If you’ve been reading Savvy Verse & Wit right along, then you know I’m passionate about saving the environment. I’ve offered tips in the past about how to take part in the movement, and I’ve reviewed books about doing your part or how others have done their part.
While I love the smell and feel of books in my hand, lets face it, trees are used to make those books. Are there books made from recycled paper? Sure. But only 0.23 percent of publishers are committed to increasing the number of books made on recycled paper, according to Eco-Libris. Moreover, only about 5 percent to 10 percent of paper used by book publishers is recycled.
(I snagged the above logo from Goodworks Blog.)
Meanwhile, the Book Industry Environmental Council announced that it was committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the publishing industry by 20 percent or to a 2006 baseline by the year 2020, and an 80 percent reduction by 2050.
This process is going to take a long, long, long time, and even then it may be too late. As avid readers, it is our job to make demand meet the need. We need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we need to increase the use of recycled products. We all can make small changes.
For those of us with the means, we can do something more than buy only books made from recycled paper. We can purchase convenient and useful eReaders, like the Amazon Kindle, the Sony eReader, or the upcoming IREX eReader.
Some features I would like in an eReader are:
- the ability to download books wirelessly and without connecting to a computer;
- is easy-to-use interface and functions;
- won’t hurt the eyes;
- something that is compatible with other documents, like pdfs and newspapers;
- allows you to make notations or mark sections for future reference;
- is compatible with MAC and PC;
- is energy-efficient;
- has a large enough screen so people who wear glasses don’t have to squint;
- is compact to fit in a bag, purse, or carry-on luggage;
- has significant built-in and expandable memory;
- is light to carry;
- can operate in a variety of languages;
- and wouldn’t it be great if it came in different colors?! Or had some great styling accessories?!
IREX Technologies has offered to give one book blogger participating in Book Blogger Appreciation Week an eReader, click on the link for details.
Book bloggers are some of the most avid readers, and while we are encouraging others to get in on the joy of reading, wouldn’t it be great if we also stepped up and did our part for the environment too?
I, for one, would love an eReader even if it was simply for travel purposes. I take flights to visit my parents at least once a year, and I know that I would use an eReader more often than not. Imagine all the trees I could be saving, let alone all the trees the bloggers I know, who review books, could be saving too.
The only troublesome part has been the cost of these devices, particularly for me. While I hope that I win the IREX eReader, I know that whoever wins it will put it to good use. I just hope I opened some of your eyes to the damage we unwittingly cause to the environment by buying books that do not use recycled paper. If you would like to offset your book purchases, please check out Eco-Libris’ plant a tree program to offset those purchases.
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