environment

Environmentally friendly and guilt free, book swapping sites are hugely popular. Aside from the obvious benefits for the trees, book swapping introduces readers to authors they normally wouldn’t have chanced. Not actually purchasing the book apparently lends freedom to the process of choosing the next read. But some authors, such as Jeanette Winterson, are not so keen on the idea.

The latest study from the publishing world is an 86 (post consumer recycled) page report that examines what the books we read are made of. The bad news is that the book world uses up more than 1.5 million tons of paper each year. The good news is that the industry is steadily moving toward making the process greener.

Five environmentally focused works have been signed by HarperOne for release in 2008 and 2009. Most interesting among these is The NRSV Green Bible, which will include essays on caring for the earth, a guide to green organizations, and a “Green Trail Guide” that will point to passages that refer to taking care of creation. The latter will be printed in green ink.

“Days after the International Panel on Climate Change published its latest and most alarming report, the books trade has taken a step towards a greener future, setting a target of a 10% reduction in carbon footprint from 2006 levels by 2015.” Call me cynical, but I think they could care less about the environment and are just caving to readers’ pressure in order to protect their sales.

Raz Godelnik, CEO of Eco-Libris (www.ecolibris.net), talks about environmentally friendly publishing. The reasons for publishers not using recycled paper, he says, have less to do with cost, availability or quality than we think; it’s all to do with awareness.

"Simon & Schuster is committing to saving the Earth, or at least a few of its trees. The publisher has made a public commitment to use more environmentally friendly paper, a move which will, according to its calculations, save 483,000 trees every year."

Yesterday was Blog Action Day, and the issue addressed was the environment. The publishing industry is not, by any stretch, a green one, so as book lovers we should be (and are) concerned. Check out this blog post, then go to the Greenpeace Book Campaign (linked in the post) to find out which authors and publishers are doing what to save our ancient forests and what readers can do to help.

Thomas Nelson will be publishing the world’s first green bible this month. The eco-friendly tome will contain recycled fiber and will be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. “…use of environmentally responsible paper is a living legacy to the Bible's message of stewardship” says the director of Green Press Initiative.

Wonderful that the book is not all about him.
I wonder also, although, if this is ghost written or he sat down and wrote a book.

The study takes a look at a few key issues. The results won’t be available until December, but you can read everything you need to know about it here, including all about the Book Industry Treatise on Responsible Paper-Use. I was glad to see that. It’s all good, providing it results in something being actively done and isn’t just another justification of some CEO’s existence.