E-Readers and the Environment

slate.com

We all know that there is a huge trend towards "going green." Cars are becoming cleaner and more efficient and people are encouraged to conserve energy whenever possible. It seems that on a large scale going digital will be one way we can all reduce our carbon footprints. Is this what needs to be done to help save our planet?

In a News Watch article, I found on the National Geographic website, writer, Brian Clark Howard, says,

"The amount of paper used for books in one year was estimated at 1.5 million metric tons, and each book produced gave off an estimated 8.85 pounds of carbon dioxide. Study groups have found that the carbon released from eBooks is offset after people read more than 14 eBooks."  

These statistics show that switching for traditional books to e-books and e-readers could potentially help reduce the amount of green house gases in our atmosphere and save our planet. Not to mention all the trees that would be saved.

E-Waste ierc.info

Of course when we discuss this topic we must also look at the possibilities of e-waste. E-waste is a short hand way to say electronic waste such as; computers, e-readers, TV's, laptops, and any other discarded electronic device. The chemicals that are in these new technologies are very harmful and we have not yet figured out a way to dispose of them without causing harm to the environment. Even though the e-reader does create a carbon footprint and cause e-waste when discarded they are still more economical that traditional print media.  

Besides books the newspaper industry is one that causes a lot of damage to our environment. In an article from the New York Times they cover a study done by the RAND Corporation, a global research company. This article states that, "Printing and distributing a single newspaper subscription for a year emits 208 pounds of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere." These numbers were estimated by RAND. It seems that the right thing for the newspaper industry to do is to move to an all digital format. However they do not yet make as much on digital subscribers as they do with print copies. It may be a while before we see an all digital world. 

With the advances of technology and this trend towards green products we as consumers have to decide what is right for us. I have said many times in this blog that I prefer traditional books to e-readers, but if it comes down to the planet and a paper book...I personally choose the planet.  

I found this video on YouTube. It seems to be an ad about e-ink but it also has some interesting facts!