When my friend asked if efforts to recycle and whatnot are just "spitting in the wind," my response was: "If I am the only one that recycles, probably. But if you and I both recycle then it will make a difference."
I wish I'd thought to recommend The Green Book, which includes statistics like:
- Between Thanksgiving and New Year's, Americans produce an extra two billion pounds of garbage per week, much of which is gift packaging. If 40 percent of U.S. households reduced their holiday paper consumption by just two sheets this year, the savings could gift-wrap Manhattan Island.
- Ten percent of the electricity used in your home is burned by communication devices and appliances — when they are turned off! If every U.S. household just uplugged its computers and cell phone chargers when they were not being used, we'd save over $100 million....
- ATM receipts are one of the top sources of litter on the planet. If everyone in the United States left their receipt in the machine, it would save a roll of paper more than two billion feet long, enough to circle the equator fifteen times.
1 comments:
We ditch wrapping paper all together. We use huge (3 foot) stockings. We have stockings and 1 present. If it doesn't fit in the stockings, then it's our +1. No extra mess here. Although for others we save up comics all fall long.
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