E-Books and the environment

E-books and their positive impact on the environment

One last time… for the cause.

I’m excited about the obvious positive impact of e-publishing on the environment. Environmental consciousness is one of the driving forces behind e-book acceptance.

Consider this:

eBooks are created electronically.

No trees are cut to produce them.

No ink is used to put the words on the page.

No fossil fuel is used to run presses or power trucks to move them around the country.

No storage facilities are heated to store boxes of books until they are shipped to bookstores.

eBooks are delivered to the end user electronically. They are read electronically. They are disposed of with a push of a delete button, without ever taking up room in a landfill.

Good stuff, right.

Now consider this:

– It takes twelve trees to produce a ton of printing paper. Twenty-four trees for higher grade writing paper.

– A mature tree can produce as much oxygen in a season as ten people inhale in a year.

– Only 5% of the paper used in the book industry is recycled.

– Up to 35% of books printed for consumers are never read. They are returned to the publisher and end up in landfills.

– 71% of the world’s paper supply still comes from natural forests, rather than tree farms.

A guy named Greg Kozak dedicated his master’s thesis to comparing the environmental impact of the two formats, conventional books compared to e-published books.

Greg found that a paper book created 4 times the greenhouse gas emissions of an e-book reader and several times more ozone-depleting substances and chemicals associated with acid rain. Print books needed 3 times more raw materials and 78 times more water consumption than e-books.

Hello, again,

Well, I’m having an interesting learning experience, so despite the lack of responses I’m going to carry on.

Ursus Americanus Kermodei, or Spirit Bear is a rare subspecies of the Black Bear that, due to the result of a double recessive gene, is pure white. There are only about 300 of these bears in the world and most live on a remote island (Princess Royal Island) off the northwest coast of Canada. They are endangered by hunters and by having their habitat destroyed by logging.

I hoped that by writing an entertaining story with a subplot that highlighted the plight of this magnificent animal, I could bring more awareness to their precarious situation.

All the royalties from the sale of this book are being donated to the Wilderness Committee www.wildernesscommittee.org to help them continue their work to protect the Spirit Bear and preserve the Great Bear Rainforest.

Why write a romance with a subplot about the environment?

I got tired of preaching to the converted, so this book is about trying to bring a message to the romance reader which is comprised 90 per cent of women.

Women have incredible potential to positively impact the environment.

Women purchase or influence the purchase of 80 percent of all consumer goods, including home furnishing and products, houses, vehicles, computers and stocks. A woman that’s sensitive to environmental issues could influence the purchase of an energy efficient vehicle, products from recycled materials, stocks in a sustainable industry, even environmentally friendly cleaning products.

All the royalties from the sale of this book are being donated to the Wilderness Committee www.wildernesscommittee.org to help them continue their work to protect the Spirit Bear and preserve the Great Bear Rainforest.

Hello,

I’m new to blogging so please be patient.

My novel may be a romance, but my agenda is the environment. I want people to read and be entertained but I also would like to inspire them to take action to protect and preserve wild things and wild places. I’d really like to know if this is something that will work in this genre.

But first a little about my book.

Spirit Bear is about a corporate climber that goes to battle with an eco-warrior over a ski development that threatens the habitat of the rare, mystical Spirit Bear.

Kimberley James is hoping her new assignment will jump-start her stalled career with a New York corporate relations firm. Her client wants to develop a mega ski resort in northern Canada. Her job is to convince the current owners of the land to sell. With millions of dollars to be made, it seems like a done deal.

Until she runs up against Jonah Baker.

Baker is part owner of a lodge on the land and an ardent environmentalist. He’s not about to permit a development that threatens ancient rain forests and the habitat of the rare and endangered Spirit Bear for any price.

Kim begrudgingly respects his principles before profit, but cannot allow a tree-hugging, bear-loving zealot to derail her fast-track to success.

Jonah admires her determination and worldliness, but will fight to the end to stop a materialistic corporate climber from destroying something rare and unique.

Will their mutual attraction to one another be a catalyst that helps develop an understanding? Will the mythical, white Spirit Bear survive, and what role will it play in resolving what appear to be irreconcilable differences?

The story is about money, morals and mystery and, as well as a satisfying romance has factual information about the Spirit Bear and First Nations culture.