Regarding the resources used in paper production, it should not be overlooked that not only are large quantities of electricity required in running a paper production plant, but that there are enormous quantities of water-based chemicals used in the processing of most paper products. Most of these chemicals are toxic, many of them are non-bio-degradable, and most of them are just dumped back into the local water sources after use, making them a significant source of water pollution.
When you combine all of that with the production of one e-book reader, which is capable of replacing potentially hundreds to even thousands of books, the economy of scale and conservation of resources tips very strongly in favor of e-books.
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