Going Green---How Writers Can Help.
Posted: Sunday, June 08, 2008
by Sandra E. Graham
My Books and Articles
Preserving the ecosystem seems to be a hot topic around the world today; and well it should be. Unless we get lucky and discover another planet out there in the universe that will support life and at least half the earth's population can afford to pack up and move there; we had all better be concerned about saving the one we are currently bent on destroying in our lifetime. Most of us have heard and answered the cry of the endangered species, the pleas of rainforest preservation, the refurbishing of historical landmarks and monuments. Even now-although, not a necessarily new concern-is the wanton destruction of God's greatest gift to the very life support of all living creatures: our trees.
Concerned citizens have lobbied to eliminate junk mail-a major contributor to the excess waste of paper. How many times each week do you go to your mail box and toss a bundle of fliers, pamphlets, and filled envelopes into the trashcan after simply glancing at the addresser? Wal-Mart being the biggest of these transgressors. How many advertisement printings do you think Wal-Mart can get from one tree? I'm sure someone out there has already done the math and since most of us make at least two trips to Wal-Mart each week, why do we need the sale papers to fill our trash cans?
As published writers, we too, have a responsibility to help keep our earth green. But what can we do? After all, we only write the books; we don't publish them or print them. So how can we help? How can we do our part in saving our trees so that our planet can continue to give us our free supply of needed oxygen? How many books can one tree produce? If you are like most writers, you probably never gave much thought to the fact that the life of your book represented the death of a tree. Our first and foremost concern was to see our book in print-holding it in our hands for the first time as we lovingly ran our fingers gently over the beautifully printed cover.
Don't panic. There are things that we, as writers, can do to ‘Go Green' and still see our books on the public market. Unless you are another John Grisham or Stephan King, you probably won't have to worry about killing too many trees right off the bat as your books will probably be just print-on-demand or as ordered. Mass produced books are most likely printed on recycled paper.
** One question you can ask your publisher is ‘does your printing company use recycled
the glue? Is there a glue that is environmentally friendly and if not is there an
alternative?
** There are also chemicals used in the paper of books, such as the chlorine used to
bleach the pages to their pure white color. Is this bleach safe for the environment?
The word ‘chlorine' just doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling about this product.
Now all this may cause concerns about the expense to publish a ‘Green' book. Recycled paper should prove to be less expensive than paper produced from fresh cut trees, especially when you calculate in all the trees you could be saving and your encouragement in the use of recycled products. One well known group (Tree Huggers) suggest that you , as an author, join the Author Save the World program and encourage your readers and fans to plant trees on the last page of your book and on your website.
As technologies grow at an ever-increasing rate, we may see the end of tree killing by the ever-growing popularity of the E-Book. I want to continue to write and have my writing published, but I don't want to see it happen at the cost of jeopardizing future generations.
May E-Books and ‘Green Books' be the way of the future.
Sandra E. Graham, author, AMOS JAKEY and NICOLINA, from American Book Publishing. Visit my website for more info on my writings: http://www.sandragraham-articles-books.com
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Top-level comments on this article: (4 total)Hmm..I have mixed thought on this. On one head, I emphatically agree with you that writers should take part in the efforts to preserve our dwindling forests. Recyled paper is a great idea! As you might recall I wrote an article on the enormous waste of paper that is intrusively bombarding our mail boxes with advertisements, etc.. But, as a writer, I fear the inevitability of ebooks in the future, for I think they will inevitably be hijacked, and the income that writers receive will drop tremondously. and the quality of work will decline.But, I suppose there are arguments against this too. Personally, I need my one book in hand, rather than two books on the screen. Besides, people will most likely print them off anyway.Yes, Jennifer, I remember reading your article about junk mail. That's why I mentioned that it was a real concern for anyone wishing to preserve the environment. Junk mail still drives me crazy! Don't these people realize that hardly anyone reads this stuff. And I am certainly concerned about identity theft when the credit card companies continually send out the checks (blank or filled out for $10,000). I always open those and tear the checks into tiny pieces before trashing them. I don't claim to know much about E-Books, but I would hope that should they ever become the fashion, there would be a way to protect the author's copywrite and that the author would still receive their royalties. Sandra.
Hi Sandra you raise great awareness in this article on how writers can help contribute to the environment. However I have never written a book, but would love too. I will take all on board what say if ever I be fortunate enough to write as good as yourself.Thank you, Kacy, for you kind comments. There is an old saying "there is a book in everyone". I guess the hard part is just figuring out how to get it out. I wish I had truly started writing when I was much younger than I am. I have waited almost too late to get many books done. Believing in oneself is also hard--I still have trouble seeing it when people tell me I'm a good writer. Thanks for reading and commenting. Sandra
hi sandra, you ARE a good writer. this was a well written, interesting article of which i will remember when i am ready to write my book. at 15 months into this horriffic divorce, i need it to end before i know which direction to take what i write about. someday.... thanks for sharing, best regards, sueThanks, Sue. Maybe I'm getting better with practice---I do get a lot of practice as I have started doing book reviews. I enjoy writing and hope to get even better. Thanks again. Sandra.
Sandra, you are an inspiring and interesting writer.I visited your books and articles site through a link on this writers' site. I enjoyed reading more about your books. I am new to your fan club and look forward to reading your next articles.Thank you so much, Jane. And thanks for joining my fan club. You are a great writer yourself and I enjoy your articles. Thanks, too, for visiting my website. Sandra.Sandra, you are a great encourager to me! Thank you!
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