Six mothers attempting to save a million trees! How are they going to do that?
WHAT IS SAVE MILLION TREES ORGANIZATION? HOW DID IT GET STARTED?
Save Million Trees is a non-profit organization that aims to save a million trees. Yes, you read it right - a whole million! Sounds impossible, doesn't it?
The organization was started by six everyday mothers - some stay-at-home moms, some working moms - different backgrounds, different education levels; but they all had something in common: They were all raising families. They all wanted to teach their children responsibility and values. They wanted to do something about the waste in our society, so that our children are not left someday to deal with the enormous problems we are creating now. Problems such as the overloading of our landfills, pollution, deforestation, and many others.
These six mothers came together over a cup of coffee, and started discussing what they can do to reduce this waste. They had done their research: they knew that an average person receives 41 lb of junk mail every year - in a family of four, the amount more than doubles. Most of the junk mail is brochures, catalogs and other direct marketing material that is printed using inks that contain heavy metals - making it very expensive and difficult to even recycle. Most of it ends up in the landfills - research shows that over 40% of the solid mass in our landfills is paper and carton.
On top of that, in 2005 alone, over 100 million trees were cut to produce junk mail. 44% of all trees harvested nationwide is used to produce pulp for junk mail industry - and this happens when environmental activists and researchers are extremely concerned about deforestation and its effect to global warming. Shouldn't we be planting more trees, and not wasting the ones we have to produce junk mail that nobody wants? It did not make sense.
Research also shows that producing and transporting junk mail creates more greenhouse gas emissions than nine million cars, and that junk mail production wastes over 28 billion gallons of water every year. These are almost too big numbers to comprehend.
The impact of junk mail industry on our nature and environment is tremendous. It's impact on the distruction and pollution of Earth as we know it now is considerable.
What are our children left with if we do not act now? .Landfills loaded with junk mail that did not need to be produced? Air so polluted that asthma and other respiratory problems will be even more common than they are now? Shortage of water in certain areas?
We are not taking care of the problems by acting like nothing bad is happening. We cannot make it go away by storing our waste in the landfills. We are ignoring it - and some day our children will have to deal with problems that never should have been let grow so big.
Our children will also be facing enormous problems caused by deforestation and pollution together - their world will be totally different from ours if we do not act together right now.
So, what can a regular mom who lives in the suburbs, raising children do to change all this? These moms were all about action; they started a non-profit organization and started talking to their employers, families, grandparents, aunts and uncles, other relatives, friends and neighbors - asking for donations.
As none of these moms were wealthy, money was needed to pay for supplies, such as labels, printing costs for brochures, mailing materials, and posters. They enlisted friends, bosses, relatives, neighbors, teachers, aunts and uncles, grandparents......the list goes on, but at the end, they had raised enough money to get a website for the organization, posters for schools together with take-home flyers for the students to take home, and much more!
But they did not stop. They asked their friends, relatives, neighbors, friends, employers.....to do even more; to talk to their friends, relatives, neighbors, and so on. The community grew bigger, and the six moms all of a sudden had a little bit extra money in their hands. They started advertising, using eco-friendly companies such as Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and others. The community grew even more!
One of the mothers came up with a wonderful idea: she wanted her childrens school to join in, challenge ALL families of the students in that school to join in - and at the same time, help the school to purchase materials, such as recycling bins, books, and such to help educate students about conserving and recycling. After all, children are our future, and work done with them is the answer in providing long-term solutions to problems. The first campaign went extremely well! More people joined in to reduce junk mail. More donations came in. Save Million Trees, Org. was able to donate over $2,000 to the school for educational materials, and to send all children on a field-trip to a recycling plant! The kids were enthusiastic about recycling, conserving energy, and are much more conscious about littering and keeping the environment clean! A total success!
After the first success, more volunteers enlisted to talk to people, tweet, post information and links to their facebook, to e-mail their friends and relatives - to help spread the word to make this even bigger.
So far, several schools have participated, and received recycling bins in every classroom. Over 3,000 people have joined to reduce the junk mail they receive. This is just the beginning - the six moms have a huge goal: To reach 300,000 people and help them reduce the waste they receive - because that many people are needed to save a million trees!
This is a great start - it shows what a few determined moms can do when they really put their minds into something. This shows the true American spirit. More people are needed to join in. More donations are needed to purchase recycling bins for schools, and to pay for field trips for more children to learn how to reduce waste. More people are needed to donate a Tweet, or to share the website on their Facebook page, or to e-mail the link to their friends and families. Are you in? Do you want to reduce the waste you leave behind for our children to deal with? Go to http://www.save1000000trees.org and see how easy it is to cut down your junk mail by 90% and considerably reduce waste!
