In the U.S., for example, people consume an average of 663 pounds of paper per person (according to 2006 statistics cited in the Secret Life of Paper FAQ). That adds up to a whopping 99.78 million tons of paper for one country alone. That's a lot of trees.
Not only does paper require lots of trees, it takes lots of water too. The pulp and paper industry uses up more water than any other industry in the developed world, according to the Environmental Paper Network. And, just as bad, it generates lots of pollution: the paper/pulp industry is the world's third largest emitter of greenhouse gases (only the chemical and steel industries are worse).
How can you personally reduce the amount of paper you consume and, as a result, shrink your "paper footprint" on the environment? Well, one way is to start reading more e-books.
One company that's working to make that a better option for readers with many different interests is OneBookShelf.com. Founded in 2001, the company works with publishers in a variety of niches to make their books and other publications available for purchase in a digital format online. Customers who buy the company's titles don't need a fancy e-book reader like Amazon's Kindle, either: a computer equipped with a program like Adobe Reader (which you can download for free) is all you need.
EcoBrain, one of OneBookShelf's Websites, takes special aim at people interested in the environment and green living. In its mission statement, EcoBrain says its goal is to offer material that is "fairly priced, respects the earth and helps to educate our customers about living a greener life." Besides saving trees, offering books digitally reduces other environmental impacts as well, it says. "(B)ecause EcoBrain eBooks are delivered and produced electronically, very little energy is used in their creation and no fuel is used in their delivery."
Green readers of all kinds can find titles of interest in EcoBrain's collection. There are books about the environment (of course), climate change and renewable energy, but you'll also find titles in areas like business, health, cooking, gardening ... even fiction and religion. Some of the popular selections include "Living Well" by Montel Williams, “The Casual Conservationist” by Eric Robbins, Mary Appelhof's "Worms Eat My Garbage: How to Set Up and Maintain a Worm Composting System," and “EcoKids: Raising Children Who Care for the Earth” by Dan Chiras.
Speaking of EcoKids, if you're homeschooling one or more of them, another OneBookShelf.com Website of interest might be CurrClick.com. CurrClick, whose goal is to "make homeschooling more convenient and more affordable to homeschoolers all over the world," offers educational e-books for all age groups from baby to college-bound teen, in a range of subjects and prices. A sampling of some of its titles includes Barron's "1100 Words You Need to Know," Cheryl Moeller's "Homeschool Your Preschooler on $1 a Day" and a set of mini e-books on the different biomes of the world.
One more incentive for checking out EcoBrain: now through Nov. 1, the e-book-seller is offering a $5 credit to all new account signups (signing up is free). It's a good opportunity to try an e-book at no cost, since many of EcoBrain's titles are available for less than $5.
Shirley Siluk Gregory - I've always been concerned about the environment and my impact on it: I hate to throw away anything that could come in handy someday (to ...
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