|03-06-2008, 06:47 PM||#1|
Join Date: Oct 2002
Device: Sony PRS-650 / Nexus 7 / Kindle PW
E-Book: "As the Oceans Rise" with exclusive MR coupon
Most people acknowledge that global warming poses a serious threat to the planet. In As the Oceans Rise, Chuck Tremper explores the various actions that could be taken by governments, by industry and by individuals to mitigate the effects. Of particular interest is Chapter 5 -- find an excerpt here -- where Dr. Tremper talks about the transition from printed to electronic materials, with an emphasis on e-books:
|03-07-2008, 12:10 PM||#2|
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Device: Thinkpad X41 & Sony Reader
Although I certainly accept that anthropogenic climate change is a serious problem, this quote implies that 1) we're destroying rainforests to generate paper pulp, which is nonsense--rainforests are being destroyed to convert forestland to farmland, and 2) trees are being consumed by the pulp industry more quickly than they are being replaced. This second point may be arguable, but I've seen studies showing that hardwood forests here in the US are now at a par with what they were when Europeans arrived, largely through the abandonment of marginal farmland east of the Mississippi. Biomass lost in spot fluctuations of replantable pulp forests is more than balanced by the (denser) biomass of long-lived hardwood forests.
A second issue that bears on the impact of print publishing is that where not recycled, paper most often ends up in landfills, which has the effect of pulling carbon out of the atmosphere (into which it went by combustion of fossil fuels) and sequestering it. Ebooks are not a clear ecological win over pbooks, as best I can see. Once manufactured, a pbook ceases to be a burden on the ecosphere. Ebooks require hardware readers (which have relatively high carbon and heavy-metal footprints, like all electronics) which in turn require electric power, most of which is now generated by the burning of fossil fuel.
There are a lot of places where individuals can make a difference in climate change. I seriously doubt that converting from pbooks to ebooks is one of them.
|03-07-2008, 01:14 PM||#3|
Join Date: Feb 2008
Device: Sony PRS-600, Fujitsu Stylistic ST-4121
Actually, if one looks at printed books as carbon sinks, they may have a net positive impact (if they're done so as to have a smaller carbon footprint in energy / emissions expended).
|03-07-2008, 04:05 PM||#4|
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
Device: publish to all
E-reading's net benefits for the climate
Using an e-reader in place of printed materials certainly is not the most important change we can make to reduce climate change. Preserving rainforests from being cleared for agriculture and development would be even better. Switching to e-books really does produce a net benefit for the climate, though. More important, it spurs us to think about how we need to change almost everything we do to achieve sustainability.
E-books take us in the right direction because the technology has the potential to be much less damaging to the climate than printed materials. Already the e-ink systems used in many e-readers is very energy efficient because page displays don’t use power once they’re initially composed. Recharging them from solar power reduces their impact even further.
Over time, a single reader might be used to read hundreds of books and potentially thousands of newspapers and magazines. That usage not jonly displaces an enormous amount of paper production, which is environmentally damaging aside from its use of trees, it also eliminates the energy and chemicals used in transporting and storing the books, plus their ultimate disposal. It can be far less damaging than the processes needed to produce, use, and dispose of e-readers.
Converting to e-books is just one transition we need to make. For those of us who read a lot, it helps to remind us that we need to be making such transitions and doing it quickly if the planet is to remain a pleasantly inhabitable place.
|Thread Tools||Search this Thread|
|Thread||Thread Starter||Forum||Replies||Last Post|
|Kobo Coupon - $2 off "Books for Dad"||tench||Deals, Freebies, and Resources (No Self-Promotion)||11||07-02-2010 10:25 PM|
|Synchronising "Book" and "Code" views||HarryT||Sigil||2||08-11-2009 08:07 AM|
|New "E-Book Devices" "Bookeen Opus" forum desired||ericch||Bookeen||3||08-06-2009 07:31 PM|
|German Article: Auftrieb für eBooks ("Rise of the eBooks")||joblack||News||0||10-13-2007 05:49 PM|
|Exclusive interview with "Deathly Hallows" e-book pirates||Alexander Turcic||News||71||08-04-2007 10:46 PM|