Working in the publishing industry, I am aware of how much paper gets used. At our office, as much as possible, we try to work on the screen rather than hard copy, thus minimizing the amount of paper (and toner) that gets used. But we do go through a fair amount of paper in order to turn a manuscript into a book.
I do my part. Once projects have gone to press, I reuse the paper from one-sided manuscripts either in my home printer or by making little note pads for everyone in the office. Yes, of course the final product—a book—will be printed on paper, but at least we are using less paper in the process.
I confess right up front that I am not an e-reader person. I like the feel of a book in my hands. Curling up with a kindle is just not the same. I know people who own e-readers and love them. I know someone who helped produce one of the e-readers out on the market right now. I still have no interest in getting one. I made the transition from vinyl to 8-track to cassette to CDs just fine, but I love books. Not just the content inside them, but the books themselves.
I have heard prognosticators claim with great certainty that books made of paper will soon be quaint memories. In trying to make peace with the future, I thought, well, at least we’ll save a few trees by not printing so many books. Then I came across a piece written by Bill Henderson in Publishers Weekly commenting on an article from the venerable New York Times:
Here’s what an e-reader is: a battery-operated slab, about a pound, one-half inch thick, perhaps with an aluminum border, rubberized back, plastic, metal, silicon, a bit of gold, plus rare metals such as columbite-tantalite (Google it) ripped from the earth, often in war-torn Africa. To make one e-reader requires 33 pounds of minerals, plus 79 gallons of water to refine the minerals and produce the battery and printed writing. “The adverse health impacts [on the general public] from making one e-reader are estimated to be 70 times greater than those for making a single book,” says the Times. http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/columns-and-blogs/soapbox/article/46793-books-without-batteries-the-negative-impacts-of-technology.html
Wow.
So now I have an ecological argument to support my love of books. And I plan to spread the word. Tell everyone you know this simple fact: the carbon footprint of one e-reader is 70 times that of a book. Not twice the carbon footprint, not ten times, but 70! Maybe it will do nothing. Or maybe it will be the beginning of the end of the e-reader.
The View from a Berkeley Optimist 
I have 3 comments to this. First, if you love books, buy books. There is no reason you have to compare to e-readers to rationalize that. Your love of books is reason enough. Second, I find it interesting the writer of this choose e-media instead of printed publication to share this. If you love paper than why not publish this via paper? Third, are you telling me that once I download 71 books I’ve crossed over to be environmentally justified, and every book after that is helping the environment? If so I’m well on my way there.
I’ve commented on this topic when you posted the article on fb, but I must admit I do have an interest in getting a kindle. My sole purpose is to save my back! There are many students at my college who are now using these to download text books which are required for their courses. The advantage: no more back-breaking book bag to carry around; the disadvantage: no partial refund for selling the text back to the bookstore at the end of the semester. My decision is simple — continue purchasing books for two reasons. 1. I can’t afford the kindle. 2. I want the option to return the text books for a partial refund. It all comes down to money for me.
Amber,that’s interesting–I didn’t know textbooks were available on kindle. I can totally see the advantage of an e-reader in that instance.
And to Ross,good counter-argument! I guess the author of the article was implying that people turn in their gadgets so quickly for the newer model that most of them wouldn’t read more than 70 books before upgrading. It’s all in how you use them, I guess.
Yes, it’s because most of our text books can be purchased at a reduced rate through Amazon.com, which is also where most e-books are purchased as well.
The Kindle Ink contains gelatin which comes from animal products. I learned this as a student at CU. I am vegetarian and this kind of grossed me out.