Professor’s ingenious e-mail signature puts eco-myths to rest

We get it all the time from green activists: eco-guilt. Whether we use too much paper, too much plastic, or too many fossil fuels, we are destroying the environment one trip to the grocery store at a time. But in reality, most of the “Earth-saving” advances our federal government forces on us are worse for the environment than their coal-burning alternatives. It seems they’ve forgotten that things like trees, which provide us with so many benefits, are a renewable resource.

But not the University of Michigan-Flint Professor Mark Perry who has an e-mail signature he uses to remind everyone that it’s okay to use paper and do so “free of any ‘eco-guilt.’”

In a bright green font, recipients of Perry’s e-mails see at the bottom:

Notice: It’s OK to print this email free of any “eco-guilt.” Paper is a biodegradable, renewable, sustainable product made from trees. Growing and harvesting trees provides jobs for millions of Americans. Working forests are good for the environment and provide clean air and water, wildlife habitat and carbon storage. Thanks to improved forest management, we have more trees in America today than we had 100 years ago.

That’s great. It’s informative and is guaranteed to ruffle the feathers of anyone foolish enough to chain themselves to a tree.

The College Fix spoke to the finance and business economics professor who said his e-mail signature was inspired by a piece in The Wall Street Journal titled “Save a Forest: Print Your Emails: It’s okay to use paper. Trees are renewable, recyclable and sustainable.”

It was written by tree farmers, environmentalists, foresters, and wildlife biologists in response to those “well-intentioned email taglines inspired by sincere desire to help the planet have become ubiquitous in recent times: ‘Please don’t print this email,’ ‘Save trees: Print only when necessary,’ or ‘Please consider the environment before printing this email.’”

Though most people no longer print their e-mails, Perry believes his critique of the misinformed will encourage critical thinking.

“The more trees that are cut down, the more foresters are going to plant,” he said. “It displays a lack of critical analysis and thinking to actually think that if you print out an occasional email you commit a sin against the environment.”

“I communicate a lot with students and professors and this is my way to subtly give people a lesson about this green nitwittery every day,” Perry added.