I like to think I do my part for the environment. I "reduced, reused and recycled" long before it was fashionable - my whole life, really. We've made sure our house is as energy-efficient as an older home can be by insulating top and bottom, and changing the roof, doors and windows. We heat by relatively clean hydro-electricity and have thermostats in every room so that we only fully heat the rooms we're using when we're actually using them. We drive energy efficient cars, keep them well tuned-up and don't take unnecessary trips.
When it comes to my favourite hobby though, (reading - duh!), choosing the greenest option has gotten a little more challenging the past few years. Of course the best choice of all is to borrow from your friendly neighbourhood library or to buy used, and the vast majority of the time I do just that. I do treat myself to the odd new book from time to time however - and that's not a wholly bad thing either. If nobody ever bought new books, there wouldn't be much in the way of new books or authors to read would there?
But where those new books are concerned, there's also a new choice of late: real book or ebook? It seems deceptively simple. Buy a tablet or ereader once and then read an infinite number of books electronically, harming no trees in the process. I've heard estimates range from eight to fifty as the number of ebooks you have to read to offset the initial production of the device. Beyond that, you're golden - saving Mother Earth one tree at a time.
An interesting article I read recently explored the issue in depth. It concluded that the average reader needs to read 32.5 ebooks over a five year period to break even with the lifetime carbon footprint of their device. Trouble is that most people don't keep the same device for five years. Another thing to consider is the multiple device household generating multiple emissions.
I don't think I'll have any problem with the reading requirement; I'm already around 15 ebooks with the Sony ereader I got at Christmas. But I'm not an average reader either. And I'll hopefully keep my ereader for five years too. For basic reading I can't see a need to upgrade to anything better in the near future. (In contrast, however, I do foresee upgrading my iPad every two or three years and am coveting an iPod Touch as soon as it gets a decent camera.) And we are definitely guilty of being a multiple device household. Besides my ereader, we have two iPads, two desktops and a laptop in regular use - not to mention two digital cameras, a video camera and an mp3 player. (Plus there are several more computers and laptops, an old palm pilot, two cameras, an mp3 player and a cell phone sitting in storage - and I don't think any of them were used for five years.) Of course those devices are for purposes other than ereading, which actually might be my greenest technology use, although I think - hope - that using my iPad is better than firing up a laptop too.
Anyway, I guess the main thing to take away is the notion of keeping and using our devices for as long as possible. Now that I have my ereader, I certainly plan to read and read with it - and take good care of it too, since broken devices are yet another thing to consider. I admit it's really hard not to succumb to the temptation of the newest and coolest devices, and if they help people - and particularly kids - to read more that's a definite plus, but for the casual reader low tech - or no-tech - is probably still the greenest way to go. As for me, I'll try to make the best of both the real and virtual worlds. I'll download/borrow ebooks that are freely available (there are certainly plenty of those thanks to my libraries and sites like Project Gutenberg), borrow most of the others in print format from my local libraries, and treat myself to a few used and new books that I really want too. One thing I can say for sure is that there's certainly never been a better time to be a reader!
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