A photo from a walk this week. The reason I give to environmental organizations? To protect places like this. Not so that somebody sells my information so that I then receive oodles of unsolicited appeals from other organizations (which waste paper and other resources and harm actual trees somewhere, because of all the paper!)

Note to self: apparently, I should think twice before donating to charitable organizations, to the nonprofits that support causes that I care about. Because at least one group that I supported was… Sneaky? Annoying? Lacking integrity? and sold my name and address. I wish I knew which one, because I wouldn’t donate to them again.

Now every day when I pick up my mail, my box is full of solicitations from worthwhile organizations. Large and small. Statewide, national, international. Save Mono Lake! Give to the Salvation Army! I’ve received many free 16-month nature calendars (with envelopes attached so that I could repay the organization’s generosity. Because not only did they send me a calendar but personalized address labels and stickers, too!).

Primarily the mail comes from environmental groups, but also from aide groups that work overseas.

I used to open them all.

Now I throw them away without even taking a look.

I have to.

I don’t have the resources to fund even a fraction of them.

And I resent the fact that this deluge of requests means that I have to say no, over and over again, and then feel bad about it.

Just today? I threw away appeals from the Salvation Army. The National Parks Conservation Association (that envelope commanded: “Open upon receipt.” Nope. And I won’t send you anything in the future if that’s the kind of bossy attitude you have). The Cornell Lab of Ornithology (maybe because I support the Audubon Society?). The National Wildlife Federation. The ACLU. The International Rescue Committee. Women for Women International (Free Bookmarks enclosed!) Even a letter from former president Barack Obama. That one had my address in cursive. All these letters bore a similar “nonprofit” postage stamp.

It’s discouraging! Especially the environmental organizations: so much that they send ends up in the garbage (the recycling bin, actually. But still.) Seems counterproductive. And it sure doesn’t help the planet, to print and ship countless letters that end up needing to be recycled. Not to mention all the other resources that are wasted: the fuel to move the mail trucks, the time of our overworked, harried postal employees, who have to deal with all those worthless appeals.

I think it’s growth for me, though: to finally get to the point where I toss the letters, unopened.  At least then they don’t waste  any more of my (limited) mental energy, and I can mostly avoid falling into a pit of regret.  At least then there’s less guilt than if I do open the letters, read the copy about how bad things are and how much they need me, and (after all that) still toss them into the recycling.  I will continue to support the groups that mean the most to me. And I can do my best to channel the rest of my time into activities that light me up and give me life.  Like taking walks with Biscuit through the forest that I love so much and that I do my best to protect and save.

In fact, I’m going to close this now, such as it is, and take him for a walk, back up to the place where I took the picture that you see above. It’s a bright, warm October day and both of us have been sitting (or sleeping, in his case) a little too much.

Walks are great antidotes for mailbox angst.

Walks are great antidotes for other kinds of angst, too.