Save a tree, ditch the phone book
In honor of Earth Day on Saturday, an environmentally conscious group is urging people to help put an end to the homely stacks of thick telephone directories that pile up at workplaces, homes, apartment buildings and other dwellings every year.
People can sign an online petition at PaperlessPetition.org to request that the Yellow Pages Association shift to an opt-in system whereby paper directories would only be printed for people who ask for them. If the association refuses to change to a print-on-demand system, the list of addresses of people who signed the petition would be used to create an opt-out registry.
"The Yellow Pages industry dropped 540 million printed directories this year," the site says. "That's more than one per person. With the Internet available literally in our hands, is this acceptable? In addition to its cumbersome format, the Yellow Pages is only accurate for a limited time, and its production destroys the Earth's endangered forests."
Online alternatives include: YellowPages.com, SuperPages.com, Google Local and Yahoo Local, among others.
