It’s Earth Day 2008! I know this because every time I turn on the radio or open the newspaper, I’m bombarded by “green” stories (even my favorite comic strips have Earth Day themes today). I must have a perverse streak in me because I roll my eyes at all the people jumping on the green-bandwagon for a day. The funny thing is, I totally support the effort to reduce consumption and conserve natural resources. Why is this day such a turn-off for me?

This morning I was feeling guilty about my anti-Earth Day thoughts, so I mulled over a few things I might do to honor the spirit (if not the hoopla) of the day. I was opening the mail and quickly scanned the most recent BC/BS explanation of health benefits form, those computer-generated forms I seem to receive and toss every week. For the very first time, I saw the words: “To opt out of receiving paper copies of your EOBs, go to www.bcbsil.com.” Eureka! I had my simple action step. Cut down on paper waste with one click of the mouse.

Well, 20 clicks of the mouse later and I still don’t see how/where to stop the flow of paper notices. I just emailed BC/BS customer service to ask them. And they won’t email me back with an answer, they have to CALL me (due to privacy issues, they say).

So, my simple action step is turning out to be a bit more involved. Figures …

If anyone has any words of wisdom to help me with an attitude adjustment, feel free to share them. I’m not proud of my Earth Day grumpiness and would love to have a different outlook for Earth Day 2009.