Blog Action Day

Note:
THIS POST IS NOT ABOUT SOFTWARE TESTING....Still Interested...Read on!

Today(15th-Oct-2007) is a Blog Action day . Blogging has become quite an revoultion all around the world and over a period of time it has become one of the most powerful communication medium. The purpose of Blog Action day is to bond all the blog users (owners and readers) towards a common cause. This time, the cause is "Environment".
Through this channel i would also like to bring about the awareness of one of the Environmental issues- the usage of paper.


I would like to cite some facts- (courtesy- http://www.lisashea.com/lisabase/aboutme/paperusage.html)


* It takes 17 pulpwood market-sized trees to make a ton of paper, or one tree makes about 11,500 pages of 8.5 x 11 20-pound paper.
* Each one million pages of paper not printed saves 85 pulp trees.
* That ton of paper, when disposed of, takes up nearly 8 cubic feet of public landfill space.
* To produce one trillion pages of paper takes 8.5 million acres of trees, representing an area larger than the country of Belgium or the state of Maryland.
* It takes 390 gallons of oil to produce a ton of paper.
* In prehistoric times, 60% of the earth's surface was covered by forests - today that amount has been reduced by 30% and is still shrinking.
* That public landfill is approximately 36% waste paper products.

* Each person in an office on average uses 2.5 pounds of paper each week.
* The average office worker generates between 120 - 150 pounds of recoverable white office paper a year.

Aren’t these figures Startling ?
Aren’t we responsible for reduction of natural resources ?
Aren’t we responsible for turning green cities to concrete jungles ?
Doesn’t this act as a wake-up call for us to do something about it ?

Even though most of us always have an excuse that- "We don’t have time and we are too busy", I feel there is a lot that we can do even not being directly involved. Consider this-
1. If your office uses Paper cups for Water/Coffee etc. Refrain from using the same. Have your Coffee mug instead. How long does it take to follow this practice ? Probably, only the time/money involved i purchasing a Coffee mug.
2. If you still want to use Paper cups- Do not only use them but consider re-using them (atleast for Water- not coffee).
3. Do not print unnecessary papers. One of the best email signature quotes that i have seen is-
Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.

Think GREEN !!
4. Even if you have to print, try going for double-sided printing or multiple pages in a single sheet (provided you can read, of course).
5. Consider using personal cloth napkins rather Paper towel and tissues.

These are only a very small way to contribute but of done on a consistent basis by everyone, it will sure make a enormous difference.
Lets start a revolution...Together!

“ Every person is the right person to act.
Every moment is the right moment to begin.”
Jonathan Schell, author, Fate of the Earth