Books, books and more books. I have a lot of love for books. Thankfully so does my sweetie. One day we hope to have a small home library with its own room and everything :)
As I work on becoming more environmentally aware, my love of books makes me think. I do have an ebook reader - two actually plus my phone - and they are great. A wonderful way to read to my heart's content without having to carry around each individual book.
Now physical books are a touch more complicated. There is a bit more of an environmental impact when it comes to physical books. This includes the producing and transportation of said books. I haven't really looked in to actual numbers and such but I'm not sure how many books are printed on recycled materials. This could be something to eventually look into.
In the meanwhile, I love purchasing books from used bookstores (and Amazon but that doesn't really help). I'm trying to purchase more books from used bookstores as well as sell unwanted books to used bookstores. I wish I could find more pagan/New Age books there. For those books I tend to go more to Amazon marketplace. There is also the realistic aspect that used books also cost less.
On another thought, to get books authors need support. And new books need to be purchased to support authors. Hmmmm...tricky bit there. Well, I generally buy fiction books as ebooks - I just read too many of them to justify how much of my current space it would take up. I do like to buy them physically when I have a chance to actually meet the author and get them signed though.
Writing out this blog makes me realize that if I were to say 'ok only buying used books because they are better for the earth', I'd be missing out the entire part of supporting those authors who's books I love and that could reduce the writing of new books. I will have to think about this some more.
I too buy a ton of books! I purchase most of my books second-hand, though there are some series and authors that I buy new (mostly ones that I am fairly sure are going to end up in my 'must read many times' section). If it is a fiction book that only vaguely sounds like it might be interesting, I pick it up used (or free on my ereader).
ReplyDeleteI am a tactile person. As much as I love my ereaders (and I do! how else would I carry about a dozen books so that I can read whatever fits my mood while waiting somewhere), there are some books that I just want to hold in my hand, to be able to smell and touch and easily flip back and forth (and I still like images better in paper). I can't see myself ever becoming a fully digital reader.