New Media

There’s been some tremendous response to this week to the idea of an opt-in program for delivering the Yellow Pages and other paper phone directories to your door. I’m glad. Here’s a prime example of what seems to be a way to embrace the green economy with a little effort from business.

Here’s the 24 News Vancouver story from this morning, Facebook group aims at phone directories. I was quoted as saying “What’s the point of producing a bunch of books [and] distributing them when very few people are using them?” he asks.

(NOTE: Careful, careful. What I meant to say was that “very few people appear to be using them”. My apologies if I misspoke during the interview. I base my view on the evidence of my own eyes and the observations of friends, colleagues and the new supporters on the Facebook site, not the market studies cited in the reports, which don’t seem to have definite information on how many people just tossed their new books into the blue boxes. Anyone have those numbers? Anyone?).
The response of the CanPages President from the 24 News story was illuminating: “Once you have the book in your hand, it’s done,” he said. “If nobody sends you anything ever, how will you think about opting in?”

That’s not what I envisioned when I pondered an opt-in program. Of course such an approach would be ridiculous. Instead, perhaps the publishers could use online sign-ups, email or a single-sheet mail-in form to get people to opt in BEFORE they get books delivered to their door (If anyone has other suggestions, I’m all ears).

That’s the point, ain’t it? To make sure people who want the books get them, reducing the number of unused copies, lowering the printing costs for the publishers, ensuring better value for the advertisers… What’s wrong with that?

Some interesting feedback from the Facebook site, The Yellow Pages Must Be Stopped:

Drina Read: I remember the good old days, when you could call BC Tel if you wanted a telephone directory or you could go in person to a local office to pick one up.

This is a huge environmental issue, not only for the waste of paper and trees, but also the costs of using fossil fuels to deliver tons of unwanted phone books. Then, when you try to recycle the old phone books, the recycling bins are full to the top. I wonder how many people gave up on recycling the old books?
Lisa McKenzie: On top of the Canpages I had delivered a few weeks ago, I just had my SECOND Yellowpages delivered in as many days!!! Now, on top of the 3 white pages, I now have 3 huge yellowpages overflowing out of my recycling bin!! I am steaming mad!!

Bruce Hoffman: Of the 70 sets of Yellow Pages that were left in the lobby of our apartment building, at least half (if not more) went, unopened, directly into the recycling bin outside.

UPDATE: Read my latest National Post Full Comment piece, Yellow Phone Books and the Green Economy.

We need an opt-in program for phone books to make sure we’re not producing a product that few people want, that mostly goes straight into the recycling bins. As longtime readers of this blog will note, I’m a bit cranky on this topic, starting a Facebook page on it, The Yellow Pages Must Be Stopped, last year to protest what I see as an obsolete product for a digital age.

I was on CBC radio this morning (if someone can find a link to it online, please send me it!) and my take on this issue is outlined in today’s CBC online, Residents demand companies end phone book deliveries:

Jonathon Narvey was tired of seeing stacks of directories sitting unused in his apartment lobby, so he went online to share his gripe with others and started a Facebook group called “The Yellow Pages must be stopped.”

“I understand they are recyclable and I understand they’re made from recycled products, but the energy that goes into making a product that very few people want just seems to me a huge waste of resources,” Narvey told CBC News.

Now that the listings in the books are published online where most people can easily access them, Narvey wants to see providers change their distribution so people would have to request a book to get the printed version.

Seems like a good idea, yes?

Today is the deadline for public comment submission to the CRTC’s net neutrality hearings.

But I expect this debate is not going to go away anytime soon. Interesting that Canada seems to be going in an opposite direction to the USA and other nations, which have recognized the danger of allowing large corporations to throttle Internet access and usage.

Some promising developments lately on the home front of the Afghanistan conflict:

This week in Toronto, we witnessed an unprecedented Pashtun-community-organized rally against Taliban violence in Pakistan.

On the UBC campus in Vancouver, CASC is now actively recruiting, and organizing events like the screening of “Faith Without Fear“, happening at the Vancouver Planetarium Theatre.

And in Ottawa, an American president who has pledged to send another 17,000 troops to support the international effort against the Taliban is the recipient of much love and admiration, instead of pickets and masked protesters.

Good news, kids.

(For a fuller treatment of this topic, please read my Full Comment at the National Post).

The cost of security for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver has risen astronomically, surprising absolutely no one. One report says it’s going to go up five times the original budget (Reuters).

This is just the latest Olympics-related budget fiasco (For the big picture, check the OlyBLOG). But here’s the thing — even with all this extra money thrown at security, we still won’t be more secure, at least not by much. More inconvenienced, maybe. But if an attacker is determined to get through, it’s going to be tough to stop them.

Let’s say it was an absolute certainty that the bad guys were going to pull SOMETHING. Let’s say we knew for certain that they planned to send a massive car bomb into a crowded city street. So, what are they going to do – turn Vancouver into a giant pedestrian-only zone?

You can lock down a school, YVR, or Vancouver General Hospital. But an entire city? Our cops and soldiers won’t know a group of terrorists’ plans, but you can bet that any determined attackers will be aware of the kinds of counter-tactics being leveled against them.

If the bad guys do try something, it will only be dumb luck that prevents it from happening. Which isn’t to say that hasn’t occurred. You’ll recall the Los Angeles Airport bomber Ahmed Ressam was foiled before by nothing stronger than a lucky hunch by a border guard.

Am I on the wrong track, here? I kind of hope so. But I’m not convinced all those extra trained eyeballs in town for the Olympics are going to see what’s coming until it’s too late.