Robert Miller and HarperCollins want to make revolutionary changes in the book industry

The New York Times reported last Friday that HarperCollins Publishers is forming a new publishing group. This is more than just a new unit - it will try to implement innovative concepts, and some of them are green!

The idea behind the new group, explains its leader, Robert S. Miller (until now the founding publisher of Hyperion), is "let's take all the things that we think are wrong with this business and try to change them. It really seemed to require a start-up from scratch because it will be very experimental."

One of these experiments will be to eliminate the very costly practice of allowing bookstores to return unsold copies. And we're talking about big money here - according to the 'Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts:Findings from the U.S. Book Industry', in 2006 there were more than 1 billion returns/unsold books in the U.S., or 25% of the books that were printed that year.

These unsold books are not only a waste of money for the publishers, but also an environmental issue, as besides the virgin paper used to print them, many of them reach the landfills. According the Environmental Trend and Climate Impacts report, the U.S. EPA estimates that books accounted for 762,000 metric tons of paper in Municipal Solid Waste. It results in methane releases that are calculated in the report as 8.2% of the total book industry's carbon footprint. As with many issues in the industry we see that there is a match here between saving money and saving the environment.

How Miller intends to change the current practice and shift the risk to the booksellers? Well, it is not known yet. The Guardian reports that Miller acknowledges that he has not figured out how he would convince booksellers to shift the risk of unsold books from the publishers to themselves.

Miller told the Guardian "I'm going to talk to booksellers and try to find a way to break out of this bind booksellers and publishers are in, with this incredibly high return rate (around 40%)." As you can see, Miller's data of the returns/unsold books (40%) is much higher than the 25% for the whole industry (as the report estimates), which means even more financial loses and more environmental damage.

How booksellers will respond to it? According to the Guardian, Oren Teicher, chief operating officer of the American Booksellers Association, which represents the country's independent stores, said owners were likely to want bigger discounts in exchange for books not being returned. But Teicher said he would be willing to hear any ideas that might spare "the colossal waste of books being shipped back and forth."

Another idea that Miller intends to implement in the new group is lower advances, or none at all to authors. Instead he will offer authors to split 50-50 in the profits, which should be much higher when the publisher won't have to pay for the costs of returned unsold books.

The new group will initially publish around 25 titles a year - hardcover editions priced at the low end of the market, around $20 a copy. Jane Friedman, president and chief executive of HarperCollins, told the NYT that the new group will also release electronic books and digital audio editions of all its titles.

It will be very interesting to see if this experimental group will succeed in its mission, which seems almost revolutionary. One thing is clear - they must find the way to make it a win-win deal to all sides involved including the authors and booksellers. Is it mission impossible? we hope it's not for the benefit of both the industry and of course the environment.

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Updates on King Corn and a new film made by its creators

Two weeks ago Eylon Israely conducted an interview with King Corn's Director and Producer, Aaron Woolf . Today we've got interesting updates on the film and its creators.

Firstly, If you haven't seen this documentary yet, here's your chance - King Corn airs on PBS on April 15! So mark it down in your calender.

And there's also a new film from the creators of King Corn - The Greening of Southie. The film will have its world premiere on the Sundance Channel on Earth Day, April 22 at 9:40PM. What is it about? this time these guys are into green building and they're focusing on the first green residential project in one of the favorite neighborhoods - South Boston, or Southie as everyone calls it. Here's a little bit more about it:

The Greening of Southie goes behind the scenes and onto the scaffolds to follow the construction of Boston’s first green residential structure, a luxury condominium complex called the Macallan Building. Located in the city’s storied working-class neighborhood, South Boston, Macallan was conceived with the ambitious goal of securing a LEED Gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. Moving between the idealistic young development team, distant suppliers, and the salty union construction crew, The Greening of Southie maps each step––and misstep––on the road to move-in day.

Enjoy both films!
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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How green is the book publishing industry? Review of the new report on the industry's environemtal impacts

About three weeks ago I wrote here about the publication of the 'Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts: Findings from the U.S. Book Industry', the new detailed analysis of the book industry's ecological footprint. Yesterday I finally finished reading it.

