Okay, so books bring a lot to humanity: Passing on of knowledge, great pass times, recording historical events, some even hold strong spiritual  significance.

Figure 1. Collection of old books. (Kelley, 2016)

But they are made of paper, and as mentioned before (pretty much constantly) this is an industry that is impacting the environment. At this point if it weren’t too late to change the specifics of my blog project I would change it to be specifically about the paper industry in the US! But it is too late, so instead I will inform you about the facts around book production in the US (and maybe a couple of other countries if i can find data).

Every year the US produces 4.15 million books! Around 30% of these books are produced from recycled paper since 2006 (before it was around 3% –> Progress!)

The book industry in the US is responsible for around 30 million trees being cut down annually, these trees are not just US based but all over the world.

Figure 2. Reading on an e-book reader. (Freestocks, 2016)

Perhaps buying a kindle for that family birthday coming up isn’t such a bad idea! (try not to get a receipt though!)