The rise of ebooks and the consequent fall of paperbacks

Julie Bosman had an interesting article yesterday on the New York Times on the falling sales of paperbacks, which is actually more on the rise of ebooks and the consequent fall of paperbacks.

She writes there:

"A comprehensive survey released last month by the Association of American Publishers and the Book Industry Study Group revealed that while the publishing industry had expanded over all, publishers’ mass-market paperback sales had fallen 14 percent since 2008."

Why? David Gernert, a literary agent whose clients include John Grisham, a perennial best seller in mass market, explains on the article that “e-books have bitten a big chunk out of it”and Matthew Shear, the executive vice president and publisher of St. Martin’s Press adds “in some ways, the e-book is yesterday’s mass market.”

Is it a bad or good trend? I actually think this is the wrong question. Even if e-books are not responsible for 100 percent of the fall of he paperback sales, I guess their rise as a convenient and cheap alternative makes paperback books a less valuable option and therefore a product less people want to purchase.

Although some people in the book industry, like Michael Connelly, the best-selling mystery writer best known for “The Lincoln Lawyer,” are worried of this trend and afraid that "book buyers would not be able to discover new authors very easily if mass-market paperbacks continued to be phased out," I think they'll find out that the electronic format, coupled with more online presence of authors and publishers, actually has the potential to increase the exposure of book buyers to new authors and not reduce it.

So what would you read this Labor Day - would it be a paperback or an ebook? Or maybe both? Feel free to share your choice with us.

Image credit: umpcportal, Flickr Creative Commons

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant trees for your books!

Is the new literary App a killer App or just a vague promise?

That's the question that popped into my mind after reading Noam Cohen's article 'Blurring the Line Between Apps and Books' on the New York Times. This interesting article presents couple of interesting literary apps developed lately and their potential value proposition for both authors and publishers.

So what sort of value proposition we're talking about? Well, when it comes to authors, Stephen Elliott, author of "The Adderall Diaries", who produced an app for his book, explains in the article what he's looking for:

“As an author, I want you to have the best experience,” he said. “People want to talk about the books they are reading with other people. Why, with everything we know, wouldn’t you include a chat room with your e-book?”

Once readers buy the app, he says, they are beginning a relationship with him and other readers; they can leave comments and read responses and updates from the author. They may even be told down the line that he has a new book for sale and then be able to buy it through the app.

And what's the potential in literary apps for publishers? Dennis Johnson of Melville House Publishing, who is working with Electric Literature to introduce an app book before Thanksgiving, share his vision in the article:

The attraction is obvious, he said.“If you publish work that is hard to sell in the American market, say literary fiction in translation, this is another format to hardcover, paperback and e-book,” he said. “A fourth line of revenue.”

In an interview, he imagined the possibilities, such as having readers whose devotion is deeper than merely dipping into a title, who would install a piece of software onto a phone or tablet. “I love the idea of putting books on subscription,” he said, “of having a membership in your publishing house, of having a readership invested in your books.”

So far so good and the excitement is obvious, but will such apps can and will follow these kind of expectations? I doubt.

And here's why: First, there's actually nothing new about these propositions. They're out there on other platforms. In the case of authors, many of them already build relationship with their readers on twitter and facebook for example without any extra charge. When we're talking about publishers, you've got many creative ways available today of crowdsourcing, where readers can participate in writing, decision making on which books will be published and even invest in new books. Most if not all of these options do not require a payment in advance like a literary app does.

Second, and this is especially relevant to authors, there's the cost issue. You can buy the ebook of Elliott for $9.99 or pay $14.99 for the app, which includes the e-book and "a dedicated discussion board to talk with other readers...Also features extras like Stephen Elliott's book tour diary, an RSS feed for news and events, a video interview with the author, and more."

I guess the attractiveness of such offer mainly depends on the attractiveness of the book or the popularity of the author, and I'm not sure if popular authors or best selling books need such platform in the first place.

It's true that authors are still looking for ways to generate extra income out of their books, but I'm not sure if these kind of apps will prove themselves to be one of the best ways to do it. I guess the attractiveness of such offer mainly depends on the attractiveness of the book or the popularity of the author, and I'm not sure if popular authors or best selling books need such platform in the first place.

