August 7th, 2010: Junk

In 2008-2009 I took my first JustFaith class at Risen Savior parish. At the end of that course one of my goals was to help the environment by stopping junk mail from arriving at my home. First, it is rare that I look through any of my junk mail. Secondly, the purpose of junk mail is primarily so people purchase what is being advertised. Well since I don't look through my junk mail I don't purposely purchase the things being advertised therefore defeating junk mails purpose. I do throw it into my paper recycle bin but what would be better for the environment would be to stop junk mail from coming to my house all together.

Did you know that: Each year in our country 4.5 million tons of junk mail is produced. It uses 100 million trees a year and wastes 28 billion gallons of water for paper processing each year. This is so sad considering there are places in our world that have difficulty finding drinking water. On average each person receives 1.5 personal letters each week compared to 10.8 pieces of junk mail. Then 44% of all junk mail is thrown in the trash, unopened and unread and $320 million of local taxes are used to dispose of unsolicited mail each year.

Here are the sites I found for you to navigate. Stop your junk mail from coming, save our environment, save trees, and water. Its an easy step towards justice.

http://www.donotmail.org/
http://www.ecocycle.org/junkmail/
http://www.stopjunkmailnow.com/

The process might take you a few hours but the environmental benefits will last a lifetime.