Sustainable Books

IPad, Nook, Kindle? Decisions, decisions! I was cramming yet another book onto my cheap, warped bookshelves the other day when it hit me: How many trees have I killed for these books? I love books. I'm a 3rd generation English Lit major - that's hardcore. I love the feel, the smell, the different type-sets, everything about books. But at my average of 8 to 10 books each month, that's a lot of wasted paper. Each book is only in use for a few hours before I'm done with it. Something had to give. I posted on Facebook, asking everyone to chime in on their favorite technology, and lots of people love their eReaders. I priced different versions and read the reviews, all of which were mixed. Unable to reach a solid decision, I remembered something from my literate past: my library card.

The local branch of the area library is tiny. At one time (before an enormous donation to another library a few years ago), my family's personal library was larger than the book collection at my local library now. I think it was destroyed in the hurricanes of '04-'05 and is still slowly rebuilding. For me, having grown up in the ancient libraries in Northern New England, seeing half of a public library filled with computers instead of books is weird, but I guess that's what patrons want. There's a small children's room, a collection of DVDs, audiobooks, and a large print collection. The Friends of the Library group has its own room, there's a community room, and even a drive through window. But the actual collection of adult books, both fiction and non-fiction, takes up only a few shelves - I'd say 10, generously. Basically, I never think to go to the library because they never have what I want to read.

What if I brought them my large collection of once-read books? What if everyone did? The same books could be read again and again by hundreds of patrons. A library is a book recycling center, is it not? If everyone donated books, we would all find something new to read. I could pick up a book I know nothing about, and might even end up loving it. Of course, there's a tremendous savings to using a public library, too. Books, DVDs, and the Internet are all free to use. Heck, if I used the public DVDs and Internet, I could cancel those services at home and stop giving Cox an arm & a leg each month. From a environmental standpoint, library books are very sustainable indeed.

I also found a book on sustainable living : Sustainable Living for Dummies, by Michael Grosvenor. I love "For Dummies" books, since they're so easy to read in snippets, and you can jump around through the chapters. I just picked it up this morning so I haven't read it yet, but I suspect I may end up deeming this one worthy of a place in my personal reference library. I'm sure you'll see me referring to it here in future posts. I also picked up a few vegetarian cookbooks, and a book on meditation. Each of these books in its own niche helps support a sustainable lifestyle and connection with the Earth.

I still love the idea of an eReader, with all those titles at my fingertips, and yes, the status that comes with e-reading while sipping a fairly-traded beverage at the bistro, but that wouldn't happen in my real life anyway. Until my kids are grown and my me-time is measurable in greater increments than a nano-second, the library will work. Maybe I'll save enough for that AreoGarden I've been eyeing...