The literary app is described in the article as a growing trend, but I've got a feeling it has a limited potential and we'll still have to wait for a real killer app to pop up.

What do you think? I'll be happy to hear your thoughts about it.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Saving trees or softer touch for the butt?

It seems that this is the question consumers have to ask themselves if they're considering using toilet paper made of 100% recycled paper. You can guess the answer most of us will give..

The New York Times had an interesting article today on Marcal Small Steps, a company that is selling for 60 years toilet paper that as they say is made 'from paper, not from trees'.

They have now a new marketing campaign and it seems that they're doing well - in any case, much better than the market in general. But they still have a very small market share in paper product categories ("low single digits"). The reason? Their products are not soft enough for the American consumer.

There is some trade-off here and no matter what the reason is (Darby Hoover of NRDC suggest it's "decades of advertising promoting softness"), most of the consumers will prefer to wipe their tooshie with a softer paper even if it comes on the account of trees. Trade-off has always been an obstacle in the efforts to green up consumers' behavior. It is very unfortunate, but we have to face reality and think what can be done to get more green paper products purchased.

Right now, according to NRDC, just 10% of the paper products for home contain recycled content. This is very low. Too low. Some companies look for middle ground, like Kimberly-Clark (remember their new relationship / partnership with Greenpeace?) that is selling Scott Naturals’ products, which are "only partly made of recycled content, with the toilet paper using the least at 40 percent and napkins the most at 80 percent."

Aric Melzl, senior brand manager for Scott explained on the article that “you can have a product that’s 100 percent recycled with a smaller following or you can have Scott Naturals, where you choose to deliver the quality that folks are expecting with more mass appeal and a bigger business and more impact on the environment than a business that has a smaller following."

He definitely has a point and this is a good way to convert consumers gradually to use greener products, but this is still a partial solution. The other part that I'm missing here is innovation - Can't we really find a way to make sure there won't be any trade-off at all?

I mean, in a day like this, when we are so happy to see the rescue of the 33 Chilean miners, you wonder how we know can save miners captured 2,000 feet below the ground, but have no idea how to make toilet paper from recycled paper that will be soft enough for the American tooshie? (by the way, does anyone know what toilet paper the miners used on the last 69 days?)

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Why HP wants us to print more and more? Why it's a lose-lose offer?

Printing is a major money maker for HP - more printing equals more printers and ink sold. The printing division of HP, reports the New York Times, accounts for about a fifth of its revenue and a third of its profits.

HP is now introducing "a fleet of printers with Web access, their own e-mail addresses and touch screens. These products should open up new ways for people to print from Web services like Google Docs, and from smartphones and devices like the iPad from Apple."

I believe that this is a bad move for HP, a lose-lose strategy that is both bad for the environment and their business. Here's why:

1) Individuals and companies use less and less paper. And it looks like an irreversible trend.

According to figures provided by Paper Industry Association Council (PIAC), the supply of paper is declining since 2004. Just look at the figures (000 tons):

2004 - 101,884
2005 - 99,613
2006 - 100,665
2007 - 97,007
2008 - 89,838
2009 - 78,902

From 2004 to 2009 the supply of paper in the U.S. saw a 29% decline. Now, you can see that it didn't start with the latest recession, a good indicator that individuals and companies find printing more and more unnecessary even when economy thrives.

The reasons? Very simple: It's expensive to print given the user-friendly alternatives we have thanks to the progress of technology.

So the idea of HP is something like 'if you can't beat them, join them' - we'll look at technology as a platform for producing more print, not as an obstacle. But with all the respect to their new features, I doubt if any of this changes the basic assumptions: a) printing still costs more money than other options b) we really don't need to print that much as we used to.

2) Printing equals more waste and more carbon footprint.

As both individuals and companies are looking for further ways to reduce their waste and their carbon footprint (win-win - less expenses and less impact on the environment), HP's new offer looks a bit counterproductive with regards to these efforts and hence not too attractive.

HP tries to look as it is heading forward, but actually by encouraging individuals and companies to print more it moves backwards. I have no idea why the world's largest technology company, which is known for being so innovative, doesn't look for sustainable innovations that will generate not only income but also eco-friendly solutions.

