Spam is absolutely fab

While network admins will complain about the volume of spam that clogs up and drains resources, for the average Joe, this is not such a problem.

What no one ever points out, however, is that there is another form of spam, a much older form of spam, that is alive and well. And it is a much bigger drain on resources. It’s what I think of as 'paper spam'.

Think about it for a moment. What goes into the production of 'paper spam'? Trees. Printing with poisonous inks and dyes. Trucks to distribute it. Warehouses to hold it. People paid a pittance to shuffle about, sticking it in out letterboxes. And if, as inevitably happens, we don't want it, how much of it ends up not being recycled, possibly thrown onto the street, and washed down into our sewers. Which leads to where? Our oceans, rivers and seas.

Yet no one seems half as concerned with 'paper spam' as they do with electronic spam, despite the production costs involved. Where are the environmental reports? Where are the corporate social responsibility acts? And how often, really, does anyone ever pick one of those catalogues up and think "Ooh, I'm going to go to Best Buy now and buy the USB Toaster in that catalogue."