Despite the facts, you might be asking yourself, why should I care about the environmental impact of printed books vs ebooks? Does it really make that big of a difference? We are so often surrounded by an endless supply of printed books, magazines, and newspapers that it is easy to become desensitized to or forget about their negative impact on our environment. However, did you know – in 2008 alone, the publishing industry was responsible for the harvest of nearly 125 million trees!
Our landfills are composed of about 26% paper, and the publishing industry comprises about 11% of freshwater consumed in industrial nations. These are undeniably significant statistics that warrant our attention. Most reasonable people would agree that it is imperative we reduce our reliance on landfills, maintain the health of our forests, and attempt to limit any excess use of valuable freshwater. And now, with the introduction of e-reader technology, it could be possible that strides toward a more environmentally friendly lifestyle can be made.
Because of this, we should all consider the ‘ebooks versus printed books’ argument an important one and attempt to educate ourselves on the issue.
The average carbon footprint associated with the production of a single paper book is only about 7.5kg. There is the fact that producing a single e-reader requires the extraction of nearly 33lb of minerals and uses about 79 gallons of water. It should come as no surprise that traditional, printed books do not require even close to the same amount of resources, and being aware of these simple facts makes it crystal clear that e-readers are not a perfect solution.
However, depending on your individual reading habits, they can serve as a way to avoid excess CO2 emissions, and it is for these reasons that this issue of the utmost importance.
Unfortunately, this debate isn’t close to solved, but if you want to make an impact, these sources are a good place to start gaining education about this very important topic:
Sources:
Ritch, Emma. “The Environmental Impact of Amazon’s Kindle.” The Environmental Impact of Amazon’s Kindle The Environmental Impact of Amazon’s Kindle (2009): n. pag. tkearth.com. Web.
Siegle, Lucy. “Should I Stop Buying Paper Books and Use an E-reader Instead?” theguardian.com. N.p., 5 Jan. 2013. Web.