Firstly, I would like to give big kudos to both to The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) and The Green Press Initiative (GPI) for the report. I enjoyed reading it and I found it thorough, well structured, substantial and very clear. Since the 86-page report is all about findings from the book industry, I would like to share with you the findings I found the most important in the report.

1. What's responsible for the biggest part of the book industry's carbon footprint? The answer is very clear from the report: forest and forest harvest impacts with 62.7% share of total carbon emissions. Second is paper production at the mills with 22.4% share.

The conclusion is very simple - the paper consumed for the production of books (1.6 million metric tons in 2006) is the main responsible for the industry's carbon footprint of 12.4 million metric tons or 8.85 lbs. of carbon dioxide per a book (2006 figures).

The report puts its finger on many environmental issues associated with the life cycle of books - from transportation and energy consumption by publishers and retailers to the huge amount of books that are printed but are unsold (more than 1 billion books in 2006!) and then are either returned for pulping or reach landfills. But it is very clear that the main environmental issue, when it comes to the industry's carbon footprint, is the amount of carbon taken from the forest when the trees are cut down for the production of paper. Any change in the carbon footprint of the industry should start right there.

2. The sources of paper and Endangered Forests: The report shows that the sources of paper used for the U.S. book industry are all over the world. The paper is sourced from the U.S., Canada, parts of Asia and Europe, and in addition wood chips, pulp and roundwood that are used by paper mills in these areas come from South America (Chile for example), Tasmania (Australia) and Indonesia.

One main problem with the use of forests in these areas as source of paper is that in many of these areas, trees are cut down in Endangered Forests, which results in significant environmental impacts. One result of this process is the conversion of reach ecosystems in these areas into tree plantations, which means severe damage to biodiversity, fundamental changes and losses in natural systems, severe impact on species, etc.

Two examples for such areas outside the U.S. are the "interior temperate rainforest" in British Colombia, Canada and the native siempre verde forests of Chile. In the U.S., a good example is the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Forest of the Southeastern United States. Unfortunately, it seems that though the use of FSC-certified paper becomes more popular (though as you can read later, this is not totally clear from 2007 data), too little is done to protect these natural resources from the exploitation of industries, including the paper industry.

3. Some increase in the use of post-consumer waste (PCW) recycled paper: In the report it is estimated that the percentage of recycled paper in books was 5% in 2006, which is no different than previous data, but it also presents few more indicators that show that this assumption might be a bit conservative and the actual percentage might be higher.

For example, 13 printers who took part in the survey, reported on increase in the use of PCW recycled paper from 2,038 short tons in 2004 to 19,145 short tons in 2006. Also, the six mills that participated in the survey reported on increase in recycled content from 2.4% in 2004 to 13.3% in 2007. Of course, these data may be biased and hence the caution of the report, but nevertheless it seems that there is a growth in the use of PCW recycled paper, not only in absolute numbers, but also relatively to the total use of paper.

4. More policies, but not enough quantitative targets: Many publishers, printers and other companies in the book industry are developing or have developed environmental policies (60% of the companies responded to the survey). The Green Press Initiative Book Industry Treatise on Responsible Paper Use that was already endorsed by 150 publishers, is being used as a benchmark by many others in the industry.

This is good news. The problem is that some of the issues that these policies refer to lack quantitative targets, which are very crucial to the successful implementation of these policies (just think of the difference between saying 'I'll lose some weight this year' and 'I'll lose 10 pounds this year').

For example, only 11% of the companies that replied to the survey said they have quantitative targets for limiting the sourcing of fiber from Endangered Forests or High Conservation Value Forests. Only 14% have policies that advocate reduction of paper consumption. The only exception is with the increased use of recycled paper - 54% have quantitative targets.

5. Certified paper use: The report explains that due to partial reporting for 2007, total increases in certified paper use cannot be reliably calculated. Nevertheless, four of the six mills that replied to the survey reported on an increase in Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper for books. The FSC certification is also the most preferred certification program on publishers and printers - 94% of the publishers that replied to the survey chose it as their preferred certification program (SFI reached the second place with 35%).

