Greening Libraries / Greener Communities (2) – Morning Panel – Binns, Van Der Laan, Servaes

The LACUNY Institute “Greening Libraries ==> Greener Communities” was held on Friday, October 31, 2008 at the Bronx Library Center, a branch of the New York Public Library. The conference was co-sponsored by the Library Association of the City University of New York and the New York Public Library. It received support from the New York Library Club, Springer, EBSCO and BUSCA.

The second half of the morning offered a panel on the greening of the book. Clay Williams, conference co-chair, introduced Brita Servaes. Servaes, convener of the “Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO) Green Libraries Special Interest Group, served as moderator. Panelists included Shannon Binns from the Green Press Initiative (GPI) and Andrew Van Der Laan, Director, Senior Project Manager Publishing Operations Projects Group, Random House (RH).

Binns noted that the primary goals of the GPI are to minimize the impact of deforestation and to encourage environmental stewardship in the book industry. Books are and have been a great way to preserve knowledge but are a threat to our environment. The production of one book releases nine pounds of carbon into the air. The U. S. need for books consumes in trees the equivalent of 1000 plus Central Parks each year. Forest conversion to tree plantations after old-growth forests are cut down does not produce new forests that function as the older ones did. Pesticides are heavily used and few of the original species return to these woods. Loss of frontier and old growth forest around the globe has been dramatic. Only 20 % of the original Canadian boreal forest (known as North America’s Amazon) remains. Inhabitants of the boreal forest include 500 indigenous communities and 40 bird species. Canada is being logged at a rate of 2.5 million acres per year and most is going for use in the U. S. paper industry. This is the same rate that the Amazon was being logged in 1980’s. In another part of the world, Indonesia, most of pulp export goes to China and Korea. Sixty-five per cent of the logging is illegal. Binns sees all of this as presenting a conservation opportunity.

So how is deforestation leading to climate change? Binns explained that the clearing of trees leads to 25% of greenhouse gases released into the environment. Paper manufacturing also creates greenhouse gases. Binns showed a pie chart divided into areas of paper production and the global climate impact of each. The biggest contributor to the production of greenhouse gas is the loss of bio mass. The solution GPI recommends is that publishers use more recycled paper. The Forest Stewardship Certification program assures that more paper fiber is produced in a sustainable manner. Binns also encouraged attendees to reduce their energy use and conserve more. Consider also switching to more sustainable technologies and purchasing carbon credits. Libraries should have a policy that will help them to reach their environmental goals. Binns sees signs of change. The book industry has responded favorably to the Treatise on Responsible Paper Use. Binns encourages librarians to sign the Treatise and also ask their vendors to sign it. The recent Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts: Findings from the U.S. Book Industry survey shows that a majority of publishers have environmental policies in place.

Andrew Van Der Laan of Random House, the second panel speaker, proudly noted that 30% of RH titles are printed on recycled paper. Van Der Lann works on vendor and print issues. RH has 100 plus imprints and 20,000 authors. The speaker gave a quick historical tour of book publishing from the beginning of the Gutenberg press, the paper making machines of the 1930’s, and the long-retained policy established by Simon and Schuster to take back returns from book stores. Van der Lann sees this policy, though beneficial to small presses, as having wrecked havoc on the environment. Thirty per cent of books are returned. The evolution of paperbacks, symbolized by Gertrude the Kangaroo, Pocket Books colophone, also has had a detrimental effect of the environment. Ebooks, perhaps seen as a panacea for the problem of printed publishing, currently account for only half a per cent of book sales.

Van Der Laan reminded the audience that publishers do not care about the environment. People do. The way to get publishers to care is to turn green to gold. Publishers need to see how they can make money by using sustainable practices. Only 100 people at RH are involved in championing sustainability so it’s a challenging job.

Striking statistics illustrated the presentation. How much paper does RH use? One hundred thousand tons a year, or 30 pounds of paper for each New York City resident. The book industry uses five per cent of all paper used. Product transport accounts for 63 % of non-paper greenhouse gas emissions. But 70 % plus of the industry’s GHG production comes from the harvesting and creating of paper. Because books are a consumer product., Van Der Laan encouraged the audience to consider its own carbon footprint when it buys not only books but other products as well. Van Der Laan suggested that the audience visit Climate Cooler to see how their own buying habits can impact on the environment. He noted that carbon footprint calculators are major google hits when one searches “carbon footprint.” Clearly, people want to know how to change their habits to lessen the impact on the environment.

Van Der Laan commented that for what they do, books do it pretty well. One slide demonstrated the RH initiatives that are small and large in scope: everything from what is done in the cafeteria to their environmental paper initiative. RH has shown that not only are these efforts good for the environment but they also save cost.

The troubled economy cannot be ignored in a discussion about sustainable practices. Is investing in environmental paper worth the loss of an employee? RH’s track record shows 300,000 trees saved in 2007 at no extra cost. RH offices occupy the second, pre-existing New York City building to get LEED certification. Practices such as collecting technotrash and changing the lightbulbs in warehouses have led to this distinction. RH chairs a book industry environmental council which is making efforts to align the environmental concerns of different industries. Van Der Laan reminds us that as the publishing industry moves away from forest use we must be cautious that it not be used for other environmentally detrimental purposes.

The audience was concerned with whether or not initiatives from the GPI and RH are slowing deforestation. At this time, what GPI and RH have done, admittedly, is only having a minuscule impact.

The very library-specific issue of balancing the cost of a book vs. the lifespan of the book came up. Libraries often find themselves deciding between buying cheaper books that may need to be thrown away and replaced (or not) and with buying more costly books. Print-on-Demand, naturally, came into the conversation. Van Der Laan sees the technology as promising but young.

An audience member had a questions specifically for GPI, suggesting that GPI could be using its branding more effectively. Binns said that using the logo can be tricky because a publisher may have products of a mixed nature.

A hope for the future includes the recent U.S. emendation of the Lacey Act which protects endangered species. For the paper industry, this means that paper and wood products will show the country of origin and tree species used in production.

A site recommended for further examination is the Environmental Paper Network.