Why Do We Need as Much Paper

Caring for the environment is not as difficult nor is it as overwhelming as most people first think. In fact, many of our Green solutions make life easier for everyone. It's a no-brainer that some of these things that are so convenient and beneficial to the environment should be put into action yesterday. Still people find reasons to avoid making the appropriate changes.

In this day and age, it is absolutely remarkable that we are still filling out paperwork for government agencies and businesses. I understand the need for documentation and I also understand that many agencies and businesses have adopted some paperwork reduction initiatives. But, so many more can be put into place.

I have learned that digital information is harder to get rid of than an actual piece of paper. When you delete a document, it is not gone. But, a burned piece of paper is. So, I think data storage on a computer is ultimately safer than folders in a filing cabinet. Plus, we would gain actual space for other things when we throw our filing cabinets out the window and start using virtual space for critical data storage.

Paperwork Reduction initiatives can be incorporated in all aspects of government and business transactions. Many have already started. There is a great deal that can be done online via online forms or through emails that allow users to fill out applications. PDF forms can be created that allow users to fill them out and then fill them out again for others.

But, government agencies and businesses have adopted these measures so that end users can share in the cost of paper. They still require these forms to be printed out and submitted via hard copy. When a government agency or a business can have a database full of information that is readily available at their fingertips with a few key strokes, why in the world do they insist on having hard copy documents to file? You know I'm making great sense here!

It's easier for everyone involved. It's easier for the end user who only has to pull up the forms from the website of a government agency or business. They fill them out online and submit them online. It's easier for the government agency or business that can have an automatic filing system where all of these forms are stored in a database and all the information is properly categorized. Information retrieval is easier because it's high speed via a few key strokes rather than rummaging through four foot high filing cabinets.

Moving further into the twenty-first century is not only better for our environment, but it really is a step out of the dark ages. We have computers in our phones, televisions that can save our shows, entire houses set on a schedule, but we're still filling out paperwork made by dinosaurs, filed by dinosaurs, retrieved by dinosaurs and often lost by dinosaurs. And don't get me started on all the work from home opportunities businesses could offer to cut down on transportation needs. That's another article entirely.