Simply must have my ten pence worth on the Google et al consortium urging people to “Go Paperless” in 2013. Yes, it’s the latest sigh-making example of greenwash and misleading messaging about print and paper’s environmental credentials, while conveniently ignoring the environmental impact of the scanners, computers, and server farms being touted as an alternative. I sought out some articles about this initiative outside of the specialist print media and was encouraged to find comments in the tech press that pointed this out. So it’s good to know that beyond the printiverse people aren’t blind to things like the horrors of e-waste. And given the involvement of the mighty Google, it’s interesting that the dedicated Twitter account for this campaign @paperless2013 had a mere 1,010 followers at the time of typing, and was following 1,045 itself. So a net position of, um, minus 35. I don’t think it’s really taken off, do you? Also at the time of typing, Two Sides had yet to receive a response to its formal complaint to Google. Go Paperless is merely a marketing pitch dressed up as a campaign, a front for the involved companies to tout their wares. If they want to do so by taking a pop at print and paper, the very least one might ask is that they also include some info on their own environmental creds. It can also be considered the perfect New Year reminder to us in print to make sure our own messaging about print’s effectiveness and environmental credentials is loud and clear. I’m amused by this alternative option to the usual email sign-off entreaty not to print things out: “please consider the environment before forwarding this email”. But overall I’m coming down on the side of a positive message about print, like the Newspaper Club’s “print something”. Do you have a favourite pro-print message? Please share and we'll do our bit to spread the word.