A gentle reminder that these are the same publishers who also advocate that harvested tree pulp industry does not impact the environment. As evil as they come. ;-)
They... don't impact the environment. The trees they use were planted for the sole purpose of being harvested. And new trees are planted for every tree that's harvested.
~~If anything, they're a net positive for the environment, since they're sequestering carbon into books.~~
EDIT: I'll acquiesce that they may not be a net positive, since there are carbon costs associated with the entire process. But, using purpose-grown trees is hard to consider as a net negative.
And, if we're talking about the entire process, e-books are not carbon-zero products either.
1. They use our land to plant a monoculture of pine trees. Zero biodiversity.
2. They use our roads for giant logging trucks that degrade the roads and endanger other drivers.
3. They use our air and our water for paper processing which emits TONS of deadly chemicals.
These publishers have blood on their hands. Force them to publish online only. Close the tree farms, close the paper mill. Convert the tree farms into public parks. Save Mother Earth!
Corn and wheat are essential food items. There is no "digital alternative" to corn and wheat. No one should need to buy a physical book/newspaper in this day and age.
These wood pulp tree farms are producing luxury consumption items for the middle and upper class. Working class people don't read physical newspapers
Yes, and industrial farming is a known major problem that wreaks havoc on the environment and in the case of animal farming at an industrial scale commits horrible atrocities. So yes, you are right... it is not just pulp trees at issue.
Most trees for lumber and papermills are grown on farms like corn (in the US at least). Industrialized paper making can be harmful to the environment, but so is essentially all industrialized activity. E-waste is more problematic. Most phones don't last much longer 5 years and can't be 100% recycled easily while most paper products are biodegradable.
But people don’t have to buy additional phones for the purpose of reading books. Also, dead tree industry can never achieve a global distribution at the scale of the Internet. Look at it the way cassettes couldn’t ever have achieved what Youtube has been able to do for new artists/music.
Also, contrary to what many people are told, pulp farming in the US is super harmful to the environment. The damage isn’t local to each manufacturer either. You might want to look-up into wikipedia for credible info on this.
