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Citizen complaint of the day: Why are phone companies still allowed to kill trees?

An eco-citizen on Beacon Hill complains of the annual December infestation of phone books:

Litter everywhere! Why are the phone companies allowed to dump a dead tree on everyone's doorstep?

Earlier:
The Globe's stupid pink bags.

Neighborhoods: 
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Comments

I get that nobody likes phone books, but isn't this a little overly dramatic? I might be wrong, but aren't phone books make of 100% recycled materials? I don't think the YellowPages are sending teams of lumberjacks into the forest to harvest trees for their floundering company.

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Adam, can we get a ruling?

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I think it is floundering. Not that anyone asked.

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floun·der1
ˈfloundər/
verb
gerund or present participle: floundering

1.
struggle or stagger helplessly or clumsily in water or mud.
"he was floundering about in the shallow offshore waters"
synonyms: struggle, thrash, flail, twist and turn, splash, stagger, stumble, reel, lurch, blunder, squirm, writhe

found·er3
ˈfoundər/
verb
gerund or present participle: foundering

1.
(of a ship) fill with water and sink.
"six drowned when the yacht foundered off the Florida coast"
synonyms: sink, go to the bottom, go down, be lost at sea

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The ink, energy, glue and water used to produce the phone books, deliver the phone books and recycle the phone books is not renewable. Neither is the inherent loss of material in the production and recycling process. Just because you can recycle something doesn't mean it just magically consumes nothing to make it.

Jesus people, think.

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I mean, the publishers are just following through on their end of the deal. They sold the ad to a bunch of clients, with the understanding that they would torture us with it. They're following through on their promise.

What I don't understand is the advertisers. Somebody, in 2013, is agreeing to pay good American money to place an ad in pre-wrapped recycle, that typically goes directly from the front steps to the big blue bin, without being opened. And if I did open it, I bet you that virtually all the ads that these people bought and paid for, include a website. That's likely on the first page that comes up in google.

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Why do we allow the gas companies to kill trees? Seriously, a good read about a local guy.

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I know, that this isn't what the eco Nazis want to hear even though they know it to be true, but trees are a renewable resource. You cut one down, you plant another in it's place which is exactly what logging companies have as their long standing policy. This is why there will always be huge and massive forests in the United States and Canada. Have the eco nuts tired of railing against plastic water bottles and Styrofoam cups already? It's kind of amusing that phone books upset these people but the 2000 plus pages it takes to produce every copy of Obamacare does not seem to bother them. Selective outrage based on one's personal ideology does little for the credibility of this bunch..

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Grow up. Please. Just grow up.

When your brain matures, perhaps you can learn some science, too.

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oooh Anon. Such hostility. Take 10 deep breaths, exhale slowly and try to calm down. I know, it must be a shock to learn that there are actually views other than yours, but you'll get over it.

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There is no moral or social reason to tolerate opinions that are pure, unadulterated bullshit and drivel derived from completely baseless and senseless premises.

That isn't diverisity - that's rank stupidity.

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Mine goes from my doorstep to my recycle bin.

I have google.

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Even neglecting the profits made in selling advertising, people can use them to seek out telephone numbers of businesses and individuals. Not everyone has reliable Internet access, and even those who do may not be able to get reasonable results.

Frankly, I am not entirely keen on search engine optimisation, myself. That said, I can't remember the last time I referenced a telephone book. I'm just going to assume that some people still use them for purposes other than propping up toddlers in restaurants.

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I know my 97-year-old grandma still relies on it.

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Although they are badged as Verizon, the phonebooks are actually from these people:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SuperMedia
Given the financial problems they have had over the last few years, I suspect the phonebook problem will eventually take care of itself in future years.

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When I was a kid, the annual arrival of the new telephone directory was almost as exciting as Santa Claus. I always read the pages at the beginning of the directory that told about all the exchanges that were in my calling area, and the area codes for every long distance location. I loved to dial "wrong numbers", as part of playing with the phone, and listen to all the different sounds and recordings from places near and far. The phone system today is totally boring, but the old electromechanical network was amazing to listen to. Long before there was anything like the Internet, it was really fun and exciting to play with the phone!
IMAGE(https://i2.sndcdn.com/artworks-000031267924-ukqvs0-t300x300.jpg)

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A comment about how the new phone book's arrival used to be so exciting and no reference to...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOTDn2A7hcY

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My parrot needs something to crap on.

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I'm an environmentalist, and I really don't care about stuff like this.

There's far bigger personal choices we should lobby against, like people who drive everywhere even when walking or transit are reasonable, or run the A/C 24/7 when opening the windows when they're home at night would work just as well.

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Yes anon. You finally said something that is not moronic. These ARE personal choices. Everyone makes their own. So why don't you mind your own business, you little fascist, and everyone else will mind theirs.

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I see nothing wrong with an awareness campaign of sorts. I didn't see anon suggest any legislation.

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Phonebook.

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