An Alternet article by
Monte Paulsen of the Dragonfly Review of Books discussing the impact of publishers not using recycled paper.
Ninety-five percent of the paper on which U.S. books are printed is made from virgin fiber. That added up to almost a million tons of paper in 2001, according to the American Forest and Paper Association.
This shameful story brightened just a bit during 2003, when one edition of “Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix” was released on recycled paper. British author J.K. Rowling asked that her bestselling novels be produced on recycled paper. Her American publisher, Scholastic Inc., ignored her request. (Apparently, Scholastic’s mission to “educate, entertain and motivate children” does not include enlightening them about real-world woodlands.) But Rowling’s Canadian publisher behaved like a wizard. Vancouver-based Raincoast Books released “Order of the Phoenix” on 100-percent post-consumer recycled paper.
The US grows a lot of trees just for this reason
It would only be shameful if the US was printing books on something that can’t be renewed. There are lots and lots of tree farms in the US, and they are mainly for paper (but I think there is a trend towards more Christmas tree farms too). It’s my understanding that the USA has more trees now than it did 200 years ago. Also, I’ve read that the US eastern seaboard has become a lot like a huge forest.
Now, if the assertion is that the problem is that humans are needlessly filling up landfills with tons of recycleable materials, I agree.
Disturbing article
There is a January 2004 article about the many problems with US paper production and cutting of virgin forest for paper production that I read.
The publication is called OnEarth and the cite is No. 4, Vol. 25; Pg. 14.
The article is titled, “The Tennessee tree massacre: the paper industry is destroying one of America’s last great stands of native forest to bring you fresh shopping bags and toilet paper.”
If you have access to Academic Universe you can obtain the article their.
Re:The US grows a lot of trees just for this reaso
New England is more heavily forested now than it was in colonial times, and much of North America is more heavily forested than in the 19th century, but that doesn’t mean that the forest situation is idyllic. Tree farms, in the absense of legal and political pressure to the contrary, are managed for maximum production of whatever the corporate owners are interested in–which means, most often, monoculture of the most productive tree for that purpose. Monoculture makes the artificial forest less useful for maintaining a healthy environment, and makes them more vulnerable to disease. It’s just not the same as having an old-growth, climax forest.
Not all tree farms are managed that way–there _is_ some legal and political pressure to do manage more ecologically healthy tree farms. Too many still are, though, and we’re also losing our remaining old-growth forest, mostly to lumber demands–lumber demands that often come from other countries that _are_ protecting their remaining old-growth forests.
There are trade-offs in using recycled paper products rather than virgin paper for books, but it can be done economically and produce a high-quality product. West Publishing, which is a name to conjure with in legal publishing, prints everything on recycled paper. And law is an area where a substantial fraction of the books are expected to stand up to several decades of regular use.
Old growth vs. tree farms
For more about old-growth forest vs. tree plantations (and a lot else besides), read Janisse Ray’s two books, Ecology of a Cracker Childhood , and Wild Card Quilt .