Comments on: Publishers give BM some green love

By: John Buckman

John Buckman — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 14:38:04 +0000

Some long term goals for BookMooch which touch on the eco-issues are:

1) make book trading so effective that publishers can print fewer copies of a book, and yet reach a larger audience. (to accomplish this, I have to find a way for publishers to profit from BM)

2) promote “meet & mooch” get-togethers, where people regularly meet and bring books the others attending indicated an interest in, so that books can be felt, scanned, and mooched in person.

3) provide a “mooch shelf” where books being traded can be dropped off and picked up at your leisure (and safely) in a place you’re already driving by. These could be at libraries, schools and cafes.

4) encourage multi-mooching, i.e. getting several books from one person. This lowers postal costs and the carbon footprint per book.

and more ideas in the future…

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:54:59 +0000

As the daughter of a paper company executive, trees are a renewable resource.

By: Wanda

Wanda — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:41:27 +0000

Bookmooch is STILL more ecofriendly than a new book. If you buy a brand new book AND have it shipped, common sense will tell you that we are still using less resources. Not to mention, we mooch books that are out of print so the educational and fun factor there is PRICELESS. It still costs less if an airplane or truck is full of books than if we each get into our own cars and drive to the store, etc for one book. Not to mention, I live in a rural area and have to drive 45 minutes to the nearest large bookstore. While I recycle and am careful, I am not a green fanatic. Who are we saving the planet for, anyway? If no one can use anything, there will be no one left here to save the planet FOR!

By: David A. Spitzley

David A. Spitzley — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:39:12 +0000

“If you can’t use it twice don’t use it once.”

Remind me not to use your bathroom

By: Jackie N.

Jackie N. — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 03:59:11 +0000

Speaking of libraries…the main reason I love bookmooch so much is because I have come to hate public libraries. I started checking out books from the library at a very young age. I’ve always loved to read. Over the years I have paid my share of overdue book fines, but the last time was the straw that broke the camel’s back. My grandkids and I checked out seven preschool books which got forgotten…in an obscure bookcase for about 4 or 5 weeks after they were read. For some reason, I was not notified by the library and when I discovered the books, I immediately took them back and dropped them in the book chute, because the library was closed. It was not until six months later I visited the library and they told me I had $35 in fines from those 7 little books. I said NO WAY and I’ve never been back. I always buy used books, never new ones.

By: Nancy

Nancy — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:23:21 +0000

I am so over the whole carbon footprint crap. How about we quit bulldozing acres of land to build yet another strip mall? I operate under the reduce, reuse, recycle goal. Bookmooch embraces that goal. I send internationally. I can’t imagine being in a foreign country trying to find books in another language, much less books I want to read. I however, refuse to get caught up in the propaganda of green. Please don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.

By: Amtep

Amtep — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:21:52 +0000

Am I the only one who assumed that “Publishers give BM some green love” meant that BM would be getting lots and lots of fresh green dollars?

By: Eylon Israely

Eylon Israely — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:35:02 +0000

Hi All – According to the recent ‘Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts:Findings from the U.S. Book Industry’, the usage of paper in books is by far the #1 environmental impact of books on this planet. Paper usage constitutes of over 70% of the emissions of the book industry. BookMooch helps address this issue by promoting re-use of books, so personally I believe the overall impact of mooching is positive, although only a real audit can ascertain. Not to say that energy usage for transportation is not important and should not be addressed, only that in this particular context, tree based paper is a more major concern.

For more information:
http://ecolibris.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-green-is-book-publishing-industry_12.html

When I mooch I almost always go for the nearest possible person. I think the only time I chose a farther one was when the nearest one was “possibly inactive” or something like that. If I can arrange to meet in person instead of using postage, even better!

Eylon @ Eco-Libris

By: Andreea

Andreea — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:23:03 +0000

I agree with cvalda that “there are definite positives” about BM, but that they come with negatives. It cannot be otherwise when it has to rely on structures developed by/through capitalism, where the ultimate is always profits.

It is true that the plane would fly anyway with or without the BM book, but it would do so only because a large number of people around the world – who can all use the same argument – have bought tickets or sent mail. I cannot stop the plane or influence all those people, but I can and must take responsibility for my own individual decision to mooch or send a book/buy a ticket.

By: Jackie N.

Jackie N. — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:02:16 +0000

Bookmooch saves trees. Reuse packaging as much as feasible. It helps keep the postal employees busy. It keeps people reading instead of watching the boob tube. Let’s think of more reasons.