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Photograph by Justin Ratcliffe. (Click image to enlarge)

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Indeed, I receive far less "snail mail" than I once did. Like most of you, I now receive invoices for insurance payments, notifications of frequent flyer mile accumulation and invitations to parties and events by e-mail. Moreover, I get press releases and newsletters with links to Websites that promise me even more information if I click on the links. But like most of you, I still hit the "Print" button.

As you’ll read in this issue, February is Miami boat show month. Marine companies generate piles of brochures, flyers and promotions that we all collect and cart home to read by the fire. I love the Miami shows for many reasons, but I’m dreading them simply because I’m still sorting through my piles of brochures, flyers, business cards and papers from the Fort Lauderdale boat show and the Caribbean charter shows. My office is jam-packed with piles of the printed word.

Anyone worth his PalmPilot or BlackBerry maintains an electronic file of business contacts. I’m a bit of a dinosaur in that I remember the graphic design of a business card and associate a person with it. I just can’t give them up! Many years ago, the Library of Congress switched from card catalogues to electronic databases. State and local libraries followed suit. I was one of those people who took pleasure in thumbing through a card catalog and running into an intriguing topic or a book title I was not looking for. Happenstance can be such a delight. The same goes for business cards. Thumbing through my piles I am often motivated to contact someone simply because I made that tactile, analog connection between paper and face.

In the world of yachts, designers, builders and owners are slowly becoming more conscious of efficiency and environmental sustainability. Take the story in this issue on Luciano Benetton’s new 50-meter (164-foot) explorer vessel, Tribù, launched by Mondomarine last summer. ShowBoats’ contributing editor Justin Ratcliffe had a rare interview with Benetton about his new vessel being the first private yacht to carry the RINA Green Star certificate for environmental efficiency.

"Respect for the environment has always been part of the Benetton Group’s corporate philosophy," says the man who revolutionized the Italian fashion industry with his inexpensive and cheerful global clothing brand. "So it was inevitable when I decided to build Tribù that the project would draw on the same strategy."

It’s all about scale. If a megayacht can make headway down the green highway, we mortals can do it. With more and more companies distributing their brochures on CDs and memory sticks, maybe, just maybe, my office will one day be as uncluttered as the decks of a Wally.