For the Love of a Book… or the Earth?
Posted by Abbey Lile-Taylor on Growers & Grocers
When I walk into a bookstore, I just want to hug all of the bookshelves. I love books. Take a look around my house right now… there are about five bookshelves stuffed with books, there are books stacked on tables and on the floor, I have boxes and boxes of books packed away in the attic, and even more out in the garage ready to be sold at our yardsale.
I wonder how many trees I’ve cut down in my lifetime?
I think about that every single time I buy a book or magazine. As I’ve become more environmentally aware, all of the things I used to do every day without a second thought are now making me do a double take.
But how do I continue my love of reading without taking out small forests? Yes, yes… I know… the library. But I read so fast that the books I want to read are always new releases and are either not available there or there is a waiting list to check them out. Plus, I’m ashamed to say that I am a major instant-gratification kinda gal… and when I want a book, I want it now.
I think I’ve found my answer: Amazon’s Kindle.
The last time I said this out loud (on my own site), I thought my readers were going to come through the computer screen and slap me right across the face! How dare I not read books?!?!
But what is not to love about a device that can hold over 200 books? All of which you can buy at the drop of a hat … ahhhh … instant gratification! But besides the selfish reasons, think of all the trees you will save by not buying a book and think of the clean air we’ll have without the trucks delivering all those books.
Don’t believe me? Here’s what other people are saying about it:
The Kindle is supported by Amazon, the worlds largest online retailer and book store, meaning you will have access to an enormous range of books! You can even read and subscribe to your favourite RSS feeds on it. Think the Iphone meets a Library. Not only will you save paper and trees, you will also save the energy that goes into making the books and shipping them out all over the world in their physical presence. You’ll also save money by paying less for books and shipping and handling. -Environmental Blog
The good news is that they completely eliminate the need for shipping, they don’t take up warehouse space and they are almost entirely resource free. No trees die, no fossil fuels or chemicals are used in their creation. They’re infinitely reproducible for free. The Kindle looks to have an e-ink display, which is exciting because they are non-toxic, extremely low-power and very high-resolution. -EcoGeek
Here are my only three issues with the Kindle: 1. The time between page turns lasts a little longer than this instant grat girl can handle. 2. You can’t share your books with friends… but, hey, they can go to the library. 3. So Expensive. So I’m waiting for Kindle 2.0. Remember when the iPhone came back in its second generation? It got a little bit faster and a lot cheaper! That’s what I’m hoping happens with the Kindle.
Until then, I will continue to wish for the Kindle so I can be a small part of saving the world… okay, okay… so I’ll keep wishing for it because I want to take my entire library with me the next time I visit my family back east.
What? At least, I’m selfishly saving the planet!
About no being able to share with friends … one feature of the kindle that doesn’t get discussed very often is the ability to purchase a book on one Amazon account and to download the book on up to 6 Kindles tied to that one account. That means that if you trust a friend or family member enough to give them a kindle tied to your Amazon account, you only have to buy a book once to read it on both devices.