When it comes to curbing climate change, some things are easier to do than others. As activists, much of what we work towards involves large-scale, industrial change and tough decisions from consumers, legislators, and industry. But sometimes solutions are really simple. Reducing junk mail is one of those no-brainer policy changes that helps get us closer to the planet we want to see.
Just two weeks ago, the Seattle City Council took an important stand against deforestation by adopting a resolution calling on the state of Washington to create a Do Not Mail registry. The registry would create an enforceable system to allow residents to choose to keep their mailboxes junk mail free. Currently, there are various ways to reduce your junk mail, but unlike the popular national Do Not Call Registry to stop unwanted phone calls, none of these options are enforceable–and some are even industry sponsored.
Grassroots volunteers in Seattle phone-banked, hit the streets, and lobbied elected officials to ensure the adoption of this resolution. Even though popular support is clearly on the side of common sense (nearly 90% of respondents to a Zogby poll support an opt-out registry of some kind), the junk mail industry has money, power, and the time to try to hijack our democratic process. As per usual, big business is attempting to make a very simple issue much more complicated. Luckily, the growing grassroots movement to stand up for our privacy, forests, and climate is winning.
The carbon connection
Most people hate junk mail because it’s annoying and wasteful, but by destroying forests it also contributes to our climate woes. Every year, the production of junk mail emits as much greenhouse gas emissions as 9 million passenger cars, or 11 coal-fired power plants.
The paper in direct mail comes from forests that would otherwise absorb carbon and provide one of our best defenses against climate change. Deforestation and forest degradation currently account for nearly 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions. (Want more info on the climate connection? Check out our report Climate Change Enclosed.)
Any serious attempt to address climate change needs to take on deforestation–and could there be a better place to start than with junk mail? Direct mail in the US accounts for 30% of all the mail delivered in the world. That means almost one out of every three pieces of global mail is US junk mail. Imagine the impact we could make by reducing something Americans didn’t ask for and don’t want anyway.
Seattle isn’t the first city to adopt a resolution like this (San Francisco passed a similar resolution last year), and they will not be the last. There is a growing grassroots movement demanding accountability from companies that are cutting down our forests for junk mail.
Want to get involved?
Sign our petition to establish a national Do Not Mail Registry today, and download our toolkit for info on passing a local resolution in your city. And if you’re looking for ideas on how to take on junk mail, watch this video from our recent Return to Offender day of action.
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