Green Options

Did you notice something different on the back pages of The Order of the Phoenix? If you live in the Canadian market, you might. The fifth book in the Harry Potter series has something unusual on its back pages. It’s an environmental audit.

The audit, produced using New Leaf Paper’s Eco Audit Calculator, uses New Leaf EcoBook paper, which uses 100% postconsumer waste. This is something new in the book market, which is normally so sensitive to price.

While the paper does cost more than virgin, these costs are offset by the extreme environmental benefits of switching to paper made with 100% postconsumer fiber. Because virgin paper costs less than recycled papers, the book industry has traditionally gone almost exclusively with virgin stocks. But Scholastic decided to make an environmental statement — a big one.

According to the audit, on the 950,000 print run, this simple switch resulted in a savings of 29,600 trees, 12.4 million gallons of water, 20,300 BTUs of energy, 1.4 million pounds of solid waste, and 2.7 million pounds of greenhouse gases. That’s more than just a drop in the bucket.

I’ve blogged a lot about how the printing industry is far greener than people give it credit for. The presses are more efficient. Paper often has high recycled content. Marketing strategies emphasize smart use of data over volume production. There are many ways that printing is green — greener, many argue, than electronic media. But what about individual printers? To what extent are they consciously pursuing a green strategy? It can be a significant investment, after all. Are their customers making it worth their while?

Last year, the commercial printing industry information portal What They Think released a report on the status of green in the printing industry. This month, in Printing Continues to Go Green, WTT updated the report with fresh data, comparing the numbers year over year.

In the June 2009 survey, WTT researchers found the following year-over-year changes:

• Printers are far more likely to identify themselves in their marketing and promotional materials as environmentally sensitive businesses — 33%, up from 26% last year
• They are slightly more likely to justify new equipment purchases because of their more favorable environmental impact — 22%, up from 20%
• They are more likely to have special “green” certifications from independent organizations (Forest Stewardship Council, Green Seal) — 22%, up from 15%
• They are slightly more likely to say that promoting their green efforts helps their business image — 39%, up from 35%.

But it’s not all good news. Commercial printers don’t see a lot of customer gratitude for their efforts. In the June 2009 survey, they were noticeably less likely to say that it was essential to their customers and more likely to say that it was a major expense without a major business benefit. Only 2% said it was critically important to their customers.

This is a real problem. Why?

Editor’s note: This post was originally published on April 22, 2009 at the Eco-Libris blog.

Happy Earth Day everyone!

We wanted to write a special post for Earth Day and fortunately we have great news to report: The Book Industry Environmental Council announced last week it has set goals for cutting the U.S. book industry’s greenhouse gas emissions in 20% by 2020 (from a 2006 baseline) with the intent of achieving an 80% reduction by 2050.

This is very exciting news and as the Council pointed out in its press release, this industry-wide commitment is a global first in publishing and hence has tremendous importance.

Because of the importance of this move and its implications for the book industry, we thought it’s important to take closer look at it and analyze it from strategic and operational points of view. Hopefully later on we’ll also bring you an interview with one of the Council’s leaders.

This post was originally posted on Eco-Libris blog on March 18.

We’re constantly talking about the need of the book industry to increase its efforts to lower its environmental impacts and adopt greener practices. At the same time, we try to do a reality check every couple of months and learn from those who actually print the books how things are doing.

Last January we had an interview with Greg Barber of Greg Barber Company, who shared with us insights on what it means to be a green printer. Today we have the pleasure to host another experienced green printer, Deb Bruner of Pinnacle Press.

Deb Bruner serves in Pinnacle Press as director of book publishing and eco-friendly initiatives. She has more than 25 years experience in the publishing, paper and printing industries. Prior to Pinnacle, Bruner worked as the director of book publishing papers for New Leaf Paper, the environmentally friendly paper merchant, where she managed mill relationships and developed sales opportunities.

As you can see, Bruner has a vast experience with a specific focus on green printing, so we decided there’s no better person to get our current update from. We also wanted to learn more about Pinnacle Press of St. Louis, MO, which is well-known for its quality services and commitment to the environment.

We hope you will enjoy this opportunity to learn what’s going on in one of the major fronts of the book industry - the printing machines.

Hello, Deb. Could you describe please Pinnacle’s efforts to go green?

Pinnacle Press was the first book component printer to start stocking a recycled sheet for book jackets at price parity with virgin stock. We started doing this back around 2002 or 2003 due to customer demand from the university press community; presses like Cornell University Press wanted a recycled coated sheet for book jackets to help them meet their recycled paper commitments to Green Press Initiative.

EcoBrain is a digital publishing business that provides sustainability content while reducing their impact on the environment.

If you’ve ever felt guilty about buying a new book, but really wanted a title you couldn’t find used online or at the library, here’s a cool and greener way to stay on top of new releases from the world of environmental publishing: EcoBrain.

Founded last year by two passionately green families at different ends of North America (one in the U.S., one in Canada), EcoBrain is “dedicated to educating people about environmental living options while affording them the opportunity to purchase materials digitally in an effort to radically reduce the impact on the environment,” according to its Website. In other words, it lets you buy books about green living in a way that’s truly green: in digital, no-printed-paper-or-snail-mail-delivery-necessary format.

