Fingers crossed

I sent the e-mail below to the person in our company who can make this decision. I am moderately green myself* and do a lot of in-office recycling, so this choice seems pretty obvious to me but what's obvious to me isn't always to everyone else.

Wish me luck. I could get the two-letter answer or the six-letter answer ("no" or "hell, no") but am hoping for the three-, four- or seven-letter ones ("yes," "sure," or "go ahead").

Dear [VIP] ~

I was prepping this month's newsletter and appreciated [location's] article about greening their offices. I was thinking that if you'd like to get [company] a bit greener, we could distribute the newsletter electronically.

Instead of sending paper copies to be handed out, I could forward the pdf to all [company] staffers directly, thus saving the printing costs (paper, toner, copier use), the mailing costs (usually FedEx), and reducing the paper that goes into the recycle bin or (worse) the trash can. The average newsletter uses two reams of paper. And after all, costs associated with the newsletter are overhead expenses.

This would also allow us to get the newsletter into our staffers' hands in a more timely way.

I would still print paper copies for [other VIPs], of course, and could print paper copies as needed for any other purpose. And if anyone would prefer to receive a paper copy, I'd be happy to send them.

The pdf is posted on the [internet] site once it's ready, so staffers already have the option of viewing it there and/or printing it out.

In these days of rising costs and with the national push to be more environmentally aware, I think that is a solution that can both save us money and reduce our "footprint." Or, as Tom Lehrer put it, doing well by doing good.

Leta

Update: He agreed! The newsletter is going green!

* Any savings I generate by turning off the lights, adjusting the thermostat, driving a small car, etc are wiped out or equalized by the number of miles that I drive for theater and by having a boyfriend across a state line. Some weekends all I do is shuttle back and forth between Maryland and Virginia.