Goodbye to the checkbook

A lot of things have happened to me since I moved to New York from Copenhagen a month ago. I got a new apartment, new friends, a slightly different look, a better American accent and a checkbook.  Yes, a checkbook. I kind of expected the first four things but I never in my life anticipated to be the happy owner of a light blue checkbook with different motives on each page (one with Winnie the Pooh, Bugs Bunny and even one with Mount Rushmore).

This is the first time in my 24 years lifespan that I’ve been acquainted with such a thing and for all that I knew no one really used that prehistoric find anymore (In Denmark we haven’t used checkbooks for years). However, a lot of things are different in the States and at first I didn’t really think more about it.

Then, a couple a days ago I actually had to write out a check and that’s when I started to think about the checkbook in a broader sense. First of all it is easier, faster and more modern just to transfer the money electronically and not jot down all those number and letters on a small piece of paper.

And second of all (and the whole purpose of this issue of my green blog, which I assume you all been waiting for) it is a whole lot better for the environment to abolish the checkbook and start transferring money online. Think about it – every time you write out a check or get a new checkbook from your bank it is good paper totally wasted on something that belonged in the 90es.

If we assume that just a quarter of the American population, 77 million people, uses a checkbook every year and a checkbook is 20 pages thick, then 1.6 billion pieces of paper is wasted on simple money transfers each year. Transfers that, for all that I know, could have been executed online.

So, in terms of saving the environment – or at least trying to – I’d say that we get rid of the checkbooks and start transferring money online. It is the little things that count, right?