The ERC and Sawtooth Botanical Garden are partnering up with local youth groups BCTAC, BCTAC2, the WRHS Environmental Club, and the Silver Creek High School to educate our community about the ecological and economical consequences of junk mail. Join us on Saturday, January 15th from 10 am–12 pm at Tully's and Iconoclast in Ketchum and Hailey Coffee Co in Hailey.  At each venue, we will be providing information on how to tame the junk mail in your life and will even have a computer available for you to sign up to start managing your mail immediately.  Reducing your junk mail is one small, easy step every one of us can take to start reducing our carbon footprint.   

For some fast facts on junk mail to get you excited about participating in our event, continue reading.

• Only 2% of people who receive junk mail respond to it; therefore 98% of paper resources are wasted when making junk mail 
• 1/3 of all mail delivered in the world is US junk mail (100 billion pieces annually)
• 44% of all junk mail goes into landfills unopened
• State and local governments spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year to collect and dispose of junk mail that does not get recycled
• 28 billion gallons of water are wasted to produce and recycle junk mail each year
• 100 million trees are destroyed to make junk mail every year, which creates greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 3.7 million cars
• On average, each of us will spend an average of eight months of our lives dealing with junk mail
• 89% of Americans support a way to opt out of unwanted mail

Eliminating junk mail reduces carbon dioxide emissions, reduces the number of trees cut down, and reduces water consumption. Therefore, by eliminating junk mail, we are preserving our air, soil, water resources, and thus protecting our beautiful Wood River Valley.

Join us on January 15th and show the youth of the Wood River Valley that we care about the future of their world.  For more information on this event, contact Hadley DeBree or Amber Gray at our office 208.726.4333 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . We hope to see you there!