An estimated 20 million trees are cut down every year to provide books to the U.S. marketplace. Luckily, 65 percent of the 16,700 tons of paper used in the mammoth first U.S. printing of the Harry Potter finale was printed on recycled paper containing at least 30 percent post-consumer waste fiber. If it wasn’t I suspect the amount of trees lost this year would be much higher.
As the world continues to tilt green these numbers will no longer be acceptable. In an effort to raise awareness and replace the fallen trees Eco-Libris is asking readers to “plant a tree for every book you read.”
How it works:
Eco-Libris encourages readers to “balance out” the books they own with a $1 donation for each book. A tree will be planted for each dollar received.
Eco-Libris has set up a network of planting partners in developing countries who will benefit from these newly planted trees.
For each $1 you give you get a Eco-Libris sticker that you are encouraged “to put on the cover of the books you balance out, to show your commitment to sustainability and responsible use of natural resources.”
Obviously the concept is a worthy one and one that deserves the support of anyone involved in the book trade. I am not so sure of the sticker component, as much at it is a green badge of honor it is also a detriment to the book’s value. This is especially relevant if they stick to the current strategy of courting the reader instead of pressuring the publishers. If they stay this course one target audience is the book collector. More guilt potential and a greater likelihood of disposable income. Some of them could plant a forest though I am not sure any of them would want stickers to place on their books. A bookplate designed by a leading artist might be a different story. Book Crossing does something similar. They charge about $80 for a pack of 250. For Eco-Libris I envision a much more personalized bookplate that is offered free to donors who provide a certain level of support.
If nothing else Eco-Libris needs to be applauded for their commitment to the environment and their willingness to bring this Achilles heel of the publishing world to the fore-front.
But is this the right way to go about it?
I raised a few of my concerns with Raz Godelnik, the C.E.O. of Eco-Libris.
Book Patrol: The first question I have is why go after the individual book owner for support?
It seems to me that the prospect of asking people to contribute based on the books they already own is going to be quite challenging regardless of how green the person is. Regardless, of how guilty one might feel or how green one acts, it is going to be a major hurdle to convince people to contribute on the back-end.
Raz Godelnik: We believe that people should and want to take responsibility on the environmental impacts of their reading habits. We know not every book lover will want to balance out all the books she or he already owns, but on the other hand, we got feedback from people who own few thousands books and really want to do something about it and find a way to balance out many of these books, if not all of them.
We feel that moving towards sustainable reading cannot be done without the participation of book readers. Without their voice, it will be much more difficult to convince the book publishing industry to move forward quicker towards using more recycled paper and other eco-friendly solutions.
BP: Do you have a plan to include or pressure the publishing industry?
It seems we should be working on pressuring them to contribute to causes like Eco-Libris. Either they should add the $1 to he price of the book with the buyer knowing full well that the $1 goes to your cause or better yet if a publisher refuses to print on recycled paper they are “taxed” with those proceeds going to your cause. Mobilizing around this issue will allow Eco-Libris to be a more powerful agent for change.
RG: I like your definition of us as an agent for change. That’s exactly what we are looking to be. If on my reply above, I focused on the importance of the demand side (the customers), we cannot and we do not want to ignore importance of the supply side (the book publishing industry). Our intention is to become a voice to book lovers who want books to be more eco-friendly and make sure the industry will know there’s demand for that. We also want to assist pressuring the industry to raise the bar and move quicker towards printing books in an eco-friendly manner. Until this aim will be met, we want to see Eco-Libris as a solution adopted by as much publishers as possible.
BP: What kind of programs are you considering for bookstores? Publishers? Distributors? I am especially interested in your approach to the used bookstore which is inherently a green trade.
RG:We are planning collaborations with bookstores, publishers and distributors that will be in accordance with the activity of the specific body we’ll collaborate with. With bookstores, for example, we’ll work to be present on the counter, where customers can balance out the books they just bought, when they pay for them, and get our sticker right on spot. There are many options for collaborations and we’ll do our best to find the right plan for for anyone who is looking to collaborate with us.
We are very much in favor of used books, exchange of books, public libraries, reading clubs like bookcrossing.com, and any other option that will maximize the usage of each book that is already out there. In our thank you letter to our customers (printed on recycled paper of course), we write:
So, here are a few examples to get you started on going green about your reading:
1. Frequent more used book stores. It’s cheaper and much more sustainable. You don’t have to buy a new book every time you want something to read or for reference.
2. Join your local library. Hidden gems may exist right under your nose!
3. Borrow a book from friend. But don’t forget to return it 😉
I wish them luck.