subject: Birthday Ecards Beats Raising Carbon Emissions [print this page] One of the first ever birthday ecards I ever sent was to my sister who lives in America. At the time I thought it was convenient, cheap and much better for the environment than sending her a traditional birthday card printed on cardboard from sustainable sources. Then today, I realised another benefit of sending ecards... a gentle reminder that the birthday is on the horizon again!
Yes, upon opening up my inbox, there was a message from the company I used before to let me know that my sister was about to have another birthday, and wanted to know if I wanted to send another of their birthday ecards. If the truth be told, the reason I sent her one last year was because I realised that I had forgotten to post her one in time, and decided an electronic version would be the best way to wiggle out of my forgetfulness at the eleventh hour.
Sure enough, because I am a part time eco warrior, my sister accepted the fact that I'd chosen to send a card via email because I didn't want to waste any paper or other resources. However, it is true that greetings cards are incredibly bad for the environment as they are highly energy intensive. It's not just the fuel to chop the trees, to process the pulp and turn it into something that can be printed on. It is the printing too, then the shipping and distribution followed by the posting which uses up even more energy through the fuel used for transportation.
And what happens when someone gets their card? They shake it to find out if there is any money in it, put it on the mantelpiece for a week then throw it away, or maybe send it to be recycled... both if which use up even more energy. No, now the reminder of my sister's birthday has come through, which has also paradoxically reminded me of how bad for the environment posting a card can be, it'll be birthday ecards for everyone I know this year.
There are so many frivolous parts of our lives that we have managed to transform by turning an energy intensive product to a more eco friendly one through adapting it to suit modern technology. Birthday cards should be one of them as we all fight to reduce our consumption of energy and goods in every area of our life, and let's face it, a birthday card is more about letting someone know you are thinking about them than transporting a slice of tree using increasingly precious natural resources.
