Stop the Junk Mail
July 10th, 2009This letter to the editor ran in the Daily Hampshire Gazette on Friday, July 10, 2009:
To the editor:
We are part of a Northampton’s First Churches group that studies how we can reduce our carbon emissions. One thing we can do is to stop the junk mail we receive. That is easily done by contacting The Privacy Council, 1392 S. Woodland Blvd., DeLand, FL 32720, (386) 785-2353 or online at info@privacycouncil.org (www.privacycouncil.org).
Junk mail is not only burdensome for out mail carriers but also environmentally very damaging. More the 100 million trees are chopped down each year to make the junk mail we receive. That’s the same as cutting down the entire Rocky Mountain National Forest every four months! And making, sending and disposing of junk mail takes more energy than running 3 million cars.
That is why Congress has pending a bill (HB2551) to establish a Do Not Mail Registry. Likewise, 12 states, including Massachusetts, also have pending legislation. All of these proposed bills are fiercely opposed by the advertising and printing industries as well as the U.S. Postal Service.
Our voices should be heard, so we urge you to write your local and federal legislators.
William and Bua Norris
Jenny Flemming-Ives
Pauline Bassett