Alternatives to Buying Holiday Cards

By NewDream.org

Date: 10/31/2001

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Holiday and birthday cards can be wonderful things. When combined with a few minutes to write a thoughtful note, they demonstrate our sentiment to loved ones and keep us in touch with distant friends. But, as with other aspects of our lifestyle, cards can have unintended environmental and financial consequences.

Fact #1- The world lost 180 million hectares of forest between 1980 and 1995, partially due to population and ranching pressures but also because of an unsustainable demand for paper and wood products. While most of this forest loss was concentrated in the developing world, the developed world also suffered as tens of millions of hectares of natural forests were converted to monoculture tree plantations.

Fact #2- We have entered an era of unprecedented paper consumption. Globally, paper consumption has increased 74% since 1980. The U.S., with five percent of the world's population, consumes 30% of the world's paper. The United States consumed 99 million tons of paper in 1997, or about 740 pounds per American.

Fact #3- As with other types of paper, greeting card consumption is exploding. Since 1993, retail card sales have increased almost 20%. We now consume over 6 billion greeting cards per year, or over 60 cards per household. Over the next three months, we will consume more than 750 million Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa cards, about 450 million birthday cards and close to half a billion Valentine's Day cards. (3)

Fact #4- Producing a ton of virgin paper requires 17 trees and 7000 more gallons of water than a ton of 100% recycled paper. Furthermore, chlorine is often used in the bleaching process, releasing the carcinogenic chemical dioxin and other toxins.

ACTION - Send some of your holiday and birthday greetings via e-cards and the rest via tree-free or 100% recycled paper cards.

For e-cards, click on www.simplifytheholidays.org -- the Center has taken the winning entries from our "What I Really Want That Money Can't Buy" art contest for kids and turned them into touching holiday cards that are guaranteed to dazzle your friends and family! And of course we've left ample room for you to write your personal greetings.

E-cards save the most energy and material resources, but we certainly don't want to imply that ink-on-paper cards don't have their place. Perhaps an electronic card seems inappropriate to convey sympathy in a time of loss. Or maybe your loved one doesn't have online access. Whatever the case may be, there's often no substitute for a thoughtful hand-written letter tucked inside a personal paper card. But, as with all other expenditures, you can make the most of your paper card purchases by opting for:

á unbleached cards with 100% post-consumer content,
á tree-free cards made from kenaf, hemp, coffee, and tea leaf waste
(eco-friendly and a nice texture),
á cards designed by local artists,
á homemade cards that offer the warmth of an additional personal touch from you or your kids,
á cards that avoid non-recyclable glossy layers and plastic attachments.

RESULT - If everyone reading this action alert convinces their household to use only 100% recycled, tree-free and e-cards instead of one-ounce virgin paper cards, we will save nearly 400 trees annually. Moreover, we will help alleviate global warming by decreasing our energy consumption by tens of millions of BTUs. Of course, when it comes to Step by Step actions we strongly believe in "the more the merrier." So please refer your friends to www.simplifytheholidays.org. If we each convince three friends to join us in this month's action and we continue to take this action on an ongoing basis, we will save over 1,500 trees per year.

About The Author:
*Sources of these facts are listed and linked from
New Dream.org

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