Green Initiatives
Eco-Libris
Eco-Libris uses the motto “moving towards sustainable reading” and defines itself as a green company “working to green up the book industry”. Founded in 2007 and based in Brooklyn, Eco-Libris works with publishers, bookshops, non-profit organisations, authors and, particularly noteworthy, readers.
Eco-Libris is promoting green practices through a simple system of balancing out books by planting trees. This programme is open to anyone and its logic is very straightforward: for every book, one tree is planted. Those who want to get involved just have to donate according to the number of books they want to balance out. For instance, balancing out 5 books in 5 trees costs $5.00 USD.
Subsequently, for every tree planted, participants receive a sticker made from recycled paper, to put on the cover of the book that was balanced out in trees. A symbol of someone’s commitment to sustainability, the sticker is at the same time a mean to inspire others to do the same.
This green company has already balanced over 159,000 books in 169,000 trees, which were planted in developing countries of Central America and Africa with the support of three planting partners: the non-profit organisations Ripple Africa, based in the UK, and Sustainable Harvest International (SHI), and the Alliance for International Reforestation (AIR), headquartered in the USA.
Eco-Libris broad range of partners in the book industry include the self-publishing company Lulu, Little Green Books (Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing), European publishers (Eli Publishing, in Italy, and Flux, in Norway) and bookshops in the US, UK and Ireland.
Personally, I consider that Eco-Libris stands out for its efforts to involve not only professionals but readers in sustainable initiatives, showing that they can actually play a role in the greener future of book production.
Image credit: Max Gladwell
Book Industry Treatise on Environmentally Responsible Publishing
Its comprehensive name describes with precision for what it stands for. The Book Industry Treatise on Environmentally Responsible Publishing was developed with the insight and collaboration of over 25 stakeholders, among which there were big and small, trade and academic publishers, printers, paper mills, manufacturers and merchants. This was a treatise developed by book professionals for book professionals, and I personally believe that is what makes it worth of account.
The agreement sets “attainable and measurable goals for improving the social and ecological footprint of the book industry”. The goals comprise:
- “Addressing global warming through the use of recycled fibre and renewable energy”: Specifically, shift the book industry’s consumption of paper to PWC, in a long-term basis;
- “Supporting the use of additional non-wood recovered fibres”: For instance, by supporting the use of renewable energies, such as wind, and by purchasing paper manufactured with wind;
- “Protecting Endangered and Highest Value Forests”. This supposes not using wood fibre from regions as the tropical rainforests in Latin America;
- “Supporting Best Practices in Forest Management”, for instance, by shifting the book industry’s paper consumption to certified paper only (FSC, PEFC, etc.);
- “Reducing Production Impacts”, by increasing the use of low VOC, soy-based inks and least toxic materials;
- “Recycling and Reducing Consumption”;
- “Human Rights”. Support the indigenous and local communities through the use of virgin papers that are FSC certified, and also ensure for the provision of fair wages and work conditions of the labours involved in overseas book production;
- “Transparency”. Signatories have to track their progress towards meeting the goals of the Treatise and report it.
A Leadership Council, composed by 10 publishers, printers, paper manufacturers and merchants (among which there are Harvard University Press, Chronicle Books and the organisation Green Press Initiative), was responsible for the implementation of the agreement and will conduct its future revisions. In 2013, the treatise has already been signed by 250 US book publishers, according to data provided on Eco-Libris.
While I was doing my research, I did not find any other agreement like this, exclusively dedicated to sharing environmental policies and more responsible practices for book production. This document is focused on the US book industry, but equally large book markets, such as the UK, would benefit from a “sector-wide holistic agreement on paper and publishing”, like this one.
Publishing gets green 