In all I'm somewhat disappointed that a company like HP, which is considered a relatively green company, is taking such an approach. I understand printing makes them a lot of money, but they can do better - they developed advanced eco-friendly digital printing devices and they design data center, which uses rainwater collection and recycled materials to reduce energy demands, so they can definitely find better ways to generate income rather than just encourage us to print more.

Last but not least, I would encourage HP directors to look into the way JP Morgan is working to assist businesses to switch into paperless operations, saving these businesses a lot of money and creating a new source of revenues for JP Morgan. Win-Win? Definitely!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Still not sure about the iPad? see what David Pogue has to say

After months of expectations, Apple's iPad hits the stores today. If you're still confused about the iPad capabilities and its pros and cons, check out a funny and informative video made by David Pogue of the New York Times (including a presentation of how the iPad functions as a eReader):

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

It's cool and even greener to read books on a mobile phone, but can a 3.5 inch screen beat the Kindle?

There's an interesting article today on the New York Times about the growing popularity of the usage of cellphones as e-readers. It looks like more people are willing to read books on a 3.5 inch mobile screen and some wonder if mobile phones are indeed the ultimate Kindle Killers.

It might be a new round of a struggle between a device that is basically limited (almost) to just one main function to a multi-functional device that also has the capability to provide this function. If we look at the example of GPS, where the mobile competition plays an important role in the sales decline of GPS devices, then the Kindle, Sony Reader, the Nook and others are going to deal with a fierce competitor that has the potential to take a nice bite of their market share.

Another fact which was not mentioned in the article ("Novels, 3.5 Inches At a Time") is that it's much more environmental-friendly to use a multi-functional device because then you just need to manufacture one device and that's it. And the same goes to ending the life of the device - it's almost always greener to deal with one device than two or three devices.

But, and this is a big but, can we really read books on cellphones? I find it very not comfortable and I believe that many other readers feel the same. And this is I think the biggest obstacle of cellphones in their "fight" against the Kindle and other e-readers - no matter how cool and relatively green they are and how more features they have, it is still no fun to downsize your reading experience to a 3.5 inch screen.

What do you think about it? I'll be happy to hear your thoughts and what's your prefarable way to read books - mobile? e-reader? paper?

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!

The digital revolution of textbooks: now in schools

We wrote here couple of times on the digital revolution of textbooks in universities. Now it looks like this trend is not stopping at universities and colleges. Its next stop: high schools.

Tamar Lewin reported today on the New York Times ("In a Digital Future, Textbooks Are History") about this interesting trend. And we're not talking only about digitalizing textbooks and providing them in an electronic format. This is not the big story here. The story is about the new free open-content digital books that can be customized in accordance with every teacher's needs.

One example of this new generation of digital books presented in the article are the "flexbooks" developed by a nonprofit group, CK-12 Foundation, with a mission to reduce the cost of textbook materials for the K-12 market both in the U.S. and worldwide.

Neeru Khosla, the founder of CK-12 Foundation explains in the article the advantages of the flexbooks: “The good part of our flexbooks is that they can be anything you want. You can use them online, you can download them onto a disk, you can print them, you can customize them, you can embed video. When people get over the mind-set issue, they’ll see that there’s no reason to pay $100 a pop for a textbook, when you can have the content you want free.”

It looks like the move to open-source free materials should be fast forwarded in days of budget constrains, but it looks like this revolution will take time, as it tries to revolutionize something which is a significant part the current educational system. It will eventually happen. The question right now is more of "when" than "if".

And there's of course a green angle to this revolution. I'm not sure yet what devices will be used for the digitalized materials, but since a lot of it would probably done on laptops and desktops, it means that not only it will save A LOT of paper, but it will also be more eco-friendly than the current paper textbooks based system (more about the green side of paper vs. digital content can be found here).

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting green printing!

The Kindle 2 week - part 1: David Pouge and the final battle

Amazon.com released last week Kindle 2, the new version of its e-book reader. Given Amazon's growing role in the book market and the influence Kindle has on this market, we decided to try and bring you a couple of interesting and hopefully unique perspectives about the new Kindle.

So for the next seven days, we will bring you each day a little Kindle piece. Hopefully by next Thursday we will have a better understanding of the big Kindle picture.

