Thursday, December 15, 2016

Print This Post!

In fact, print multiple copies, and hand it out to all your "eco-warrior" friends. Libertarian professor combats ‘eco-guilt and green nitwittery’ with inventive email signature
A professor of finance and business economics at the University of Michigan-Flint combats what he calls “eco-guilt” and “green nitwittery” — one email at a time.
Professor Mark Perry includes the following information (in bright green type) at the bottom of each email he sends:
Notice: It’s OK to print this email free of any “eco-guilt.” Paper is a biodegradable, renewable, sustainable product made from trees. Growing and harvesting trees provides jobs for millions of Americans. Working forests are good for the environment and provide clean air and water, wildlife habitat and carbon storage. Thanks to improved forest management, we have more trees in America today than we had 100 years ago.
In a phone interview with The College Fix, Perry said his signature was inspired by an opinion piece published in The Wall Street Journal in 2011 titled “Save a Forest: Print Your Emails: It’s okay to use paper. Trees are renewable, recyclable and sustainable.”

The authors of the article, self-described “tree farmers, environmentalists, foresters, and wild-life biologists” note that “well-intentioned email taglines inspired by sincere desire to help the planet have become ubiquitous in recent times: ‘Please don’t print this email,’ ‘Save trees: Print only when necessary,’ or ‘Please consider the environment before printing this email.’”

Yet, these taglines reveal a fundamental misconception about the environmental effects of producing paper. It is acceptable to print emails, the authors argue, as “the nation’s forest landowners can’t keep growing trees without markets for this natural, organic and renewable product.”
Notice: It’s OK to print this email blog post free of any “eco-guilt.” Paper is a biodegradable, renewable, sustainable product made from trees. Growing and harvesting trees provides jobs for millions of Americans. Working forests are good for the environment and provide clean air and water, wildlife habitat and carbon storage. Thanks to improved forest management, we have more trees in America today than we had 100 years ago.

And you might file it away in a yellow 'nilla folder also made from 'Murican trees.

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