I was very close to buying Christmas cards this year to mail out. But for some reason I took a step back and really thought about it. I love receiving mail, not junk mail but real mail. So I had a hard time making the decision to not send a printed card. Yet thinking about the resources (environmental and financial) that went into it, just didn’t seem worth the cost given the brief life time of the card. Not many people keep all their Christmas cards each year, I know I don’t keep them. That takes a lot of space over the years and doesn’t seem to adhere to the minimalist lifestyle I would like to live.
According to the Greeting Card Association more than 2 billion Christmas cards were sold last year (2011), which can apparently fill a football stadium 10 stories high. This seems like a waste of resources for a product that has a shelf life of about a month. I feel bad not supporting the post office since they are having financial issues in recent years but in the end I have to do what is more sustainable and sits well with me at the end of the day. This is not supporting paper products that are thrown away quickly after their initial use.
Usually I am for more old fashion ways, but in this instance technology is better. It is more sustainable and uses less resources. This year I started a new tradition by sending an e-card in replace of the traditional paper cards. Does anyone else do the same?
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