Thank you for choosing to focus your recent cover story on the 38^th annual Earth Day and steps all of us can take to help resuscitate our already overstressed planet. One pollution culprit often ignored is the absurd barrage of junk mail delivered to our doorsteps. Everyday I, like the vast majority of Americans, am forced against my will to participate in the senseless ritual of sifting through the mail and immediately discarding 90 percent it in the trash can or recycling bin.

The manufacture and disposal of junk mail is already leading to dire environmental repercussions. Last year alone more than 28 billion gallons of water was used and over 100 million trees were ground up to produce the paper used in junk mail--the equivalent of deforesting the entire Rocky Mountain National Park every four months! These figures don’t even take into account that the energy used to produce, distribute and discard junk mail each year creates more greenhouse gas emissions than 2.8 million cars.

Here are some other truly eye-opening facts:

• U.S. companies sent 35 billion pieces of junk mail in 1980, 64 billion pieces in 1990, 90 billion pieces in 2000, and well over 100 billion (that’s a 1 followed by 11 zeros!) pieces in 2007;

• The typical American household receives about 70 pounds of junk mail a year--more than 300 pieces of junk mail for every man, woman, and child;

• Americans throw away 44 percnet of junk mail unopened, yet still spend 8 months of their lifetimes opening junk mail;

• In 2005, 5.8 million tons of catalogs and other direct mailings ended up in the U.S. municipal solid waste stream --enough to fill over 450,000 garbage trucks. Parked bumper to bumper these garbage trucks would stretch from Atlanta to Albuquerque;

• Approximately 40 percent of the solid mass that makes up our landfills is paper and paperboard waste and by the year 2010, it is predicted to make up about 48 percent;

• The amount of junk mail sent out grows by over 3 billion pieces each year.

We are living in an age of electronic communications. As such, there’s no legitimate reason why our consumption of paper products should not be in rapid decline. Furthermore, if it’s legally possible to control unsolicited phone calls and post "No Soliciting" signs on our doors, why can’t we prevent junk mail from coming into our homes?
During the 2007 legislative session, lawmakers in 14 states proposed state-level do-not-mail legislation, more than triple the number in 2006. Many sponsored bills require the office of the state attorney general to establish a restricted mailing registry similar to the do-not-call registry. South Carolina, sadly, has not been one of the pioneering anti-junk mail states.

Unfortunately, the powerful ad mail lobby—which includes, not surprisingly, the U.S. Postal Service and its almighty union-- was able to delay or defeat the bills in 2007. However, anti-junk mail legislation momentum is clearly growing in 2008 and beyond.

Ridding ourselves of junk mail should not be considered a political issue. It is a commonsense issue that rises above the various labels of conservative/liberal, Republican/Democrat, Red state/Blue state. It is most importantly an individual privacy issue aimed at protecting the average American from an obnoxious everyday nuisance.