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This discussion (so long as it remains a discussion) is a perfect example of how little experience society has in figuring in total net costs to any item. In this case, total net costs can extend to materials harvesting/mining, factory production, transportation costs, energy usage, environmental maintenance, storage maintenance, pollution cleanup, recycling and mitigation... most of which has never been seriously figured into the costs of a single item before, but is generally left to business losses to record and taxes to clean up after.
As society comes to understand how much more strictly we will have to manage our resources in the future, these total net costs will become more prominent and better understood, and at some point, we should have the capacity to provide a dollar figure to the total cost of a single book. The field is (unfortunately) still young, and reliable figures are probably beyond any source. But for the moment, discussing the various factors should help everyone to understand just what-all is involved, and to what extent.
Translation: I love it when a good discussion comes together!
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