I got a nice card in the mail today from Google Adsense. They are giving me $100 in free advertising. Nice.

I quote: “PS: This card was printed on 100% recycled paper embedded with wildflower seeds. Plant it in a sunny spot with a thin layer of soil, add water and watch it grow – while you watch your business grow with AdWords.”

That is so cute. And creative.

And – not to look a gift horse in the mouth or anything – kind of missing the point with environmental stewardship.

People use recycled paper and throw paper in the recycling bin, and think they are doing everything possible to help the planet. But let’s reconsider the 3 R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. What can we do to REDUCE the amount of paper we need? What if that $100 offer had been emailed to me, instead of sent with a dead tree and a petroleum-derived plastic card that is now littering my office space? I suppose now I’m more motivated to take action right away – to get the clutter off my desk and make use of that $100. But that’s a marketing reason, not an environmental reason.

All I’m saying is, it’s not helping the environment just because the paper has wildflower seeds in it and the card is printed on green plastic.