paper reduction efforts.
This year, there’s more Santa and less Grinch, with direct mail companies showing positive trends and improvement toward greener practices. Out of 21 companies evaluated, 11 made Santa’s “nice” list, nearly four times the number from 2006. We want to applaud those “nice” companies that also participate in Catalog Choice. Here’s some good cheer direct from the scorecard:
- Patagonia once again stands atop the highest peaks, using the highest percentage of post-consumer recycled content in all the land.
- REI knows that FSC is the only credible forest certification and is very merry to work with, just like any good camping buddy.
- Crate & Barrel’s catalogs are now printed entirely on FSC-certified paper. Jingle all the way!
- Dell has enhanced a strong paper policy with strong climate goals. Joy to the World.
- Williams-Sonoma finishes what they start: their 99% FSC-certified content is now a perfect 100%. That’s a gift to all forests!
- J.C. Penney vastly reduced its paper consumption by completely eliminating their big catalog! Sometimes less is so much more.
Improvements for next year? We’d like to see Forest Ethics include participation and compliance with Catalog Choice as one it is “paper reduction” criteria. We think that honoring consumer mail preferences is a big gift in our collective stocking and an important criteria for the Naughty & Nice Scorecard.
Find a recycling center near you … Dec 9th, 2009
I was on the Earth911.com site today and found this cool widget. Enter your zip code and learn about where you can recycle all sorts of household waste.
