ForestEthics Launches ‘Do Not Mail’ Campaign to Stop Junk Mail

(March 11, 2008 – San Francisco, CA)  Five years after the national Do Not Call Registry became the most popular consumer rights bill in history, conservation group ForestEthics launched its campaign for a Do Not Mail Registry today to give Americans the choice to stop wasteful, annoying and environmentally destructive junk mail that also fosters identity theft.

ForestEthics is urging Americans to sign a petition at www.DoNotMail.org demanding a national registry that will finally offer citizens control over the unsolicited coupons, credit cards, catalogs and advertisements that fill their mailboxes on a daily basis.

“The Do Not Call Registry of 2003 addressed a nuisance — telemarketers’ calls at dinnertime,” said Todd Paglia, Executive Director of ForestEthics. “Do Not Mail also addresses a nuisance, but junk mail has the added consequence of serious environmental effects that must be confronted if we are to stop climate change and reckless deforestation.”

The production of the 100 billion pieces of junk mail that Americans annually receive requires more than 100 million trees, while producing as much global warming emissions as 3.7 million cars. Moreover, this deforestation is occurring in forests that play vital roles in the fight against climate change: the Canadian Boreal and Indonesian Tropical Forest. If left intact, these trees and soils act as a defense against global warming. The Canadian Boreal Forest forms part of the greater Boreal Forest, which alone stores more carbon than any other terrestrial ecosystem on earth. Yet, it is still logged at a rate of 2 acres a minute, 24 hours a day, to produce junk mail and other paper products.

Junk mail distributed in the United States currently accounts for 30% of all the mail delivered in the world, though 44% of it goes to landfills unopened.

"Junk mail is more than an annoying waste of time, it's a waste of our environment," said Adrian Grenier (star of HBO’s Entourage) and Peter Glatzer, co-founders of The Green Life. "Joining ForestEthics' Do Not Mail campaign is a great, easy way to stop the waste."

Polls consistently show that between 80 and 90% of respondents dislike junk mail and are eager to find a mechanism that will address their frustration and concerns about the problem.

Vermont State Representative Christopher Pearson, who is sponsoring Do Not Mail legislation in Vermont, added, "If our experience in Vermont is any indication, Americans are eager to assert their right to protect their privacy, their right to stop needless waste, and their support for a Do Not Mail Registry."

For more information and to sign the petition visit www.DoNotMail.org. Fact sheet, graphics, hi-res photos and interviews available upon request.