For most Americans, an upcoming holiday, birthday, or celebration means a trip to CVS, Rite Aid, or even Walmart to search for the perfect card for the occasion. It’s easy to go to such places because they are designed for our convenience — how thoughtful of them! But this year for Mothers’ Day, Ryan & I went to a local bookstore & were excited to find the perfect cards for our Mothers — environmentally friendly ones!
Yes, even paper products can have terrible effects on the environment. You know, it’s the usual culprits; destruction of resources (the chopping of the trees), mills producing waste & wasting grand amounts of energy, the transportation between the farm, the plant, the store & the eventual card receiver. Then there’s also the fact that cards are written in, sealed, gifted, opened, maybe they’re put on display for a week or two, but then they’re eventually tossed right into the trash. I’m always saddened by how wasteful this tradition is.
We also have to think about the inks that the cards are printed with. These are hardly natural for the environment to biodegrade. So, for this holiday Ryan & I chose greeting cards from the Sierra Club! They are recycled paper printed with soy-based inks, made in the U.S., & a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the card go to the Sierra Club who seeks to save the trees & animals from a most frightful doom!
