While many environment-conscious domainers treat their use of electronic communication as a gift to the global salvation of trees, the truth might be a bit different.
Hundreds of thousands of trees are systematically cut up to create paper; some of which is used for glossy promotional material, books, newspapers, magazines, letters and most other types of printed material.
Going paperless for most bills means that we accept the electronic delivery of billing statements or financial statements from banks and other financial institutions in the form of email; a risky entrance into added phishing attempts that can cost millions of dollars to consumers.
The emissions and energy consumption by the continuous availability of thousands of computer servers clustered together act as a counter-argument by those that want to continue to receive their printed statements on paper.
The fact is, that most of today’s paper is recycled or partially recycled, which can help reduce the utilization of cut trees by as much as 80%. At the same time, reforestation of commercially exploited forests is something that occurs religiously in the industrial West, such as the US and Canada.
In other words: you might not quite be saving the environment as the banks and power companies want you to believe. You definitely save them money for not having to buy paper which they then have to print on and mail to you. 😀
So next time you see that “green leaf” logo on your Bank’s web site asking you to go paperless, think: By cutting out a part of the economy that makes its living from the growing of trees and the processing of paper – not to mention, the poor old US Post Office – you’re removing a lot of jobs from this chain and your “contribution” might not necessarily be saving the environment at all.
I completely agree with you. Once the banks and other companies that send out statements every month start giving me a better deal for not having a printed version then I will start going paperless. Otherwise, I like to keep people employed.