Green Your Reading

And we're not just talking about the subject matter. While our previous post on books for green beginners was designed to point readers to the right kind of green-minded material, we never mentioned what to do with the paperbacks after they've been thoroughly parsed and perused. Discarded books too often get tossed in the trash or left in vain on stoops with evidently unheeded 'Take Me' notes?only to eventually be picked up by the garbage man.

There are of course ways to avoid this. Take your old books down to a used bookstore?they may not give you much in the way of cash, but they'll keep them in reader's hands instead of the landfill. Or just give them away to friends or family?trying to gauge genuine interest of course; you don't want to just make them the middle man in the book's trip to the trash can.

Or, you could start greening your reading from the beginning: instead of picking up paper copies, try reading an e-book (most titles are available in the format now) and prevent the potential for waste altogether. Another option is to buy books from publishers who use green-friendly printingmethods, like exclusively printing their titles on recycled paper. And all you college students, who'll probably end up ditching a slew of your required reading material anyway?think about trying the eco-friendly book rental programs available online.

This post was inspired Greensburg.