The launch of Amazon's Kindle was widely reported in the media today in articles like this one from The New York Times: Amazon Reading Device Doesn't Need Computer. Perhaps that's because the e-reader will offer subscriptions to newspapers like the Times that are desperately searching for new revenue streams.
Missing from the coverage was any analysis of the green aspects of the new device. What's clear is that book publishing has plenty of room for improvement. According to Eco-Libris, only 5% of books published in the United States are printed on recycled paper. The same Web site says that about 20 million trees are cut down each year to print books.
If the Kindle can save a fraction of those trees -- not to mention the environmental costs of bleaching and transporting the paper -- I say it's worth considering, even if the $399 asking price is rather steep.
Of course, the Kindle and other ereaders can never really replace the book. Can they?
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/presspol/research_publications/papers/discussion_papers/D39.pdf
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