Blog Action Day - What if Akismet Could Save our Trees?

Monday, October 15th, 2007 by Andy Beal

Blog Action Day - What if Akismet Could Save our Trees?

Today is Blog Action Day. What’s that, I hear you ask? It’s an effort to encourage bloggers to discuss the environment on October 15th–that’s today! This is Marketing Pilgrim’s post in support.

If you use WordPress, you probably have many favorite plug-ins, but there’s one that you probably take for granted–Akismet.

Akismet does a great job of filtering out spam comments–which includes many unsolicited and unrelated promos for other web sites. Without Akismet, Marketing Pilgrim would have been subject to close to 25,000 spam comments.

What if you could get something like Akismet for all that junk mail you receive? Not only would your mail be easier to sort though–giving you more time–but it would cut down on the number of trees wasted each year.

Stop Junk Mail, Save the Trees

How many trees are destroyed globally each year? About 32 million acres–or the size of Georgia (or Greece, if you need a non-US comparison). An average of 41 pounds of junk mail are sent to every American each year, with 44% of this mail going into a landfill unopened.

While there’s not an offline version of Akismet, you can still cut down the amount of junk mail you receive. Here’s how US residents can reduce the waste.

The Direct Marketing Association consumer web site and OptOutPreScreen.com both provide options to have you name removed from direct mailing lists. This will cut down on the amount of wasted paper–and maybe save a few more acres of forests.

The marketer in me hesitates to suggest cutting the legs out from under a fellow marketer–after all direct marketing is big business–but the amount of junk that comes through my door, far outweighs any pangs of guilt that hit me.

Besides, the less effective direct mail becomes, the more money that will be spent online.

I hope you’ll join in the effort. Leave your environment-saving ideas below, or leave a link back to your own tips for Blog Action Day.

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13 comments on “Blog Action Day - What if Akismet Could Save our Trees?”

ppedersen Says:

October 15th, 2007 at 6:16 am

Blog Action Day!

My message for all is: “Safeguard and Improve Your Environment”

http://spiritualbeing.wordpress.com/2007/10/15/safeguard-and-improve-y our-environment-the-way-to-happiness/
Music Software Says:

October 15th, 2007 at 9:32 am

I could not agree more. The junk mail that I receive and also the fliers that are handed out in many places simply is waste of resources for the marketeer. I do not and do not know of anyone who gets influenced by these methods to make a purchase decision. Often it annoys and creates a negative image for the product/brand.
Jacob Share Says:

October 15th, 2007 at 10:16 am

Hey Andy, I like the twist you put on Akismet. It would be interesting if someone tried to calculate how many trees would be “wasted” by the spam caught in Akismet.

Here’s my Blog Action Day 2007 contribution:

The Obnoxious Guide to Environmentally-Safe Job Hunting

http://jobmob.co.il/blog/the-obnoxious-guide-to-environmentally-safe-j ob-hunting/
Xavier Vespa Says:

October 15th, 2007 at 12:55 pm

Blog Day Action is nice, but how much power waste is implied when bloggers unite?

http://hyveup.blogspot.com/2007/10/blog-action-day-pollutes-user-gener ated.html
电脑节能环保和 Blog Action Day | KennyP’s Technology Blog Says:

October 15th, 2007 at 1:48 pm

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October 15th, 2007 at 2:44 pm

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Bloggers unite on Blog Action Day at Winning Ladies Blog Says:

October 15th, 2007 at 2:48 pm

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JMviews Meditation and Empowerment»Blog Archive » After Blog Action Day 2007 Says:

October 17th, 2007 at 10:17 pm

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Jill Says:

October 31st, 2007 at 1:53 pm

Loved this article. I’d say that the vast majority of paper mail I get is junk mail, because I’ve tried to get everything via electronic.

I was actually looking to see if Akismet was available for Thunderbird…if you know, please email me.

Wonderful article, great idea.
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