Please consider the environment before printing this email...

Now I'll officially go on record and admit I'm not the "greenest" person you'll ever meet, but I do my best. We recycle at home, even though sometimes it's a lot easier to throw away the diet coke can in the kitchen vs. the garage. I use cute tote bags at the grocery store, even though I usually forget them and buy new ones each time. I buy organic baby food, even though when the non-organic is on sale I stock up.

However....nothing irritates me more than getting an email with "please consider the environment before printing this email" in the signature line.  Yesterday I got three such emails, from three separate co-workers. 

Why on earth do people feel like they need to put that disclaimer on an email?  I know for a fact that our company doesn't mandate that as part of our email signature, so it's something people are adding at their own will.  I see it all the time, and I just can't understand it!?

Does ANYONE print every email they receive?  I sure as heck hope not.  There are times when it's necessary to print an email, and nobody should feel guilty for disrespecting the environment to do so. Trust me, when I hit print, the last thing I'm thinking about is the environment.  I'm thinking, better have a copy of this email so when my boss's boss asks me a question in the meeting I'm going to I'm prepared. 

Call me bitter, but I still hate trees, and have a hard time recycling paper. I'll take you back a few summers. Pat and I were in Charlotte for an epic wedding.  While we had the time of our lives we heckled a few of our friends that had to drive back to Cleveland the next morning.  Murphy's Law. After a frantic call from my in-laws at 9am the next morning, we spent 8 hours in our car (in complete silence) to come home to two 100-ft Oak trees on top of our house. 

Our backyard - with two 100ft Oak Trees

Our backyard without two 100ft Oak Trees

Luckily the damage was minimal, and we had both trees removed.  The silver linding?  Our backyard is sunny, and tree-free. It took me YEARS to be able to recycle a piece of paper again, and I still only do it 30% of the time. 

So what did I do when I got that third email yesterday asking me to "consider the environment?" I promptly printed it out, crumpled it into a ball and tossed it in the trashcan.  I know, not "green", but it made me feel better!