Preserving the ecosystem seems to be a hot topic around the world today; and well it should be. Unless we get lucky and discover another planet out there in the universe that will support life and at least half the earth's population can afford to pack up and move there; we had all better be concerned about saving the one we are currently bent on destroying in our lifetime. Most of us have heard and answered the cry of the endangered species, the pleas of rainforest preservation, the refurbishing of historical landmarks and monuments. Even now-although, not a necessarily new concern-is the wanton destruction of God's greatest gift to the very life support of all living creatures: our trees.
The old saying ‘can't see the forest for the trees' may not make much sense in the very near future. We could very well be saying, ‘can't see the forest, for there are no trees.'
Concerned citizens have lobbied to eliminate junk mail-a major contributor to the excess waste of paper. How many times each week do you go to your mail box and toss a bundle of fliers, pamphlets, and filled envelopes into the trashcan after simply glancing at the addresser? Wal-Mart being the biggest of these transgressors. How many advertisement printings do you think Wal-Mart can get from one tree? I'm sure someone out there has already done the math and since most of us make at least two trips to Wal-Mart each week, why do we need the sale papers to fill our trash cans?
As published writers, we too, have a responsibility to help keep our earth green. But what can we do? After all, we only write the books; we don't publish them or print them. So how can we help? How can we do our part in saving our trees so that our planet can continue to give us our free supply of needed oxygen? How many books can one tree produce? If you are like most writers, you probably never gave much thought to the fact that the life of your book represented the death of a tree. Our first and foremost concern was to see our book in print-holding it in our hands for the first time as we lovingly ran our fingers gently over the beautifully printed cover.
Don't panic. There are things that we, as writers, can do to ‘Go Green' and still see our books on the public market. Unless you are another John Grisham or Stephan King, you probably won't have to worry about killing too many trees right off the bat as your books will probably be just print-on-demand or as ordered. Mass produced books are most likely printed on recycled paper.
** One question you can ask your publisher is ‘does your printing company use recycled
paper?' Recycled paper can be used on hardcover books as well as paper backs, and book covers as well as pages. If you don't have a publisher as yet, find out if a publisher follows any environmentally friendly practices and what they are before making your decision to use this publisher.
** Ink is another issue faced by publishers and printing companies. The chemicals that
comprise ink can be harmful to the environment as a hazardous waste product. Does the printer use oil-based ink or the safer and less costly vegetable-based ink?
** There is also the question of glue used in book bindings. What chemicals are used in
the glue? Is there a glue that is environmentally friendly and if not is there an
alternative?
** There are also chemicals used in the paper of books, such as the chlorine used to
bleach the pages to their pure white color. Is this bleach safe for the environment?
The word ‘chlorine' just doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling about this product.
Now all this may cause concerns about the expense to publish a ‘Green' book. Recycled paper should prove to be less expensive than paper produced from fresh cut trees, especially when you calculate in all the trees you could be saving and your encouragement in the use of recycled products. One well known group (Tree Huggers) suggest that you , as an author, join the Author Save the World program and encourage your readers and fans to plant trees on the last page of your book and on your website.
As technologies grow at an ever-increasing rate, we may see the end of tree killing by the ever-growing popularity of the E-Book. I want to continue to write and have my writing published, but I don't want to see it happen at the cost of jeopardizing future generations.
May E-Books and ‘Green Books' be the way of the future.
Sandra E. Graham, author, AMOS JAKEY and NICOLINA, from American Book Publishing. Visit my website for more info on my writings: http://www.sandragraham-articles-books.com
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