The report also brings few stories of publishers mainly that went through a process of green changes in the last couple of years, such as Random House, Scholastic, Lantern Books and others. These stories as well as the data and the analysis in the report are evidence of the change that is going over the book industry. It is only the beginning, but it's definitely there. Now the question is more and more not when or if the change will happen, but how long it will take.

All in all the report is very extensive, but there are still few points that I wanted to learn more about and I hope to see in the next report:

- There was no reference to the growing e-book industry. True it is still a fraction of the whole book industry, but it has the potential to grow fast with the last developments (Kindle for example), and we see more and more publishers that are experimenting with publishing digital versions of new titles. I think it's important to evaluate the environmental impacts of e-books and analyze whether or not e-book can be considered a green alternative.

- I also hope to have comparative data on the book industry in other areas such as Europe. Is the U.S. book industry in better or worst position compared to its European equivalent? are there any lessons it can learn from the experience of others? I think it would be interesting to get that perspective.

- What are the main reasons that stop publishers and other companies to go green? is it lack of supply? financial reasons? lack of green vision? The report brings a detailed list of the primary challenges in the process of going green in the book industry. What I would like is to learn more on the significance of each one of these obstacles that stop the industry from moving faster. Similar to the way the carbon footprint is analyzed by segments to see which is more significant in order to know where the focus should be, these obstacles can be further analyzed to learn which obstacles should be dealt firstly.

Last word: If you are involved in the book industry, it's a must reading. If you want to order the report, you can do it on GPI and BISG websites. The summary of the findings is also available for view.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Diane Ackerman Wins The 2008 Orion Book Award

The Orion Book Award was for one of those great finds you sometimes stumble upon while doing research on-line. It is given annually by the Orion Magazine “to a book that has achieved excellence in addressing a growing ecological awareness and the need for a healthier relationship between humans and the natural world.” This goal and focus gets a big thumbs up from Eco-Libris!

Out of the 43 books that have been nominated for the 2008 Orion Book Award (which goes to a book published in 2007), the top prize went to Diane Ackerman's The Zookeeper's Wife.

Diane Ackerman was born in Waukegan, Illinois. She received an M.A., M.F.A. and Ph.D. from Cornell University. The Zookeeper's Wife, published by W. W. Norton, is a narrative nonfiction about one of the most successful hideouts of World War II, the Warsaw Zoo, and is a tale of people, animals, and subversive acts of compassion.

Here are some of the judges' reasons for awarding the prize:

"The Zookeepers Wife is a groundbreaking work of nonfiction," said selection committee member Mark Kurlansky, "in which the human relationship to nature is explored in an absolutely original way through looking at the Holocaust." Kathleen Dean Moore, the committee's chairperson, said: "A few years ago, 'nature' writers were asking themselves, How can a book be at the same time a work of art, an act of conscientious objection to the destruction of the world, and an affirmation of hope and human decency? The Zookeeper's Wife answers this question."

Ackerman published several nonfiction and poetry books , including the best-selling A Natural History of the Senses. Here is a tidbit from the introduction of her children's poetry collection, Animal Sense:

“A stapler with its tiny fangs
Cannot outwit orangutangs.
Rocks are very good at sitting,
but never walk or take up knitting.
Living things all feel and sense
their way through every happenstance.“

The following books were finalists for the award: Strange as This Weather Has Been: A Novel, by Ann Pancake (Counterpoint); The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring, by Richard Preston (Random House); Sky Time in Gray's River: Living for Keeps in a Forgotten Place, by Robert Michael Pyle (Houghton Mifflin); The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman (St. Martin's Press/Thomas Dunne Books). Each of these authors will receive $500.

Found by way of Fred Bortz's science blog.

Yours,
Eylon @ Eco-Libris

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Take a short sharp shower on April

After asking to eat less meat on March, Do The Green Thing gets into the bathroom and ask us to take a short sharp shower on April.

