50 Acts of Green: Day Thirty Five - Books

Paper takes a lot of water, tree pulp, and energy and produces a lot of chemically bound wastewater. In the United States we use a lot of paper products. Magazines, books, newspapers, toilet paper, paper towels, paper plates, etc. Some of these items are created in environmentally friendly ways and some of them are not. Not all these paper products are produced in exactly the same way, but they all involved a lot of water, pulp, and energy. While I have talked about environmentally friendly toilet paper and alternatives to paper towels and other kitchen paper products already, I want to talk about books today. 

I love books. I have more books than I want to admit to. I love the way a book feels in your hand and the ability to write in a book and wear the pages when you come upon passages you love and read over and over again. However, I do realize that the production of all these books is sucking a huge amount of energy, water, and trees into use that could be saved. 

Part of my library

Thankfully, there are alternatives to simply buying every book you ever want to read new. Libraries are a great place to start, because each book is able to be used over and over again. Free Little Libraries are also helpful to book sharing and cutting down the environmental footprint of each book. Of course, the drawback with libraries of any variety is looking for a specific book you want and not finding it. 

Another alternative is an electronic reading device. Whether you buy a Kindle, Nook, or have reading apps on another tablet platform, from what I have read and the studies being done in production statistics, if you read more than 6 books a year, an electronic reading device is more environmentally friendly than the books themselves. They have a different kind of feel in the hand, but with the updates, you can still highlight passages and make comments for later reading. 

While I won't be getting rid of all my print bound books any time soon, I have invested in a Kindle in order to cut down on my environmental impact with books and on the amount of clutter in my house. It is a process. But I am grateful for the opportunities and alternatives out there. So, share your books with others!

One small act of green, water, energy, and trees saved!