Publishing and the environment

Publishing has long been a destructive industry, responsible for the felling of vast swathes of ancient forest, the use of energy on a considerable scale and the consumption of chemicals at the paper-making and printing stages. Suggesting change was whistling into the wind.

I am beginning to be impressed by the efforts now being made by publishers to reduce their ecological impact. The winds of the climate change debate have blown into more nooks and crevices than I had imagined possible, and quickly too. Recycled paper, and paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, are all the rage. Once all publishers are on board then the pace of change will quicken and will reach right down through the ‘supply chain’ to printers and paper-makers, many of whom are already making progress. Illegal logging in Russia and Indonesia, for example, may yet be halted. Much of the credit for all this can go to Greenpeace and their Forest Campaign.