Don’t Print Isn’t Going Green
By Charlie Corr
Chief Strategist, Mimeo.com
January 2009
It is increasingly popular to bash the use of paper. The industry is an easy target as everyone uses paper and the presentation of the industry is laughable (think Dunder Mifflin on The Office). Despite the many environmentally friendly actions taken by the paper, printing and publishing industries, little is known of these efforts due to a self-inflicted inability to publicize them. Unlike the auto or fuel industries, we don’t spend any money as an industry on effective promotion of green paper policies.
Think about it, paper primarily comes from trees. Trees are a renewable resource. They come from farms. You don’t see people bashing farmers, why paper? Trees improve the environment by moderating climate, improving air quality, conserving water, and harboring wildlife. According to the Department of Agriculture, one acre of forest absorbs six tons of carbon dioxide and puts out four tons of oxygen. This is enough to meet the annual needs of 18 people.
Most of us are concerned about the environment but we don’t want to change our behavior and implement green paper policies. We certainly don’t seem willing to give up our computers, PDA’s, bottled water, appliances or gas-guzzling vehicles. There isn’t a much easier way to assuage our guilt than to slap a tagline at the bottom of our e-mail urging others to adhere to these green paper policies. Here are two of the more popular ones:
think before you print
please consider your environmental responsibility before printing any documents.
I have received the first most recently from a sales representative for printing equipment. The second comes from our travel agency. It might as well have been, “we no longer want to incur the cost of printing so we will cover it with an environmental message.” The same can be said of many financial institutions who say they want you to “go green” but really want to cut mail costs and shift the cost of printing from them, to you.