Save Million Trees is a non-profit organization that aims to save a million trees. Yes, you read it right - a whole million! Sounds impossible, doesn't it?
The organization was started by six everyday mothers - some stay-at-home moms, some working moms - different backgrounds, different education levels; but they all had something in common: They were all raising families. They all wanted to teach their children responsibility and values. They wanted to do something about the waste in our society, so that our children are not left someday to deal with the enormous problems we are creating now. Problems such as the overloading of our landfills, pollution, deforestation, and many others.
These six mothers came together over a cup of coffee, and started discussing what they can do to reduce this waste. They had done their research: they knew that an average person receives 41 lb of junk mail every year - in a family of four, the amount more than doubles. Most of the junk mail is brochures, catalogs and other direct marketing material that is printed using inks that contain heavy metals - making it very expensive and difficult to even recycle. Most of it ends up in the landfills - research shows that over 40% of the solid mass in our landfills is paper and carton.
On top of that, in 2005 alone, over 100 million trees were cut to produce junk mail. 44% of all trees harvested nationwide is used to produce pulp for junk mail industry - and this happens when environmental activists and researchers are extremely concerned about deforestation and its effect to global warming. Shouldn't we be planting more trees, and not wasting the ones we have to produce junk mail that nobody wants? It did not make sense.
Research also shows that producing and transporting junk mail creates more greenhouse gas emissions than nine million cars, and that junk mail production wastes over 28 billion gallons of water every year. These are almost too big numbers to comprehend.
The impact of junk mail industry on our nature and environment is tremendous. It's impact on the distruction and pollution of Earth as we know it now is considerable.
What are our children left with if we do not act now? .Landfills loaded with junk mail that did not need to be produced? Air so polluted that asthma and other respiratory problems will be even more common than they are now? Shortage of water in certain areas?
We are not taking care of the problems by acting like nothing bad is happening. We cannot make it go away by storing our waste in the landfills. We are ignoring it - and some day our children will have to deal with problems that never should have been let grow so big.
Our children will also be facing enormous problems caused by deforestation and pollution together - their world will be totally different from ours if we do not act together right now.
So, what can a regular mom who lives in the suburbs, raising children do to change all this? These moms were all about action; they started a non-profit organization and started talking to their employers, families, grandparents, aunts and uncles, other relatives, friends and neighbors - asking for donations.
As none of these moms were wealthy, money was needed to pay for supplies, such as labels, printing costs for brochures, mailing materials, and posters. They enlisted friends, bosses, relatives, neighbors, teachers, aunts and uncles, grandparents......the list goes on, but at the end, they had raised enough money to get a website for the organization, posters for schools together with take-home flyers for the students to take home, and much more!
But they did not stop. They asked their friends, relatives, neighbors, friends, employers.....to do even more; to talk to their friends, relatives, neighbors, and so on. The community grew bigger, and the six moms all of a sudden had a little bit extra money in their hands. They started advertising, using eco-friendly companies such as Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and others. The community grew even more!
One of the mothers came up with a wonderful idea: she wanted her childrens school to join in, challenge ALL families of the students in that school to join in - and at the same time, help the school to purchase materials, such as recycling bins, books, and such to help educate students about conserving and recycling. After all, children are our future, and work done with them is the answer in providing long-term solutions to problems. The first campaign went extremely well! More people joined in to reduce junk mail. More donations came in. Save Million Trees, Org. was able to donate over $2,000 to the school for educational materials, and to send all children on a field-trip to a recycling plant! The kids were enthusiastic about recycling, conserving energy, and are much more conscious about littering and keeping the environment clean! A total success!
After the first success, more volunteers enlisted to talk to people, tweet, post information and links to their facebook, to e-mail their friends and relatives - to help spread the word to make this even bigger.
So far, several schools have participated, and received recycling bins in every classroom. Over 3,000 people have joined to reduce the junk mail they receive. This is just the beginning - the six moms have a huge goal: To reach 300,000 people and help them reduce the waste they receive - because that many people are needed to save a million trees!
This is a great start - it shows what a few determined moms can do when they really put their minds into something. This shows the true American spirit. More people are needed to join in. More donations are needed to purchase recycling bins for schools, and to pay for field trips for more children to learn how to reduce waste. More people are needed to donate a Tweet, or to share the website on their Facebook page, or to e-mail the link to their friends and families. Are you in? Do you want to reduce the waste you leave behind for our children to deal with? Go to http://www.save1000000trees.org and see how easy it is to cut down your junk mail by 90% and considerably reduce waste!
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