Which product:

• Is produced at the rate of 100 billion per year, almost 850 per household, just in the US?
• Goes directly to the trash, unused, 44% of the time?
• Consumes 100 million trees, or 6.5 million tons of paper?
• Produces greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 10 million cars, or 11 coal-burning power plants?
• Trashes the environment and contributes to global warming with 51 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent?
• Has an effectiveness rating of less than 3%?
• Would 90% of people gladly do without?

Junk mail.

Junk mail is a huge contributor to global warming!

I hate junk mail. It’s a monster.

Junk mail is invasive, wasteful and incredibly annoying. And I’m not alone in this feeling. Even the experts testify to the need for an initiative to reduce the staggering amount of junk mail we receive.

“20 years after I first testified before Congress on the threats posed by climate change, we have reached a point at which we must remove unnecessary carbon emissions from our lives, or face catastrophic consequences. It is hard to imagine waste more unnecessary than the 100 billion pieces of junk mail Americans receive each year, and these new findings, revealing that the emissions of junk mail are equal to that of over 9 million cars, underscore the prudent necessity of a Do Not Mail Registry.”
— Dr. James Hansen, NASA’s leading climate scientist

What can we do about junk mail?

ForestEthics, a nonprofit environmental organization, has started a petition supporting the creation of a national Do Not Mail Registry, to provide a simple and comprehensive way for us to say no to junk mail.

Sign the Do Not Mail Registry Petition – Over 65,000 have signed so far!

Turn This Halloween Green – Sign up for a Do Not Mail Bag of Tricks, including stencil designs for jack-o-lanterns, costume ideas, and a guide to  organizing a Do Not Mail Trick or Treat campaign.

Join the Do Not Mail Facebook Group

Read about the Carbon Footprint of Junk Mail

Image: D’Arcy Norman on Flickr under a Creative Commons License