Comments on: Earth Day tidbit: 30M trees said to be used for p-books sold in U.S.: 1,153 X trees in NYC’s Central Park http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/04/20/earth-day-tidbit-30m-trees-said-to-be-used-to-for-p-books-sold-in-us-1153-x-trees-in-nycs-central-park/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:53:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Saramago y los libros amigos de los bosques http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/04/20/earth-day-tidbit-30m-trees-said-to-be-used-to-for-p-books-sold-in-us-1153-x-trees-in-nycs-central-park/#comment-777232 Saramago y los libros amigos de los bosques Sun, 27 Apr 2008 17:59:37 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/04/20/earth-day-tidbit-30m-trees-said-to-be-used-to-for-p-books-sold-in-us-1153-x-trees-in-nycs-central-park/#comment-777232 [...] origen fue la preocupación que me generó una noticia que leí en Teleread y que habla de que la producción anual de libros en los Estados Unidos consume el equivalente a [...] [...] origen fue la preocupación que me generó una noticia que leí en Teleread y que habla de que la producción anual de libros en los Estados Unidos consume el equivalente a [...]

]]> By: Garson O'Toole http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/04/20/earth-day-tidbit-30m-trees-said-to-be-used-to-for-p-books-sold-in-us-1153-x-trees-in-nycs-central-park/#comment-771703 Garson O'Toole Mon, 21 Apr 2008 23:01:24 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/04/20/earth-day-tidbit-30m-trees-said-to-be-used-to-for-p-books-sold-in-us-1153-x-trees-in-nycs-central-park/#comment-771703 The trend toward reading electronic text is already changing the paper industry. The New York Times notes that “some major papers have several times as many readers online as in print.” Fewer trees are being harvested for newsprint because of the upheaval in the newspaper industry. “The industry consumes about three-quarters as much newsprint as it did four years ago, a result of lower circulation and fewer ads, but also of fewer articles.” These quotes are from the article <a HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/business/media/07paper.html" rel="nofollow">An Industry Imperiled by Falling Profits and Shrinking Ads</A> from February 7, 2008. <blockquote>What is the number one material in the solid waste stream? Before you say plastics, look around your school classroom. What do you see? Posters? Notebooks? Cardboard boxes? Textbooks? Bulletin boards decorated with construction paper? You get the picture. Paper is everywhere! Paper is the number one material that we throw away. For every 100 pounds of trash we throw away, 35 pounds is paper. Newspapers take up about 14 percent of landfill space, and paper in packaging accounts for another 15 to 20 percent.</blockquote> The above quote comes from the <a HREF="http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/saving/recycling/solidwaste/paperandglass.html" rel="nofollow">Energy Kids Page created by the U.S. Department of Energy</A>. How much time do people spend reading online newspapers, blogs, reviews, niche news, gossip, and miscellaneous electronic verbiage? A narrow focus on e-books and the size of the e-book market might cause an observer to miss the wider electronic text disruption currently underway. It would be fascinating to compare the amount of text being read online to the amount being read on paper today. The trend toward reading electronic text is already changing the paper industry. The New York Times notes that “some major papers have several times as many readers online as in print.” Fewer trees are being harvested for newsprint because of the upheaval in the newspaper industry. “The industry consumes about three-quarters as much newsprint as it did four years ago, a result of lower circulation and fewer ads, but also of fewer articles.” These quotes are from the article An Industry Imperiled by Falling Profits and Shrinking Ads from February 7, 2008.

What is the number one material in the solid waste stream? Before you say plastics, look around your school classroom. What do you see? Posters? Notebooks? Cardboard boxes? Textbooks? Bulletin boards decorated with construction paper? You get the picture. Paper is everywhere!

Paper is the number one material that we throw away. For every 100 pounds of trash we throw away, 35 pounds is paper. Newspapers take up about 14 percent of landfill space, and paper in packaging accounts for another 15 to 20 percent.

The above quote comes from the Energy Kids Page created by the U.S. Department of Energy.

How much time do people spend reading online newspapers, blogs, reviews, niche news, gossip, and miscellaneous electronic verbiage? A narrow focus on e-books and the size of the e-book market might cause an observer to miss the wider electronic text disruption currently underway. It would be fascinating to compare the amount of text being read online to the amount being read on paper today.

]]> By: Joseph Gray http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/04/20/earth-day-tidbit-30m-trees-said-to-be-used-to-for-p-books-sold-in-us-1153-x-trees-in-nycs-central-park/#comment-770398 Joseph Gray Sun, 20 Apr 2008 15:53:14 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/04/20/earth-day-tidbit-30m-trees-said-to-be-used-to-for-p-books-sold-in-us-1153-x-trees-in-nycs-central-park/#comment-770398 I don't know about the rest of the world, but my understanding is that the trees used to make paper in the US are "farmed" and do not contribute to deforestation. I don't doubt that paper manufacturing has an impact on deforestation (especially in some other countries). However, the biggest danger to the worlds forests is slash and burn agriculture and the major deforestation done to introduce cattle ranches and other economic ventures. I don’t know about the rest of the world, but my understanding is that the trees used to make paper in the US are “farmed” and do not contribute to deforestation.

I don’t doubt that paper manufacturing has an impact on deforestation (especially in some other countries). However, the biggest danger to the worlds forests is slash and burn agriculture and the major deforestation done to introduce cattle ranches and other economic ventures.

]]> By: Rob Preece http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/04/20/earth-day-tidbit-30m-trees-said-to-be-used-to-for-p-books-sold-in-us-1153-x-trees-in-nycs-central-park/#comment-770328 Rob Preece Sun, 20 Apr 2008 14:30:08 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/04/20/earth-day-tidbit-30m-trees-said-to-be-used-to-for-p-books-sold-in-us-1153-x-trees-in-nycs-central-park/#comment-770328 Hi David, You raise a good point--the paper used in books is a fraction of total paper used (although with much printing moved to Asia, the ecological damages from books may be disproportionately high). I've seen evidence lately, though, that the rise in paper is finally over and we've begun moving toward the paperless future. I'm sure I'm not the only person who remembers when executives would have their admins print out their e-mails. There may be a few luddites who do that, but I sure don't see it. In terms of ecology, it's not just the loss of trees that causes problems, papermaking uses chemicals and has certainly contributed its share of ecological disasters. And who knows how many gallons the UPS trucks use delivering all those Amazon books I order. Happy Earth Day. I'm proud to be involved in an environmentally positive way of spreading the joys of reading. Rob Preece Publisher, www.BooksForABuck.com Hi David,
You raise a good point–the paper used in books is a fraction of total paper used (although with much printing moved to Asia, the ecological damages from books may be disproportionately high).

I’ve seen evidence lately, though, that the rise in paper is finally over and we’ve begun moving toward the paperless future. I’m sure I’m not the only person who remembers when executives would have their admins print out their e-mails. There may be a few luddites who do that, but I sure don’t see it.

In terms of ecology, it’s not just the loss of trees that causes problems, papermaking uses chemicals and has certainly contributed its share of ecological disasters. And who knows how many gallons the UPS trucks use delivering all those Amazon books I order.

Happy Earth Day. I’m proud to be involved in an environmentally positive way of spreading the joys of reading.

Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com

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