Stop the Junk Mail

Five years after the national Do Not Call Registry became the most popular consumer rights bill in history, citizens still face a different form of harassment: junk mail. Every year, Americans receive 105 billion pieces of junk mail like credit card offers, coupons and catalogs – that's 848 pieces of junk mail per household. Even though 44 percent of that mail goes to the landfill unopened, we still spend eight months of our lives opening the rest.

Junk mail is more than just an annoyance; it's an environmental crisis, it violates our privacy, and it fosters identity theft. Every year, junk mail production destroys 100 million trees, creating global warming emissions totaling that from 3.7 million cars.

In a September 2007 poll, 93 percent of respondents were aware of the Do Not Call Registry, and 89 percent of them supported a Do Not Mail Registry to make it easier to opt out of unsolicited ad mail.

Also, more than 20,000 petitioners have already called for a Do Not Mail Registry, and ForestEthics is working to build public involvement. For more information, visit the Web site at www.DoNotMail.org.

ForestEthics, a nonprofit with staff in Canada, the United States and Chile, recognizes that individual people can be mobilized to create positive environmental change – and so can corporations. Armed with this unique philosophy, the organization has transformed the environmental practices of Fortune 500 companies including Staples, Home Depot, Dell, Williams-Sonoma, Victoria’s Secret and many others, and has protected more than 12 million acres of endangered forests. Visit www.ForestEthics.org for more information.