So, I was thinking today while doing homework (a frightening thought, I know).
Specifically I was taking a homework break and continuing to try to catch up on my vlogbrothers video watching (http://www.youtube.com/user/vlogbrothers) and then catching up on my email subscriptions, a.k.a. the my ALA emails (which, I am proud to report, that I am now completely up-to-date on!) and emails from EcoGeek (www.EcoGeek.org).
I went back to my reading and while I was reading an article about the library as a search engine, I had a brain wave; so while I'm still riding said wave, I am going to attempt to record my thoughts.
The article was talking about Google books and how they are attempting to digitize all of the books ever written, and how libraries could work to reduce the number of print books they purchase by utilizing union catalogs in order to reduce the number of multiple copies of a single item held by multiple members of the catalog, and instead have one copy and use the funding saved to purchase additional resources, such as online journal subscriptions, ect. ect.
And this got me to thinking about books and the environment.
Now, I will admit that I love books. And it has reached an intensity in which in the past week alone I visited 2 bookstores in the same day (and came away disappointed, but that's another story entirely).
What I started thinking about was the amount of paper used to print all of the books I currently owned and wish that I currently owned. That's a lot of trees! And if you think about it, how many times am I going to read these books? Realistically I would like to say that I will read each one at least once, but there are many books currently residing on my shelves that I have had for years, that I have yet to read. I tell myself it is because I am still in school and I am working on building my life's library. I'd like to say that there are many books that I have purchased because I know that I would like to read them more than once, but still, there are many books that I own that I may read once, and then it will sit on my shelf collecting dust.
But then I started thinking about e-readers. And my specific thought was, which is more environmentally friendly, buying printed versions of books, or buying an e-reader and electronic books? In previous posts I have said that my personal jury is still out on the e-reader. I love the idea of the kindle or nook (or whatever reader you prefer) for travel, because it is so much easier to carry that one small device, rather than the 4 or 5 (or 6 or 7 or 8...) books that I would like to read while on vacation, but I love the feel of the actual book in my hands. I love the weight and the smell and texture of the paper. I love being able to jot down notes in the margins and highlight things, and heaven-forbid, dog-ear a page for later info retrieval. But which one is better for the environment?
Books are printed on paper, which require trees, a renewable resource. E-readers require power to work, which in most cases the said power used to charge the reader comes from coal-based energy. So which way is better for the environment in the long run?
I personally have no idea, but I would like to find out. I'll have to do some research and get back to you.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a small glimpse of what it is like to be inside my head while I'm attempting to study. Only usually there's usually 2 or 3 ideas/trains of thought all trying to use the same track at the same time.
UPDATE:
Thanks to an awesome NerdFighter, I have some further info. According to this person, the first link here is a "back of the envelope" calculation of the energy used.
And for those who are extremely interested, there's a 252 page study that was done at U of M here.
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