Since at the end of the post we are encouraged to bring our own contribution to the topic and since there are a couple of things I see around me every day that just drive me nuts (which I was going to write about anyway) I decided to use the opportunity and do it today.

Reduce Your Own Waste.

In any possible way and whenever you get the chance. I’m going to come with a couple of examples that might sound pure awkward and out of line. But before you decide to leave this page, I want to ask you to do me one huge favor: just imagine what would happen if everyone would follow my advice. As a matter of fact it’s not even necessary to have everyone do it. Even a mere few million people would make a difference.

So here we go…

Before you decide to throw away that sheet of paper on which you printed something two weeks ago and which you don’t need anymore, stop for a second and think if you could use it for anything else. For example: have you used both sides or just one? Since you don’t need the information printed on it anymore, don’t you think you could just cross it out and use the other side on another occasion when you only need something for a limited period of time (until you gather all the information you need and your report is ready to be handed to your boss, just to give a simple example). Or lets say you printed out a map to help you get somewhere. Once you’re done with it I’m quite positive you’ll throw the paper away. Don’t you think you could use the other side to print out another map some other time? Not only will you help the environment, but you will reduce your expenses. Your paper for your printer will run out a lot later. I can already hear you: “Who cares about a few extra bucks?” Why not use those extra couple of dollars to buy your kid a chocolate or yourself an extra cappuccino? And, depending on how much paper you use (for personal or business related reasons) these dollars can really add up.

I want to make something clear. I don’t expect you to use such “recycled” paper for a contract or for the report you have to give to your boss. I do understand there are situations which require nice clean paper. I’m suggesting you follow my advice for personal reasons or sketches which do not necessitate a certain “formal” look.

And again I ask you to not look at the effects of just you doing so, but try to imagine how things would be if millions and millions of people would do so. Look into my eyes and tell me you don’t believe it could make a difference for the future of our planet.

Another thing I would like to suggest is stop throwing away your clothes. Unless you have some real skin diseases which can’t be killed by boiling your clothes (and as far as I’m concerned, there’s not really that many folks with such problems), try giving them away to charities. I don’t think I need to point out that you’re not only helping the environment, but also doing a good deed. You could even deduct these. However, unless you have a bunch of growing kids for which you have to buy hundreds of dollars worth of clothes each year, the amount you could deduct it’s probably not worth the trouble of figuring out the thing. But that’s not the point. The point is that, again, if millions and millions of folks would be doing the same, it would make a huge difference in the world.

From the way I’ve seen people think about such issues, I admit one more time that I may have sounded out of line. You might think I have serious issues and that you should stop wasting your time here.

And I say that I am just a guy who believes in the idea that every single little thing each of us does for the environment counts as it adds up and on the whole makes a difference.

If you just get a little more open minded you will see that there’s so many things around you that you could do to join those of us who really care about the environment. And given my personal experience, once you start doing so, it might make you feel better. Knowing that you’re putting away your comfort and selfishness and give a little out of you for the benefit of us all and of our planet, should give you a sense of usefulness and content.

If you wonder what you could do, I want to point you back to my words from above: Reduce Your Own Waste. Keep that in mind and get yourself to the point where thinking about ways to do so becomes a habit (pretty much like going to bed) and you’ll see how many things you’ll find around you that you could do to bring your own little contribution to the preservation of our environment. It won’t happen at once, but if you really want to, it will happen.

Lets all of us be a little less ignorant and we can change the future of our planet.

P.S. Anne, I love your 2nd point: turn off everything you can.

P.P.S. This post is not encouraging clutter. Things that need to be disposed of need to be disposed of. Period. How you do that, it’s a different story. I’m just encouraging a recycling system on a personal level.

What’s my problem, than? I’ll tell you what my problem is. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but another thing that’s becoming trendy (or so I think since I’ve only seen it happening in the past year) is for your credit card companies to send you checks to use for whatever reason you wish (to pay other cards, to pay bills, to transfer some money into your bank account etc.). Overall quite a good idea. I don’t know if you’ve gotten any of them (I believe you would need to have a balance lower than 50% of your credit limit to get them). These checks usually have an expiration date, meaning you can only use them by a certain date, which in my case, on most batches I received, was about three months from the date I got them.

And now we’re getting to the problem (finally); two weeks later I’ll receive another batch. And two weeks after that, another one. And so on and so forth. I mean here you are encouraging me to go paperless to save the trees, yet you don’t even wait for the expiration date on the checks you sent me just two weeks ago to come and you send me another batch. Absolutely wasted paper. And needless to say they don’t send only the checks. A bunch of other junk advertising comes along with them (don’t even get me started on that one).

As I said, I do believe the whole idea with the checks is a good one – you never know when you need them. But there’s two things these banks could do (either one of them or both of them in the same time). Either keep your mouth shut (so to speak) and don’t try to make me feel guilty about ruining the environment with my paper bills, when you yourself couldn’t care less about it and when the actual reason for which you prefer your customers to go paperless is because it cuts down on your costs, thus increasing your profits. Or/And have a software that tells you the expiration date of the last checks you sent me and, in the same time, whether I have used any of them so far or not. And have that software tell you when to send me the new checks: when I have only a couple of the previous ones left or when there’s about a week or so left before they expire (whichever comes first). Don’t even tell me you can’t have something like that (’cause I’ll take it as if you think I’m stupid). As for whether this would be cost effective or not, well… I guess it’s less expensive for you to waste the trees. But then I go back to my problem: stop trying to sell me paperless on environmental reasons.

In the same area of wasted paper, here’s another thing that bugs me. I have a checking account. Attached to that account is my debit card. When I opened the account, the bank representative offered me to have that card work like a rewards credit card (you know the deal: you buy on credit you get something in return). In my case we’re talking about United Airlines miles. Considering I’ve never had a rewards card of any kind so far, I accepted the deal (which costs me about $25/year without me ever being able to use those miles – they’ll expire before I have enough of them) just for the heck of it.

Ever since then, I receive, from the guys at United, credit card offers. And they’re linked with that debit card I mentioned. Each and every one of the offers comes with an updated balance of my miles together with a big fat number of free ones I could get if I apply for this credit card. Of course these offers have expiration dates as well. But do you think they wait for those offers to expire before sending me new ones? You got it: NO. And just like the case with the checks, new ones come in, literally, every other week. Sometimes the envelopes just sit there on my desk for weeks and weeks just pilling up. I don’t even open them anymore.

And you’re telling me you care about the environment? And you’re trying to sell me paperless to save the trees? Are you freaking kidding me?

I know what many of you are going to say: Dude, it’s just marketing. Everyone knows these things are going on and you just have to live with them. Just let it go.

And I ask you: Why? Why should I let it go?

You can rest assured I’m not as naive as to even imagine I could have anything changed about it. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to take a few minutes of my time to express my disgust with these companies and folks who would do anything in the name of the good ol’ buck.

As for the fact that is nothing but plain marketing, I don’t know about you, but I’m the kind of person who believes that there’s a limit to everything. And if you see that your prospective customer is just not interested, it’s time to give up. Or if you just have to keep on trying, at least stop the harassment. As far as I’m concerned, that’s what it is: harassment. Don’t do it so often anymore. Give the guy (or girl) a break before you come knocking on the door again. It’s true they might have changed their mind in the mean time, but stop expecting this to happen within a few days. It won’t.