If Santa brings the toys, what pagan imp drops by every American’s house a month before Christmas with armloads of catalogs from every department store, clothing company, chocolate maker, jellysmith, fruitcake manufacturer, teddy-bear farm, etc in the land?

That said, I have fond memories of paging through the mammoth Sears catalog, which, considering that I grew up in a fairly small Texas town, literally was bigger than the phonebook. In its awesome comprehensiveness, it had page after page of material goods both alluring (every toy you could want) and impressively dull (every towel you could want, and then some).

And it probably took out an entire grove of giant sequoia to print.

Indeed, those carefree days of bulldozing rainforests so that every household from Truth and Consequences, NM, to Chagrin Falls, OH, can peruse Monkey Ward’s holiday deals are over. And the earth is better for it.

However, American companies traditionally don’t like risking sales loss just to save the earth’s ecosystem from destruction.

But fortunately for our forests, many companies are stepping up.

They’re saving paper (or using recycled) and maintaining the bottom line while building customer goodwill through upholding green principles that people care about.

Some, however, are not.

ForestEthics’ 4th Annual Naughty/Nice List, “a scorecard on the direct mail industry,” shows who’s getting goodies this Christmas and who’s getting coal in their stocking.

Receiving holiday-themed scores of Naughty, Nice, or Checking Twice, 21 companies, including companies in the financial sector, were evaluated according to four criteria: whether or not Endangered Forests are cut to produce the company’s catalogs; whether the company uses Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified paper; the amount of post-consumer recycled content in the company’s direct mailings; and the company’s efforts to reduce overall paper consumption.

The scorecard, which you can view at the link above or by downloading the PDF, shows some encouraging news.

Timberland tops the list — it’s ceased printing catalogs together. Patagonia is up there too, using the highest percentage of post-consumer goods. REI, L.L. Bean and Crate & Barrel all made a good showing.

At the bottom of Santa’s list … sigh. Sears, which has been found guilty of greenwashing. Nieman Marcus and Eddie Bauer didn’t even respond to the survey. Coal and coal for you guys.

Distributing massive amounts of direct mail isn’t even an option for small companies and mom-and-pop stores, but going green definitely is. Here’s a helpful page of info from Uncle Sam about how to take advantage of green marketing.

Hey, Santa, what kinda mileage does that sleigh of yours get?