On the first part we invite you to get to watch this video, where David Pouge, the New York Times technology columnist, reviews the new Kindle 2 e-reader and wonders if e-books will make physical books obsolete. He gets an e-book and a paper book into an imaginary bottle you have to watch - it makes some very good points and it's also very funny. You're also welcome to read his column "The Kindle: Good Before, Better Now".



Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

3 reading recommendations for Presidents Day

Tomorrow is Presidents Day and it's holiday for many people who will enjoy the long weekend. This is also a great opportunity to get to read something and especially things you put aside waiting for some free time..

I just had that with three articles that waited for me and I wanted to share with you and recommend them for tomorrow (or any other given day..). We got here two articles on green issues and one about books, and all of them are really interesting, so you're welcome to check it all!

Praise the Lord and Green the Roof / Joseph Huff-Hannon (New York Times, February 1, 2009)

A story about an order of Episcopal nuns who are building what will be the first "eco-convent" in New York City. This is a great example of how religion and ecology goes hand in hand, nurturing each other. Here's a part of the article that refers to this issue:

Then, about 10 years ago, the sisters began to discuss a mission to care for the environment. They may embrace environmental concerns more tightly than do many other religious orders, but it is their religion, they say, that was their bridge to a green life.

“We began talking more deeply amongst ourselves about how spirituality and ecology are linked, how we could more fully appreciate that the universe is a creation of God,” Sister Faith Margaret said, speaking in the hallways near the front door, which is lined on both sides with ferns, philodendron and other plants. “Some days I get up in the morning when the trees are about to pop, and I think, ‘How did God decide all of this?’ ”

Original URL

If you don't have a subscription to the NYT, you can find a copy of the article on this link.

Books Gone Wild: The Digital Age Reshapes Literature / Chris Jackson/Getty (Time, January 21, 2009)

How technology is changing the book market? this interesting article (thanks to Publishing Talk for the link) is analyzing the current trends in the publishing industry and tries to envision the future of this industry, where digital content and self publishing will make it a whole lot different from what we know today.

Here's a little look at the future from the article:

Not that Old Publishing will disappear--for now, at least, it's certainly the best way for authors to get the money and status they need to survive--but it will live on in a radically altered, symbiotic form as the small, pointy peak of a mighty pyramid. If readers want to pay for the old-school premium package, they can get their literature the old-fashioned way: carefully selected and edited, and presented in a bespoke, art-directed paper package. But below that there will be a vast continuum of other options: quickie print-on-demand editions and electronic editions for digital devices, with a corresponding hierarchy of professional and amateur editorial selectiveness.

The article is available at http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1873122,00.html

In Beverage Industry, Sustainability Sells / Bill Roth (Entrepreneur.com, February 4, 2009)

Bill Roth (who is also collaborating with Eco-Libris) writes on the green trends in the beverage industry and where you can find green entrepreneurial opportunities there. Here's one of my favorite parts in this article about green coffees, which benefits both the coffee growers and the environment:

Here's why I have such hope for the green economic revolution: The sales for these green coffees are exploding.Rainforest Alliance Certifiedcoffee had average sales growth of 106 percent each year from 2003 through 2006. In 2007, more than 91 million pounds of Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee was sold worldwide. In the U.S., these coffees are sold by Mars Drinks, Wal-Mart, Whole Foods, Pom Wonderful and Caribou Coffee, and can be found in more than 50,000 supermarkets, convenience stores, cafes, restaurants, hotels and corporate offices worldwide.

The article can be found at www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29016166

Enjoy!
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

Will the Plastic Logic reader save both trees and the newspaper industry?

We already know the Amazon.com's Kindle and the Sony eReader, but how about a electronic reader with a large portable screen that is designed especially for newspapers? sounds like a futuristic dream? not any more. Please meet the Plastic Logic reader.

The New York Times reported last Sunday ("New E-Newspaper Reader Echoes Look of the Paper") on this new device, which was presented lately at the DEMO conference in San Diego by Plastic Logic and will be offered for sale in the first half of 2009.

Eric A. Taub reported in this article that "the device, which is unnamed, uses the same technology as the Sony eReader and Amazon.com’s Kindle, a highly legible black-and-white display developed by the E Ink Corporation."

