Stop Junk Mail and Save the World
Stop Junk Mail and Save the World
Written by craig coffman
I thought it was something about saving a cheerleader to save the world. Apparently I got that one wrong. Junk mail catalogues are one really big problem to the environment. Not to mention you mailbox. Fortunately, you can do a few things to help curb this problem. You just need to write to DMA and get off of those darn lists. I wish it lasted forever, but it only lasts five years. Still, imagine a greatly reduced number of junk mail everyday. Now think about what that could do for the planet...
Reportedly, if 30% of the catalogues were not produced per year, we could see the following benefits:
- preserve 16.6 billion gallons of water each year = the amount of water used by 172,333 households.*
- conserve over 100 barrels of oil
- keep 3.5 million tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere = the amount of CO2 produced by 570,000 cars driven 200 miles/ week annually.*
- *Figures from The Alliance for Environmental Innovation
Even without those benefits, just being off of the mailing lists would be a blessing. While the referenced article mentions a few more ideas, the main one is writing a letter to the following address:
DMA Mail Preference Service
P.O. Box 643
Carmel, NY 10512
You will need to include $1 and be sure to list your name, in all its infinite variations, and request that all of these names be removed from their national database. Again, this removal only lasts for five years, so keep this around and handy. As well, you will probably need to do this every time you move. While I am not sure this is necessary, it seems like a new address could count you as not the person who asked to be removed. Just something to think about.
There you go. Stop some junk mail and save the world. Certainly easier than fighting super villains.