His tip: make copies of receipts and rebates (or other things like these) with your digital camera vs. your copy machine. Save power, save paper, it’s a great green idea. It’s such a waste to make copies of one time things.

In other news, and since I stole his tip, Mark’s had this whole paperless office challenge going on for a while now – if you’re looking to go paperless at your home or work office, his blog is the perfect place to start gathering ideas.

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in May 2008

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As for magazines that insert six plus renew cards; well, that’s just silly. If you read four or more magazines, it’s easy to end up with enough extra paper in renew cards to start your own darn magazine.

Take one small step and quit buying one magazine that inserts renew cards in their magazines. If you subscribe to magazines vs. picking them up at the store don’t renew a magazine that does this. Make sure you contact the magazine and tell them that you’ll no longer be a reader, as much as you like their magazine, it makes no sense to be wasteful.

Which magazines do you read that do this? I like New York Magazine for the architect specials, but I quit reading them for this reason. They also send me massive renew letters – not ok.

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in May 2008

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One of the sins mentioned in the poll is “recklessly use the printer.” That one hasn’t received any votes, yet I’m guessing we could all talk about our printer usage a bit.

I have a paper-few office.

What does that mean? I’ve heard the term paperless office tossed about a lot, but it’s an inaccurate title. Even “paperless” offices still send out paper bills sometimes. I wanted a more realistic term for my office.

My biggest paper saver has been the wonderful PDF.

Whenever I feel the urge to print something, about 98% of the time it’s possible to make a PDF instead and file it away on my desktop. I have a “PDFs of interest” folder with several subfolders. They include: writer’s guidelines, user agreements, recipes, press releases, order confirmations/receipts from online shopping, misc. reference, green topics, cat topics, jobs and more. I have other main folders with PDFs sprinkled in as well. For instance, I have PDFs of invoices in my freelance folder.

Most of the time I really don’t need to print that order confirmation for the coffee. But just in case, I make a PDF. I may or may not use that great cat article for reference, but I have a PDF saved just in case. See what I mean?

Another bonus of making PDFs instead of printing is that you don’t have a stack of paper to file away (and probably never use).

I’m on a Mac, but I don’t think making PDFs is much different for a PC. I just go to File, Print. Then drop down the PDF menu, and there’s my option to save as a PDF. Adobe is a popular software for reading and creating PDFs, but there are others — many of them free.

Do I print anything?

Yes, I print directions sometimes because I don’t want to make a mistake handwriting them, and I don’t have a GPS. Plus, I need all the help I can get in the directions category.

Also, I usually print a semi-final draft of articles or other longer writing to proofread. I was a professional proofreader for several years, yet I could never catch everything proofing online. It’s still that way for me. I’m not sure why that is since I can proofread my blog posts online. I never print those. Maybe it’s because articles are longer and I need to see them on paper to get a feel for moving things around.

I sometimes need to print contracts in order to sign them. But that’s it. My printer stays off for days at a time. I save some big bucks on ink cartridges. I don’t worry about backup either. I back everything up to an external hard drive. If my computer dies, I’m OK. If I have a fire, well… I need to keep a copy elsewhere I guess.

Do you have a system to avoid printing?

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in May 2008

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Adding a green message to your e-mail signature can be an effective way to draw notice. After all, the people you’re e-mailing know you. If you care about the environment, they may wonder what more they can do as well.

Here’s a story to illustrate my point. Michael, that’s my husband in case you didn’t know, added an e-mail signature like the one above to his work e-mails. Others in his department started doing the same. In a staff meeting, the organizer said something like, “Well, I didn’t print out an agenda for everyone this time because of all that save-the-paper messages in your e-mails. I wrote it on the board instead.”

That’s a small, but great change. E-mail signatures can help people think. Now here’s something for you to think about:

Do you actually refer back to those e-mails you print? How often can you make PDFs of documents instead of printing them?

Here are some e-mail signatures I came up with just for you to consider:

•If you hug a tree, you’ll be hugged back twice. Please think about not printing this e-mail.

•Trees like you, so please wink back by not printing this e-mail.

•Love a tree, don’t hit print.

•Make sense, not waste. Don’t hit print.

•Ask me why you should think twice before printing this e-mail.

•Does e-mail make us print more than we did before?

•You’re too smart to print this e-mail.

•Lower your impact today by not printing this e-mail.

•Even recycled paper takes energy to make. Do you really need to print this e-mail?

If you have a green e-mail signature, please tell us about it.

Photo via MorgueFile.

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Just check to make sure there aren’t any onion skins clinging to the inside of your bag first. To give Michael his Valentine gift, I put it inside one of my Eco-Bags and used a little metal clip that came with Ugly Mug coffee to fasten his card. (Ok, I’m a sucker for paper Valentine cards.)

Or, if you are giving a gift to someone outside of your family, why not give it in a reusable gift bag? The gift recipient can use it as a shopping bag or pass it on as a gift bag to someone else.

Basura Bags use non-biodegradable juice boxes in their construction. The bags vary in color, providing unique styles. These bags help keep more trash out of landfills, and they provide jobs for a women’s co-op in the Philippines.

A reusable shopping bag is perfect for wedding or baby showers (really any kind of party). And giving your gift in a reusable bag instead of a paper one will reduce waste.

I especially love these Gecko Traders bags, available at reusablebags.com.

The fair trade bags are made from rice and feed bags, and are handcrafted by disadvantaged workers in Cambodia.

What is it about these bags I find so cool? It is the fish design? Is it that each one is unique? It is that they are supposed to last a lifetime?

Even if you like quieter designs for gift-giving, there are still plenty of options, like my natural bags above from Eco-Bags. Also, check out WrapSacks for lots of fun reusable gift bag options. They have a groovin Track-A-Sack feature that allows gift recipients to record where the bag has been before sending it on its way again.

Do you have any favorite bags you use to give gifts? Do you sew your own? Are you willing to give up paper gift bags this year?

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• Save paper.
• Save the energy it takes to make a card.
• Save money – no shelling out for cards or stamps! Many e-cards are free.
• Make someone’s day a little brighter.

If you get your e-card from the right place you can even donate to a good cause.  Care2 has eCards with cool eco-designs and other options. Their cards are fast, easy to send, and easily customizable. Plus “For each eCard sent, Care2 makes a donation to an environmental nonprofit to save a square foot of rainforest.”

Nice. See some of their eCard options…

You can also get e-cards from:

Hallmark

Blue Mountain

123Greetings – although their site has annoying pop-ups

E-Cards

Kids like them too. I sent them at Christmas, and Cedar loved watching them. Don’t forget, this one small step, when added with all of our small steps, can make a huge difference to the health of the planet.

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I will say that these baking cups are great. They’re reusable so save both paper and money. Also, they come in fun shapes that kids will adore.

Like…

Silly Feet, Diamonds, Triangles, and more.

If you get the cool silly feet cups you and the kids will have hours of fun making cute little guys like this:

You can read more at Baking Delights and buy these cups at Wilton. One small (and fun) step that reduces paper waste, transport waste, and energy consumption.

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