Differentiated by a stunning form factor (the size of 8.5 x 11-inch paper), the Plastic Logic reader features a big readable display. Yet it’s thinner than a pad of paper, lighter than many business periodicals, and offers a high-quality reading experience. It's mainly targeted for business users, but it definitely has the potential to become the e-paper preferred device for reading newspapers.

No price is quoted yet for the Plastic Logic reader, but it's not going to be cheap. Steven Glass, head of user experience for Plastic Logic is quoted in Fortune saying "The point is to be able to deliver this at a price more in line with the current crop of e-readers like (Amazon’s) Kindle which sells for around $349.” But let's say the price will fall eventually and become reasonable. Can such a device be significantly beneficial for newspapers and no less important to the environment?

For newspapers it can be definitely the light at the end of the tunnel - many of them suffer of financial problems and look for ways to cut costs as the number of copies sold are dropping. Using Plastic Logic or iLiad can save them tons of money - according to the article, The San Francisco Chronicle, for example, print and delivery expenses amount to 65% of the paper’s fixed expenses. Just think what this kind of savings can contribute to a newspaper's P&L.

If we look at it from environmental angle, we can ask ourselves whether these newspaper e-readers are superior in comparison with the printed newspaper. We know it saves trees and transportation, but is it really better for the environment? usually with e-books the answer is that we don't know yet as no thorough life cycle analysis was made yet to compare between the options. But here somebody already did it.

Researcher Asa Moberg and her team of the Center for Sustainable Communications at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden studied the environmental effects of producing print versus electronic newspapers, both on the Internet and by using the iRex Iliad. The results were published last year and the conclusion was as follows:

"The ranking from an environmental point of view was in general the tablet e-paper and the web based newspaper with a shorter reading time (10 min), was giving rise to a lower environmental impact than than the printed version. With a reading time of 30 minutes/day the environmental impact of the web based newspaper was in general in the same range as the printed newspaper environmental impact."

The research also reports that "the production of the tablet e-paper device was the single largest part of the total environmental impact of the tablet e-paper newspaper life cycle. Editorial work, and for some impact categories also the incineration of parts of the electronic device (plastic waste) contributed to the rest of the environmental impact."

The Morgan and her team finds the e-paper device better than print and similar to reading the newspaper over the Internet. No research was made yet about Plastic Logic but following this research my guesstimation is that the results would be similar if not better for the electronic option.

Now the only question would be - will customers adopt this new device or continue with their current habits - reading it in print or over the Internet? Only time will tell but we sure hope these new technologies will help eventually both the environment and the bottom line of newspapers to get better.

More on E-paper devices:

E-books vs. paper books resource page

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

2007 went well for book publishers but what's next?

It's BEA time now and the book publishing industry is on the news. Today the New York Times present interesting sales figures of the industry. The bottom line? 2007 was a good year to the industry but this is already the past. The future is uncertain.

The article ("Potter Was Still Magical, But Not All Books Rose") reports the following: "Publishers sold 3.13 billion books last year, compared with 3.1 billion in 2006, an increase of just 0.9 percent, according to Book Industry Trends 2008, an annual report that analyzes sales in the United States. Higher retail prices helped net revenue increase 4.4 percent, to $37.3 billion, from $35.7 billion."

Though this sounds like a good news, it seems that publishers are worried. It is of course because of the weak economy and the uncertainty it brings with it to business. The estimates for 2008 sales according to the Book Industry Trends Report are for a small decline of 0.7% in comparison with 2007. Growth projected to the next few years is either flat or less than 1%, which atcually is no different than 2007 figures (0.9% growth).

Is there a green angle here? I believe there is. I think and I intend to go into it more thoroughly in the next couple of weeks that publishers that will go green will be in a much better position than those who won't. I can see it in every level of the operations - strategically (becoming well-prepared to a carbon-regulated market), financially (achieving greater efficiency in every element of the operations), marketing wise (establishing differentiation from competitors, more positive media attention) and last but definitely not least - meeting growing customers' concerns on the environmental impacts of their life style and providing them a greener offer so many are looking for.

I hope many publishers will find the green route not as a luxury, but as a route that can help them go through a relatively weak economy and strengthen their business. As I mentioned we'll get into it in the next couple of weeks with more details about what does it actually means for publishers to go green, with some examples of publishers that already enjoy the fruits of their decision to go green.

