Love your mother

Hello, everyone. This is Josh in a rare He, She, We solo post. I just wanted to share some thoughts with you on saving the planet. Okay, that sounds a little grandiose, but I'm serious. I've been thinking about it a lot lately and feeling really horrible about myself for not doing my part.

You see, in my mind, I'm an environmentalist. In reality, I drive an SUV (you've met). I'm not proud of it. I simply can't afford to buy a new car. Despite all of its problems, Timothy is paid off and he'll be around until he dies. That's just the facts. So, how can I make a positive difference for our planet and offset in some small way the footprints I am making by not being able to afford a Prius?

One thing that I just recently thought of was unsubscribing to junk mail. Every single day we get some coupon mailer and everyday I take that mailer out of the mailbox and directly to the recycling bin. What a waste, right? Not according to the companies sending this crap out. Check out the propaganda on their website:


Awesome! We've got forest to spare?! Can I get mine all in Best Buy ads?! The thing that really galls me is that the notion of decreasing municipal waste by 3% (if you trust their figures) is regarded as insignificant. That is a massive amount of waste! Anyone seen Wall-E? This attitude reminds me of the media hoopla a few weeks ago when Barack Obama suggested that if each American had their tires inflated at the proper level, our national oil consumption would be reduced by 3%. The reaction from the right? Mocking Obama by handing out tire gauges engraved with the words Obama's Energy Plan. Funny to be sure, yet totally infuriating when you think about what they're really doing.

There are so many ways that we can make a difference each day. Turn off the lights. Don't leave the water running. You can pick up a really cool lamp from Ikea with energy saver light bulbs. While you're there, buy a couple of massive blue shopping bags at 59 cents a pop and end your dependency on grocery bags. Me and my SUV, Timothy? Well, I walk almost everywhere I go these days. Rachel and I never got our bikes tuned up this summer, but we'll enjoy them through the fall until it gets too cold.

I realize that this is totally coming off preachy. That's because my environmental act of the day is to energize those around me enough to unsubscribe to their junk mail the way I just did.

We get three coupon packs on a regular basis. The first is Money Mailer and their slogan is It's Like Getting Money In Your Mailbox! Actually it is like getting a big envelope full of crappy coupons you'll never use. If you are interested in undoing some of the harm they've been doing since 1979, just email your address and a short explanation of why you'd like to unsubscribe (I'd suggest mentioning something about loving the planet more than discounted Subway sandwiches) to: jlimon@moneymailer.com

The second mailer I get is the Red Plum package. This has some local deals from places like Comcast that are worse than the deals on their website. Also, you can find out how much meat is at Smith's grocery store. Sweet! These guys make it a little harder to stop the flow. Even though these are local ads, you have to go to the website of the national distributor and fill out this form which will slowly end your mailers in five to six weeks.

The last mailer I get is called Central Utah Quality Buys and is a product of Provo's own Daily Herald. They are the worst. You actually have to call them and it was a pain tracking down the right person to talk to. They wouldn't even give me a direct line or tell me the name of the person in charge. I just left a message with a secretary (who wouldn't give me her name either). Still, it only took a few minutes to unsubscribe once I got her on the line and it will be totally easy for you now that I've done the leg work. It took me longer to type this blog post than it will take you to unsubscribe to all three of these mailers. Just call the super secret office at 801-375-5103 and tell the mystery woman that you think her ads suck. Mailers stop within a week or two.

So, that was my didactic rant for the year. Hope it wasn't too annoying. I'm definitely not a fan of the Blogger community that is into rabid partisanship and telling everyone this-is-this and that-is-that. There is enough divisiveness in the world. I'm just looking at this as community service.