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As spring wildflowers bring color to the upper areas of the foothills, it’s a time of new energy -- which our CSERC staff truly needs to keep up with all that’s happening on so many fronts for our Center.
Last weekend CSERC staff and volunteers cleaned up a huge amount of trash, abandoned appliances, and garbage down in the Red Hills west of Chinese Camp. We’ve been filing comments on major new development projects, visiting our wildlife photo-detection stations out in distant parts of the forest, and attending key meetings on water and planning matters.
In the midst of all these efforts, we’ve also had a lot of communications from members or those who’ve visited our website. One of our members asked me why we still send out paper newsletters rather than relying entirely upon e-mail versions to spare more trees and to save on postage.
That’s a great question and one worth answering on our website so that the response is clear and available for discussion.
First, as executive director, I have to look at why we create our newsletter and then figure out how to make it most useful. One key purpose is to inform our members about local issues. By having something “in hand” to look at whenever it is convenient, a paper newsletter probably gets a more thorough reading than if we send out articles online. That will vary from one person to the next, but that is one consideration.
The second consideration is that a newsletter lying on the counter or on the coffee table is a reminder that CSERC exists… that we need donations from our members. If we don’t send out paper newsletters along with paper inserts that ask members to send us contributions, we are far less likely to get donations. People have so many things to remember. If they don’t get something in their hands that is a reminder of how hard we are working to defend this vast region, then we likely will have fewer people sending us donations.
The other consideration is based on our newsletter itself. We are now using recycled paper that is all or nearly all recycled content. By purchasing and using such “green” recycled materials, we boost business for environmentally positive companies that give a market to recycled paper. We get our newsletters printed at an extremely low cost… roughly what it use to cost us without color. And when it comes to the mailing cost, we use a bulk mail permit with the Post Office that only costs us a fraction of the regular cost of mail.
For all of these reasons, we feel at this time that sending our members colorful newsletters on recycled paper through bulk mail service is a positive way to put information out in a manner that doesn’t waste trees, doesn’t create unnecessary waste, and does provide something “in hand” to raise readers’ interest. If our society moves further and further to a high tech communications system, there may be a time when we decide to go entirely through e-mails or website information sharing. At the moment, we hope our members thrill to the pictures we feature in our newsletter of wildlife, plants, and scenic vistas. We also hope that having articles in hand will motivate most of our members to read each issue and to take action when possible to improve the situation for our local environment.
John Buckley, executive director |
