Green publishing
Publishers
urged to do more
to be green
Environmental responsibility
issues. Grace pointed out that the UK
alone publishes around 200,000 book titles
is becoming a big issue. per year. If each of them had a print run of
Siân Harris reports on some
1,000, that would be 200,000,000 books to
be shipped around the world – without even
of the green ideas at the
considering all the journals, newspapers and
magazines.
ALPSP conference
Such observations may seem like support
for electronic delivery rather than print, but
‘Publishing thinks of itself as a benign it is not quite so straightforward. According
industry but you only have to visit a pulp to research by the Swedish Royal Institute
factory to see that’s not really the case,’ for Technology in 2007, if somebody read
observed Toby Sawday, who is responsible the news in a print newspaper each day, they
for business development and sustainability would contribute 28 kg of carbon dioxide to
for Alistair Sawday’s Publishing, a UK-based the atmosphere per year. Reading it online
travel book publisher. for 30 minutes a day, however, is responsible
Sawday was speaking at the Association of for 35 kg carbon dioxide per year because of
Learned and Professional Society Publishers the electricity used by the PC, network link
(ALPSP) international conference about his and peripherals. Reading a newspaper on an
company’s experience of green publishing. e-reader came out on top, with emissions
He pointed out that 45 per cent of all of just 14 kg carbon dioxide per year. in the UK for professional reasons – an
industrial round wood harvested globally However, it is, of course, highly likely that observation that had conference delegates
is used for making paper pulp. This leads the online reader’s PC would be turned on shifting uncomfortably in their seats. This
to increasing deforestation and loss of and networked whether they were reading was followed by vacations abroad and then
habitat for both wildlife and people. In the news on it or not. travelling to work.
addition, processes such as making paper Beyond the complicated considerations There are ways to reduce this though.
cause pollution in rivers and seas as well as about how material is published, there Travel by train came out on top in the
generating greenhouse gases. are business processes to consider in green stakes. According to Grace, emissions
According to John Grace, head of the improving a publisher’s – or any business’ – were just 0.01 kg of carbon per person per
Institute of Environmental Science at the environmental impact. kilometre, assuming that the train was 40 per
University of Edinburgh, who was also Travel plays a major part in this. cent full. Cars, assuming an average of 1.6
speaking at the ALPSP conference, 24 trees Grace recounted how one of his students people per car, came out at 0.06 kg of carbon
are required to make one tonne of paper. discovered that the carbon dioxide emitted per person per kilometre. Short-haul flights,
In addition, 1.5 tonnes of coal are required through travel in the UK was linearly- not surprisingly, came out as the highest, but
to produce the electricity for one tonne of related to income with no tailing off – the only slightly higher than cars. Assuming a
paper and this is responsible for emitting richer you are, the more carbon dioxide flight is 70 per cent full, emissions are 0.07
around five tonnes of carbon dioxide. you make. And professional emissions kg of carbon per person per kilometre. The
What’s more, the process of harvesting the play a much larger part in this than the figures change for long-haul flights though:
trees themselves produces carbon dioxide as common complaints about people taking for a 70 per cent full long-haul flight, the
well as removing the trees’ ability to take their children to school or driving to the figure drops to 0.045 kg of carbon per person
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. shops. The student found that the biggest per kilometre – although, of course, more
Beyond this, there are the distribution contributor of carbon dioxide was journeys carbon dioxide is emitted simply by the fact
16 Research Information December 2008/January 2009 www.researchinformation.info
RIdec08 pp16-17 Green.indd 16 17/11/08 16:55:13
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