---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 18:11:52 -0400
From: EarthCulture <earthcul@nr.infi.net>
To: Recipient List Suppressed: ;
Subject: Action at Junk Mail Convention
For Immediate Release; October 10, 1998
Contacts: Rick Spencer, Programs Director, 415-255-4633
Jennifer Weaver-Spencer, 336-685-7012
Activists Risk Arrest at Junk Mail Convention;
Dump Load of Catalogs & Say "Take it Back!"
San Francisco- With the message, "Save Our Forests, Stop Junk Mail," 2
activists dumped loads of catalogs at the world's largest direct mail
convention held annually by the Direct Marketing Association. The
environmentalists were escorted out of the Moscone Marriot by security
guards. A legal demonstration followed with protesters holding signs and
banners, and also giving pedestrians the opportunity to reduce their junk
mail by removing their names from some of the larger direct mailing lists.
The average American consumes over 740 pounds of paper products annually.
We use a staggering 20% of the world's wood. The protesters are urging
corporations and individuals to significantly reduce their wood consumption
starting with unnecessary disposable paper products. Items like paper bags,
cups, plates, and napkins are all things we can do without, but junk mail
is something Americans neither need nor want. The average American receives
around 600 unrequested catalogs, credit card applications, sweepstakes
entry forms, and other direct mail, adding up to a total of over 4.5
million tons each year. Nearly 50% of this mail is never read and very
little is recycled. 40% of all waste in a landfill is recyclable paper.
"100 million trees are cut each year to make junk mail and half of it no
one will ever read," says EarthCulture's Rick Spencer. "Over 100
forest-dwelling species become extinct every single day. How many of them
were driven off the face of the earth for the latest Victoria's Secret
catalog?"
The activists are asking people to get their names off companies' mailing
lists. They demand that companies make their catalogs and mailings smaller
in size and volume, and use 100% post-consumer recycled paper or paper made
from agricultural residue fiber.
EarthCulture is based in North Carolina and defends forests globally by
challenging consumers to change their buying habits.
###
______________________________________
Rick Spencer, Programs Director, EarthCulture &
Coalition Coordinator, Rainforest Wood Coalition
PO Box 4674
Greensboro, NC 27404
Phone & Fax: 336-685-7012
e-mail: earthcul@nr.infi.net
CHECK OUT EarthCulture's webpage!
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/3294
_______________________________________
Save Our Forests! Use Less Wood!
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