Monday, June 16th, 2008
Read Someone Else’s Book
How many books are on your bookshelf?
Of those, how many have you read?
Who cares.
How many do you plan to read?
Who cares.
How many do you plan to read, and then go back and read or reference again after that? Those are the ones that I think are probably worth buying. The rest you probably could have gotten from the library and been just as happy.
Yep, the library. Remember that place from elementary school? They lend to adults too. Check it out. What they don’t have, they can usually get for you within a couple of days. And going there just makes you feel like a better person. I swear. It’s a real pick-me-up.
Plus, of course, reading and returning is also cheaper, and it means fewer trees cut down, fewer books shipped to every Barnes and Noble in the country — hence less oil and gas used — and less groundwater-polluting ink made and used.
Consider these facts about the environmental impact of the publishing industry (pulled together by Co-Op America):
The pulp and paper industry is the single largest consumer of water used in industrial activities in OECD [wealthy] countries and is the third greatest industrial greenhouse gas emitter, after the chemical and steel industries.
Most of the world’s paper supply, about 71 percent, is not made from timber harvested at tree farms but from forest-harvested timber, from regions with ecologically valuable, biologically diverse habitat.
Tree plantations host about 90 percent fewer species than the forests that preceded them. More on publishing’s impact on forests.
In order to make paper “brighter,” wood fibers are often bleached with chlorine or chlorine compounds. When these bleaching agents are combined with organic matter such as wood fibers, one byproduct is dioxin, a known human carcinogen….In the paper bleaching process, dioxin finds its way into the environment, contaminating water, soil, and our food supply. Dioxin bioaccumulates in the fat of fish, seabirds, and mammals, and it has been associated with cancers, lymphomas, diabetes, immune system disorders, and birth defects. More on the environmental impacts of chlorine, and some friendlier alternatives.
Lead, cadmium and barium are a few of the highly toxic heavy metals found in some inks and these can easily seep into the environment, contaminating our soil and groundwater. Concentrations of heavy metals in the human body have been linked to serious neurological disorders, particularly in developing brains. Petroleum products and solvents typically consisting of alcohol or different hydrocarbons are also common ingredients used in inks. Most solvents are toxic and nearly all release volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the atmosphere as they dry. VOCs are a well-known culprit in the problem of ozone depletion. More on inks and vegetable-based alternatives.
So, my girlfriend’s got a bunch of art books on the shelf. I say, no problem. She flips through them every couple of days for ideas and inspiration. These are great books to have on hand.
But I’ve tried to purge my shelf of all the books that are just there to make me feel good. Seriously, so I read John Locke’s Treatises of Government in college. Who cares. Not me, not my girlfriend, and not the few people who occasionally circulate through my house. Send it to the used book store for the next college kid.
And I want to read The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan. I’ll order it at the library.
But I’m keeping my copy of Siddhartha, because I’ll reread it every time my life starts to spiral. Plus, it’s like, pamphlet-size.
Image: Parking garage at the Kansas City library. © jonathan_moreau (flickr)
