A waste of paper & trees

As Americans, we take many things for granted. Having a virtually unlimited supply of natural resources is one of them, and that includes paper. Have you ever stopped to think just how much of it is wasted, every day?

Here's an example. Vandra and I were at the King of Prussia Mall on Saturday to do some shopping for when we get married in Mexico. As she was shopping and I was standing and waiting (a whole lot of that happened on Saturday - love you honey), she asked me to walk over to the Friendly's in the mall to get her a Diet Coke. All I bought her was a soda, just one item, and I got a receipt longer than my arm, and I'm not kidding. What an incredible waste of resources. The receipt measured the standard three inches wide, but a whopping 13" long, with an invitation to take a survey, a coupon, and other assorted bullshit.

When I have time, and it probably won't be until after the wedding, I'm going to start writing companies, urging them to ask their customers if they'd like a receipt. My guess? More than half don't, and it just gets thrown away. Can you imagine the tonnage of wasted paper that gets consumed every year?

(I'm already imagining half-baked comebacks by people who don't give a damn about the environment: "You're going to waste paper to ask companies to save paper?!?" People try this unwitty comeback about Al Gore - "He's crisscrossing the country and adding to global warming to try to stop global warming." The latter is merely an unoriginal witticism that functions as a red herring about the global warming debate. I have little use for people with this line of reasoning, except to point out that some people will go to any length to avoid talking about a real problem that threatens our very existence.)

While I'm on the subject of waste, plastic bags are another one. Vandra and I reuse all of them, and when I go into a convenience store, I almost always refuse them, unless I'm purchasing many items and the bag will actually be useful. Ever walk into a convenience store and just buy one or two items, like a soda and a pack of gum, and have the clerk put it in a bag? What a waste.

Anyway, these are two pet peeves of mine - just imagine the natural resources that could be saved if companies made it mandatory to ask if you'd like a receipt and a bag. Sometimes, both are necessary and serve a purpose. Many times, they get merely thrown away. Just changing our thought processes in little ways can save so much.