In this day and age, everyone is fighting to preserve the earth's natural resources. We are trying to "go green," as they say, by handling things over the internet. This way, we cut down our usage of paper substantially, and it's gotten to the point where we feel a little guilty if we use paper at all.

Luckily, there is an alternative to nearly every paper product you can think of. Instead of sending letters through the mail, you can use email, which is faster and more reliable anyway. Instead of going to the store and picking out a Mothers Day gift or Mothers Day (http://www.care2.com/send/catmothersday1.html) card, you can go online and find an ecard, thus saving paper, ink, and money.

Instead of scribing ten page reports on paper, you can type them out on the computer and email them to your professor, saving the wood needed to make a pencil, saving paper, and saving your poor fingers from blisters and calluses.

The internet is just full of possibilities, and every web alternative has more benefits than just the fact that you're saving paper. Most online purchases will cost you less than if you went to a store to get them, and you don't have to spend any gas to do it. You also don't have to deal with lines, and you don't have to stand there staring at the shelf wondering where the product is when it's right in front of your face.

If you have a million friends whose birthdays are scattered all over the place, you don't need to make a bunch of trips to the Hallmark store anymore. You can send birthday ecards (http://www.care2.com/send/birthday_cards.html) or funny joke ecards to all of them, and you don't even need to include money in the card. Now, you can even do grocery shopping online, to have it delivered to your house. This way you save on gas, and you need neither paper nor plastic.

Christmas shopping is a breeze. You still get great deals when you shop online, and you won't need to engage in fisticuffs over the last Barbie Princess Play-set because even if it's out of stock on one site, there is a multitude of other sites you can check. Not to mention that it takes only seconds to check out, and it will arrive at your doorstep in the perfect sized box, ready for you to wrap up.

Never again will you need to take time out of your day to address Christmas greeting cards to all of your friends and family, because now you can send Christmas ecards (http://www.care2.com/send/catxmas1.html) as well. If you take into account the fact that a physical greeting card is about a dollar in price, and each postage stamp is forty-two cents, you'll realize that it can get rather expensive.

Then you must figure the amount of water you'll need to drink in order to lick all of the envelopes, and how bad they will taste in the first place. Sometimes doing things the old-fashioned way is a real pain. So why bother, when there are more convenient, eco-friendly alternatives right at your fingertips?