Saw this twice over the weekend, once on TV and once in the NY Times, and it seemed like the perfect time to share since, at least in the US, the onslaught of holiday catalogues has begun.

CatalogChoice.org was launched by a coalition of environmental groups as a free service to cut down on the number of catalogues we all receive in our mailboxes this time of year. According to one source, since the service launched on October 9, they have helped more than 165,000 people opt out of nearly 1.7 million catalogues.

All you do is sign up and then they contact the vendors on your behalf to have you removed from their mailing list. Every year 53 million trees are felled to send 19 billion catalogues to Americans. Recycling is great. But what if the paper never got used in the first place?

And in a nice bit of eco-friendly marketing, several companies like LL Bean, Lands’ End and Lillian Vernon have signed up as official merchant partners of Catalog Choice. In exchange for working with the coalition, the merchants get a link back from the website.

We urge you to sign up. The internet never did (and never will) create the once heralded "paperless office." But at least you can cut down on the paper that does come into your house. Think how happy your mailman will be.