What's the big deal with long showers? They explain: The planet’s supply of water is running out and showers use bucket-loads of it. They also use a lot of energy turning cold H2O into nice, hot H2O. So by trimming just a few minutes off your showering time, you’ll use less water and save CO2 whilst getting rid of your BO(2). If everyone in the UK cut their showering time in half, we’d save 3.6 billion litres every single day.

So take some short, sharp showers this month and save some precious water. But don't forget to get clean while getting green :-)

And of course, the recommendation comes with cool videos, like this one - Tom William's Short Sharp Shower Deck.


Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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The first book on Million Tree-A-Thon is out there!

Many green books for kids are going to be published this month (well, Earth Day is coming), but the only one that not only will be printed on 100% recycled post-consumer waste paper, but will also have a new tree planted (see our logo on the cover?) for every copy of it, is 'The Green Parent: A Kid-Friendly Guide to Earth-Friendly Living' by Jenn Savedge.

And today, April 1, is the official publication date of 'The Green Parent', which is the first book to be published under the Kedzie Press' Million Tree-A-Thon initiative. Just a short reminder - in collaboration with Eco-Libris, Kedzie Press has launched last February the Kedzie Million Tree-A-Thon. For each book sold, Kedzie Press will plant one tree, with the goal of planting one million trees by December 2009.

We will review the book next Monday on our Monday's green books series, but in the meantime here's a short description of the book (from Kedzie Press' website):

The Green Parent is the perfect book for parents who would like to teach their children about living green. From how to save energy, to how to reuse and recycle everything, this resource offers advice for getting children involved in conservation, as well as products and services that can help parents raise more environmentally conscious children. Through a series of fun activities such as how to start a “light patrol,” how to make a “waste-free” school lunch, and how to build a “green” bird house—parents and kids will learn ways to make the biggest impact, save the most money, and discover how making even the smallest of changes can make a big difference.

Want to learn more? check out Jenn Savedge's blog: http://thegreenparent.blogspot.com/ and also watch her on NBC 4, Virginia: http://video.nbc4.com/player/?id=235603.

If you want to order the book, you can do it online at Kedzie Press website.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Green Options - NoSweat Clothing Made By Palestinians, Distributed By A Jewish Entrepreneur

As part of Eco-Libris' ongoing content partnership with Green Options Media, we bring you today a post that was originally published by Angelique van Engelen on March 27th on Ecopreneurist. Though today's post is not directly related to books, I find it very interesting and inspiring to anyone who is from the Middle East and believes both in sustainable living and in peace.

Peace in the Middle East might be a near impossible dream but on-the-ground-efforts are all the more impressive for it. Take the initiative by Adam Neiman, a Boston-based Jewish entrepreneur partnering with a Palestinian clothing factory. Neiman's NoSweatApparel.com makes a ton of difference for dozens of Palestinians working the looms of an organic clothing factory in Bethlehem on the West Bank.

An important part of the Palestinian economy consists of organic cotton manufacturing but the conflict in the Middle East has badly impacted the industry. Neiman signed a deal with the organic cotton manufacturing company in Bethlehem after it had been forced to ax 30% of its workers. Many of the laid off workers returned to the Bethlehem factory after he stepped in. The deal included the creation of a trade union.

"We’ve found a rare piece of common ground -- more good jobs for Palestinians on the West Bank will help," the Boston entrepreneur was quoted as saying in a recent interview. "Economic development is no substitute for a diplomatic settlement but no settlement can survive without a sustainable Palestinian economy," Neiman added.

The press attention for Neiman itself alone underscores that he's achieving something; both Al Jezeera and the Jewish Advocate are raving about the initiative.

The company manufactures organically made, wholesale, teeshirts, shoes and trousers which are shipped out and marketed to the US, Canada and Israel. And NoSweatApparel.com is seeking distributors in Europe and Japan.

Neiman's business is a runner up winner of this month's Ideablob.com, a crowdsourcing site which awards $10,000 funding each month to a top voted business idea. Neiman says he's intent on using the money to purchase a batch of wholesale t-shirts from Bethlehem, "so our burgeoning network of high school distributors have a competitively priced product to sell to camps this summer and schools in the fall."