Change the Margins: A campaign to save the environment by changing paper margins.
I've always tried to save paper.
Not because I was an environmental revolutionary.
But because I was poor.
An aspiring actress and writer, money was tight as I was starting out my career. When I found myself going through reams of paper on a regular basis as I was printing out drafts of articles and audition scripts, one of the ways I realized I could save some cash was by making my margins as narrow as possible.
Narrower margin settings = more text/page = less paper used = fewer $$ on my credit card at Office Depot.
I know that to most people, saving a sheet of paper here and there may not seem like a big financial windfall, but when a single paycheck stands between making rent at the end of the month and getting an eviction notice, you do whatever it takes!
Luckily, as my career has progressed, I'm now more financially stable, but my paper-saving habits have stuck with me. And as global warming and sustainability issues have taken center stage over the past few years, it seemed like there were other compelling reasons besides conserving a buck to stick with the margin changing.
Several weeks ago, I was doing research for an environmental documentary, so Green issues were constantly present in my mind. As I was doing my usual margin-changin' thang while printing out a document for my boss, a light bulb went off in my brain. What if you could get people to adopt changing paper margins on a large scale? What if you could get companies to adopt narrower margins as their printing standard? It would result in a lot less paper consumption. Which of course means saving a lot of trees and cutting down on a lot of waste...but only if a massive amount of people changed their margins.
It's not a new idea. It's not complicated. But if we all did it, it just might work.
--Tamara Krinsky
