1000 Flowers for the Planet - #388 Do We Need Cards?
Sending cards became very popular during the Victorian era
and are now a major business, with the USA market estimated between $7 and $8
billion. What must it be worldwide? Just like wrapping paper (Flower
#387), cards use valuable resources: trees, chemicals, inks, energy, water,
transportation and plastic. Greeting cards are lovely to receive, but is it
time to rethink this habit as well?
When I was growing up there was etiquette to using greeting
cards. They were only sent in the mail to loved ones you would not see for
their birthday or during special holidays, like Christmas for example. If you
were going to see a person for a celebration a card was not required. If you
gave a gift to that person, a small gift tag was all they was required.
Christmas isn’t known as the ‘silly season’ for nothing.
People have a tendency to send cards to recipients they haven’t seen or spoken
to once in the whole year. There seems to be this sense of duty to hang on to
old friendships that may well be past their use-by date. Consider it this year
and think about who really needs to receive a card from you, shorten that
Christmas card list and help save some of the planet’s resources. It could be
your ‘second’ gift to the planet.
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