Lots of people have been talking about eco-libris since yesterday. The gist of the project is to counter the effect of book production on deforestation by asking people to donate $1 for every book they buy. The money then goes to tree-planting initiatives.
At first glance, it seems sensible. But there's a serious problem here with the message it sends. The implicit message here is that buying a book is somehow really bad for the environment, but that's not true. A bought book lives a very long life. When people buy books, they usually keep them around for a while. And then they pass them on or sell them. It's not buying books that's the problem, any more than buying a house is a problem; the problem is at the production end.
The problem is the grotesque way in which publishers over-print on a regular basis. The mass-market industry is particularly horrible in this respect. What really needs to happen is for some forward thinking publisher to rethink the way it handles the manufacturing end of their business. It would be fabulous if they reclaimed unsold books, pulp them and reuse the paper.
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