Greener reading choices

(Pack-Shot)

Increasing numbers of publishers now print on recycled paper, giving consumers a choice of ethical reading material.

Deforestation accounts for 25 percent of the world's C02 emissions, and industrialized nations which account for 20 percent of the world's population consume 87 percent of the world's printing and writing paper; however increasing numbers of publishers are choosing to print books on recycled or a percentage of recycled paper, giving consumers a chance to buy greener reading materials.

Greener reads include books from a number of university press and general interest publishers, including Chronicle books, Simon and Schuster Lantern Books and Random House. A comprehensive list of magazine titles which use recycled or a percentage of recycled paper is available at www.greenamericatoday.org , the recycle logo can be found on all publications containing recycled paper.

A publication by the American Forest and Paper association on June 22, revealed that total recycled paper consumption rose 7.1 percent from May 2009, and the Green Press Initiative, which focuses on the US print industry, reports that over 160 publishers about 40 percent of the book industries market have either developed strong environmental policies or signed an industry generated treatise on responsible paper use.