Change the Margins

Two University Reports on Margin Changing

Found two great resources for better understanding the impact of changing the margins.

I was turned onto the first by NPR producer Nate DiMeo, who produced the radio piece about the Margins campaign. In October 2001, a research team of the Penn State Green Destiny Council released a report on the ecological analysis of Mueller Laboratory, a biology building on the Penn State University Park campus. "Mueller Policy Paper #1: Reduce Standard Margin Settings", derived from the report, showed how PSU could save 72 acres of forest and over $120,000/year by reducing the default margin settings campus wide.

I was verrry happy to see this proof that small changes = big savings. Because let's get real...while I'm sure there are indeed a few individuals at large institutions and corporations who truly care about ecological issues, there are a heck of a lot MORE people who care about about cold hard cash. Plus, since the report was issued in 2001, I'm only imagining that the savings have gone up as costs have risen.

For those who like their stats a bit less technical, check out Janelle Palmer's Michigan State University Copy Paper Study. She did the report for her semester study, and it's a nice easy read about steps to take, including margin changing. Palmer references the Mueller Policy Paper in her document.

Joel's Suggestions for Screenwriters

My childhood friend Joel wrote a great post on his blog Fun Joel's Screenwriting Blog about the Margins campaign that includes some fantastic additional suggestions for screenwriters as to how to be more eco-friendly when dealing with drafts, notes, etc. While most  studios have pretty rigid guidelines about formatting, he brings up several ideas writers can adopt for their own printouts.

Two of my favorites include printing 2 pages per sheet instead of one when doing a draft print for personal editing (this is different than double-sided printing), and using "dirty paper." Intrigued? Check it out for more info:

Fun Joel's "Screenwriters Save the World!" article.

Sludgie.com post

I've been out of town for the past four days and returned to see that the petition has broken 100 signatures - yahooey!

In addition, we've gotten our first blog mention elsewhere on the web. Sludgie.com is an eco-blog with an offbeat sense of humor written by Francis Stokes and Stephanie Weir. Filmmaker/writer Stokes posted "Give Her an Inch and She'll Save a Mile," which explains the Margins idea by referencing the habits of serial killers and  desperate high school students (did I mention the blog has an offbeat sense of humor?). Needless to say, I'm verrry happy that word of the campaign is starting to spread.

Stokes and I met when I appeared in his film Harold Buttleman, Daredevil Stuntman. He's currently in post-production on a thriller and writing for Gristmill, the daily blog for the influential environmental magazine Grist. He had a bunch of great suggestions for my own little blog here, which I will attempt to implement...as y'all know, I'm somewhat new to this, so learning as I go.

People are Digg'in Margins

I received a message from a friend that people have started to Digg www.changethemargins.com!

For those unfamiliar with Digg, it's basically online popularity contest for news stories and websites. Users submit their favorites, and these are then promoted to Digg's front page when enough people vote - or "digg" -  for them. The site tends to have an emphasis on tech and science issues, but covers all news.

The great thing about Digg is that a lot of people use it as a filter to find out about the coolest new stories without having to plow through a zillion items. If you can get featured on the home page, it can drive a lot of traffic to your site. And for Margins, the whole idea is to spread awareness of the idea, so the more traffic the better.

I have this (naive?) fantasy that enough people will pass the idea along until it happens to land in the in-box of someone at Microsoft or Corel or Toyota because they are a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend, and they'll go, "Of course!" and help make it happen.

Help fulfill my fantasies...Digg Change the Margins by going clicking on the Digg link at the bottom of the "Ideas" page.

Margins NPR Story

Those who have come to the site because of a direct, pleading, guilt-inducing personal email from me already know this, but now that more people are starting to visit the site, I wanted to post the good news.

NPR is doing a story on CHANGE THE MARGINS that will be featured on Day to Day. Not sure yet when it's going to air - I've been told possibly Friday, August 31st. Stay tuned...

Margins Mailing List

Several people have expressed an interest in updates about the campaign, when the NPR story is airing, etc. If you'd like to be added to the Margins mailing list, please e-mail me at changethemargins@gmail.com. I promise not to bombard you with random nonsense (hey, that's what blogging is for!).

Suggestions: Courts & IT Departments

Today we sent out our first "friends & family" e-mail blast about the Margins campaign. Even though the perfectionist inside me is screaming, "Wait!!! There's so much more information you need to add to this before it's ready to be seen by anyone but you", I'm trying to override those tendencies. If I waited til I thought it was perfect, there wouldn't be any forests left.

As I type this, 25 people have signed the Microsoft petition so far, and that's ridiculously exciting to me. And that's not just because I'm obsessed with lists! Whether people are signing the petition because they think it's a good idea, or just because they are my friends and feel obliged, Change the Margins is not just an idea rattling around in my head anymore. I'll take obliged...I'll take guilt...I'll take sincerity...I'll take whatever works!

Several people have also emailed me with suggestions about Change the Margins. As I receive tips and recommendations, I'll share them here in the blog. Please also feel free to use the Comments tool to post ideas, feedback, etc. I'd love to know what ideas people like (or don't), thoughts on how to accomplish the goals of the campaign, success stories such as getting your office to adopt different margin settings, potential partners for helping to spread the word, etc.

My father-in-law, a lawyer in Chicago, thought it would be good to target the Courts. According to him, most of them -- especially appellate courts -- have strict requirements about type size and margins in briefs.

Matt from Atlanta suggested the approach of having corporations' IT groups implement the changes. He said, "They'd save a ton of money and position themselves as green."

Baby steps

For me, the scariest thing about having an idea you think might work is getting it out there into the world. I've never really been involved with anyone else's grassroots campaign, much less tried to start one myself. But after endless procrastination, I've finally started to put together this blog for Change the Margins. Eventually, I hope it'll be a full-fledged website, but this seemed like the easiest way to get started.

Baby steps.
Don't try to do it all at once.
But just start.

Thanks for your patience as I figure this out, and please please send me your suggestions!