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: plant a tree for every book you read!

A little bit skeptic about the skeptical environmentalist

This was the week of Dr. Bjorn Lomborg. An article on the New York Times (‘Feel Good’ vs. ‘Do Good’ on Climate) and an appearnce on the Colbert Report. All of this because of a new book he wrote "Cool it - The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide To Global Warming".

The book, according to his website, is "a groundbreaking book that transforms the debate about global warming by offering a fresh perspective based on human needs as well as environmental concerns." Dr. Lomborg does not deny global warming. He just don't think it's the most urgent issue and also think we put too much money in the wrong solutions (Kyoto protocols for example). Besides his criticism on the current approach to global warming and its expected results, he thinks we should first focus on more immediate threats such as malaria, AIDS, polluted drinking water and malnutrition.

I understand and agree with some of its criticism on the Kyoto protocols, but I definitely don't agree with the idea that the focus on global warming prevents us from dealing with other urgent issues. These issues (malaria, polluted drinking water, etc.) were critical before anyone started talking about global warming. The lack of success in resolving these issues are caused by the same main problem that brought on us global warming - the illnesses of the modern world. Maybe fixing these illnesses can help us solve all of these threats all together.. how we do it? well, that's a discussion for another post in ther near future :-)

Anyway, it's always interesting to read new ideas, so check out his book, and of course his appearance at the Colbert Report, one of my favorite shows!




Raz

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

The future of e-books

Have you have read an electronic book? I haven't.. I'm not the type of person who will read a book from his cell phone or those other small gadgets that you can download books to. I guess that I'm, like most people, waiting for an e-book reader that will be user-friendly and affordable. So far there were none, but according to an article yesterday on the New York Times (Are Books Passe? Web giants envision the next chapter), significant advances are on the way and maybe faster than we think.

The main progress is made by Amazon.com that according to the article will unveil in October their new e-book reader. The new device won't be that affordable - it will be priced at $400 to $500. Yet, it is going to be wirelessly connected (but only to Amazon's e-book store of course), which is a big improvement in comparison with older e-book devices that had to be connected to the computer in order to download books or articles.

The article is trying to figure out if we're on the verge of a significant breakthrough in electronic books, which seemed very promising a while ago, but eventually had a very disappointing history. Overall, according to the article, there's a reason to be optimistic this time, but we still have a long way ahead of us until the e-book will become common.

Eco-Libris supports the concept of e-books as a sustainable alternative to books made of paper. Yet, we know it can take many years until e-books will be available for everyone. In the meantime we call all book lovers not to sit aside and wait, but to take an action and plant a tree for every book they read.

Raz

Small steps, big strides

Yesterday the New York Times revealed that Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York City, is driven 22 blocks by SUV to catch the subway to City Hall. Still, I think the fact he's taking the subway at all is an important example to the people of New York, and though it might be done better, he should be praised (or at least a hug here and there) for his consistent effort. I wish other mayors will follow him.

At the same day, I saw an ad on the Times of PlanYC, Bloomberg's environmental vision and plan for New York's near future. The plan includes targets such as reducing the carbon emissions of the city in 30% by 2030.

The ad I saw was part of a marketing campaign that calls New Yorkers to take an active part in this plan. On their website, it's written that Mayor Bloomberg cannot reach the target of reducing emissions without the New Yorkers, and calls them to make a difference.

There's a list on this page of ten easy tips how to do it. It also emphasize that some of these tips will not only save emissions, but will save you money. For example, tip no. 4: unplug chargers and appliances when not in use.

My favorite is tip no. 10: switch to paperless bank statements and online bill paying. It's a fairly east step and saves many trees and toxic air pollutants! According to the site, if every home in the US viewed and paid bills electronically, the country would save 18.5 million trees and avoid 2.2 billion tons of toxic air pollutants.

The spirit of NYC is definitely the spirit of Eco-Libris - people have the power to make a difference, and the steps they take accumulate and make an impact. Like they say on the GreenYC page: "Each New Yorkers small steps, put together, will add up to big strides".

Here's one of the campaign's videos. Check it out.

Raz