No one should feel guilty about reading. But we shouldn't forget that 20 million trees are cut down yearly in the U.S. to produce the books we read. Eco-Libris offers a way to help off-set the environmental impact of this deforestation.
posted originally from: AT:Nursery
Publishers are (too) slowly coming around to the idea of using recycled paper (the 7th installment of Harry Potter being a prime example), but consumers can help too. Eco-Libris asks readers to balance out their paper consumption by planting a tree for every book they read. They've teamed up with non-profit planting partners in developing countries to carry out this mission. For about a dollar a book, a new tree will be planted. Eco-Libris will send you a sticker for each book (printed on recycled paper of course) to show your commitment to sustainable reading.
While it may not be feasible to do this for every book we buy, we think this is a good way to teach children about where paper comes from, why it's important to recycle it and why reforestation matters.
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
Green bookworms should also find out about BookCrossing, a web-based initiative to share your books with others by "setting them free" and hunting for "wild books" liberated by fellow readers.
It works by registering your particular volume with a unique id, whereby all of its readers log in journal entries and you track its progress around the world.
Check it out!
http://bookcrossing.com/friend/olive-books
view olivegreen's profile
If you join Book Crossing, browse a little and see where the "hot" spots for releasing books are in your region. This ups the likelihood that your book will be caught and read -- I suspect a lot of books released into the wild are ending up in the trash.
(And if you know the best spots for BC releases, you can find yourself some free books, too.)
view wende in the twin cities's profile
or you can do e-books. my library will let you rent a pdf e-book or even audio book that you can put on all mp3 players cept for the ipod.
i've done it a few times.
view mariegael's profile
I think some of the best ways for book readers to go green is to buy them used, pass books along to friends, or go to the library. There are even sites that offer online books (such as the International Children's Digital Library), although I'm personally not a fan of people (especially children) spending so much time reading fine print in front of the screen.
view AshleyCMC's profile