Quote:
Originally Posted by Hellmark
As far as things go for ebook readers not being enviromentally friendly, you have to kind of factor in the total impact. Yes, the initial production of the device has a negative impact, but is it greater than the production of the number of books that the owner would have in paper otherwise over the lifespan of the device? My reader is still going strong, and has a few hundred books under its belt.
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Very true. It depends on how long the device is used. Not everyone will dump their ereader for every new generation. Sources I've seen claim that the carbon footprint for an ereader is equal to about 40 books, which I'd say is easily achieved by most ereader customers. But those paper books can also be re-used by multiple people, and more of the materials used to make them are renewable and can be recycled.
The question of ecological impact of paper vs. ebooks is an interesting one with many dimensions. If I weren't so lazy I'd make a thread for discussion.