Publishers going green on Earth Day
Everyone is jumping on the "save the earth" bandwagon these days. Why it took so long for a lot of people to actually care about the one and only earth we live on is beyond me. But better late than never, right?
Anyway, I’m happy to see that at least one major publisher is making an effort to cut down on waste, pollution and energy consumption. In a recent article from Publishers Weekly, it appears that Random House has been doing a little metaphorical house cleaning:
The company has been focused on reducing its environmental impact by increasing its use of recycled paper and estimated that by upping use of recycled paper to 16% in 2007 it saved 309,058 trees in the year. RH’s 2007 carbon audit found that 88% of its carbon impacts came from the use of paper, and by using more recycled paper RH prevented greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those generated by 2,970 cars in a year.
Not too shabby, especially for a publishing company that produces large amounts of printed materials, which obviously means large amounts of trees are cut down. Random House also started using the Sony Reader in-house so the sales force and others involved in publication don’t have to lug around those heavy manuscripts.
Hopefully more and more publishers will follow suit (the way things are going, I don’t doubt they already are) and seek to help keep the earth from suffering anymore damage than it already has.
Read the entire article from Publishers Weekly here:
Random Reviews its green progress
A side note: While I was writing this post tonight, I wondered for the first time: Just what is a bandwagon? People always seem to be jumping on and off these things, so I thought it might be important to know what it is. After a quick Google search, I found this convenient Wikipedia article.
On a more personal note, I usually don’t jump on any bandwagons. I wait for them to come to a complete stop and then get on and safely seat myself. I apologize for my pathetic attempt at humor.
Since it’s Earth Day, it is probably appropriate to ask all of you what you are doing to help save the environment. Do you recycle? Ride a bike instead of driving a gas-guzzling car? Leave a comment and you might just get a $30 Amazon gift card for your efforts! Make sure you read my simple contest rules first and have fun.
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