The Easiest Green Thing You’ll Ever Do

by Nancy Wellinger

July 8th, 2008

Remember when you had to do a five-page paper in high school and the first thing you did was widen the margins and fatten up the space on top and bottom of the page to fill it faster? Well, think the opposite. And you, my eco friend, will be thinking green.

NPR did a story the other day about a bunch of exuberant eighth graders who unearthed a simple way to save trees. Simply widen the margins on whatever you’re writing. That’s it. Squeeze an extra half-inch, maybe a whole inch on either side. Start higher on the page. End lower on the page. It can still look good and professional. What else will look good? The six million trees it can save if everyone in the country makes this simple change.

So the next time you open up a document, drag down under Format (if you’ve got a Mac), click on Document, and start whittling away at that 1 inch from the top and bottom, and 1.25” right and left margin. Who knows? By the end of the day you could save a branch or two.

The enchanted forest thanks you.