Now may be as good a time as any: publisher Chelsea Green, home to authors ranging from Daily Kos‘ Markos Moulitsas to our own Lee Welles, is looking for proposals for its Green Guide series, and has launched a contest to find them. The winner of their Green Guide Contest will receive a publishing contract, and a $1000 advance against royalties.

There’s no time to waste on this one, though: the deadline for entering is July 4… “in honor of the local, independent communities we hope the Green Guides will help create—free from the domination of fossil fuels, global warming, and toxic pollution.” By that time, you will need to put together a regular book proposal… overview, table of contents, and sample chapters… the works. CG spells it all out on the contest announcement.

Editor’s note: The recent report Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts: Findings from the U.S. Book Industry tried to answer that question; Eco-Libris blogger Raz Godelnik took a look at its findings in an earlier post. Today, he interviews one of the main contributors to the report’s preparation: Tyson Miller, founder and director of the Green Press Initiative. This post was originally published on Saturday, April 12, 2008.

After I wrote here about the publication of the of Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts: Findings from the U.S. Book Industry, and reviewed some of the most important findings, it’s time of the third (and last) part of our coverage of the report.

Today I am very excited to bring you an interview I conducted with Tyson Miller, the Founder and Director of the Green Press Initiative (GPI). The Green Press Initiative, together with the The Book Industry Study Group (BISG), initiated and prepared this impressive report that presents and analyzes the book industry’s ecological footprint.

Not only that Tyson Miller is one of the people who led the work on the report, but he is also one of the most knowledgeable people about the issues brought up in the report. In the last seven years he directs the Green Press Initiative (which he also founded) – a program which is catalyzing environmentally responsible book publishing in the U.S. He initiated the Book Industry Treatise on Responsible Paper Use, which more than 150 publishers have signed so far, and is also involved in the efforts of big publishers, such as Simon & Schuster and Scholastic, to develop green policies.

Therefore, I was very happy for the opportunity to have this interview with Mr. Miller, shedding more light on the report and its implications. I hope you’ll enjoy it as well!

Editor’s note: This week, Raz Godelnik at Eco-Libris takes a look at a new study of the book publishing industry’s environmental footprint. As gathering information is the first step towards making change, we hope this report provides the data necessary for this industry to continue moving in greener directions. This post was originally published on Wednesday, March 12, 2008.

This is a very exciting week for the book industry and anyone involved in the efforts to green it up. The reason? Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts:Findings from the U.S. Book Industry has been published.

This 86-page report was prepared by The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) and The Green Press Initiative (GPI) (with support from a number of industry sponsors). Seventy-six publishers, representing just under half of the market, participated in the study, along with 13 printers (about 25 percent) and 6 paper mills (about 17 percent).

Why is this report so important? Because this is an up to date analysis of the industry’s ecological footprint. This is the most detailed survey someone has done in years to create a clear picture of the book publishing industry’s environmental impacts.

These measurements will help not only to know better where the industry is standing now, but also to better plan how to move forward and green up the industry as well as to evaluate the progress later on. In one word: benchmark. Or as BISG describes the report on its website: “a benchmarking survey which will establish a baseline for tracking climate impacts and progress by the U.S. book industry in environmental improvements.”

Editor’s note: This week, Eco-Libris blogger Raz Goldenik takes a look at a new (and potentially greener) method for selling books: by the chapter. This post was originally published on Saturday, February 23, 2008.

I read few days ago in Springwise (a great source to new interesting ideas) about a new initiative of Random House: Selling books by the chapter.

Random House explains the logic behind the new initiative: “Sometimes what you want is a slice instead of the whole pie. That’s why we’re offering a new reading experience– the ability to purchase individual chapters. Imagine that! Downloading and reading exactly the part of a book that meets your needs”.

The first book to be offered by them is Made to Stick written by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. This book actually looks like a very interesting book. Here’s the book description on its website:

Why do some ideas thrive while others die? And how do we improve the chances of worthy ideas? In Made to Stick, accomplished educators and idea collectors Chip and Dan Heath tackle head-on these vexing questions. Inside, the brothers Heath reveal the anatomy of ideas that “stick” and explain sure-fire methods for making ideas stickier, such as violating schemas, using the Velcro Theory of Memory, and creating “curiosity gaps.”

The process is very simple — on the book’s website you can find a short description of each one of the six chapters of the book and its epilogue. You can choose the chapter that’s right for you and download it as an Adobe Digital Editions file for $2.99. The introduction and index are available for free with the purchase of any chapter.

Editor’s note: Last week, our friends at Eco-Libris announced this partnership with Kedzie Press. Congratulations to them… this is a great step forward for Eco-Libris, Kedzie, and the environment. This post, written by Raz Godelnik, was originally published on Tuesday, February 12, 2008.

We’re very happy to update you with a new partnership - Kedzie Press, an independent publishing house based in Seattle, Washington is collaborating with Eco-Libris in a new initiative called Million Tree-A-Thon.

The goal: planting one million trees for one million books to be sold by Kedzie Press until the end of 2009.

Kedzie Press is already a green publisher — it publishes books with socially conscious and or environmentally-friendly messages, as well as the occasional work of fiction. It strives to help its readers lead better lives and all of our titles are printed on 100% recycled, 100% post-consumer waste paper (FSC certified), and processed chlorine free. It means that by pledging to plant one tree for every book sold, Kedzie Press actually maximizes the positive impact it already has on the environment.