|
FROM THE EDITOR
The Paperless Planet
Remember all that talk about the paperless office? The death of printed newspapers and books? Well, don’t be waiting up nights.
But more of us are doing more of our reading in front of a computer screen these days. Many of you probably already receive at least one newsletter via e-mail and the Web. And, starting with the next Planet, you will have the option of receiving an e-mail version.
Prefer paper? Don’t worry. We’ll continue to print and mail the Planet six times a year. But you’ll be able to choose to receive an e-mail version instead of or in addition to the print version.
The Planet e-mails will be short and sweet—shorter than this column—with four or five quick updates that link to our Web site, where you can read the complete story. The Planet e-mails will be monthly, so you’ll get a heads up on some stories that we don’t have room for in the print version.
This will help us be more timely. When the D.C. Circuit Court dismissed the Sierra Club’s case against Dick Cheney in early May, we would have liked to tell you our take—that crafting an energy policy in secret with energy industry lobbyists is a recipe for higher energy prices, more pollution, and despoiled wilderness—but you’re reading this in late June, so it’s hard to be timely with six issues a year and third-class mailing. We’ll be updating our Planet home page regularly and the e-mail we send you will link you to that page.
We also hope to save money. For every subscriber who opts for e-mail, we save on postage. And because e-mail is so comparatively inexpensive, we can broaden our subscriptions so that non-members can receive this as well.
And then, of course, there are trees that don’t have to be cut down. Yes, the Planet is printed on a recycled paper, and our impact is pretty small in the broad scheme of things, but why not be as green as we can?
We launch the new Planet e-mail this summer, and we’ll be plugging it shamelessly for the rest of the year. By the end of 2005, you’ll be asked to explicitly opt in and tell us if you want print, e-mail, or both. We can’t guarantee that you’ll continue to receive the Planet unless you tell us you want to.
To sign up, go to sierraclub.org/planet. And let us know what you think. Contact us at planet@sierraclub.org or (415) 977-5742. Enjoy your summer.
—John Byrne Barry
Up to Top
|
