Michael Maoz

The other vacation phenomenon was the surfeit of folks fanning the digital book pages. These eReaders are the tree huggers incarnate, saving the trees and our planet. Or as one of my cheekier daughters used to say, NOT!

My youngest daughter is doing a little Science study on the eBooks/digital readers at her school. Yikes. The number of chemicals outnumbered those found in a Twinkie.  And then there are the metals et al. She has started a list: nickel, lithium metallic oxide, palladium, cadmium, zinc, copper, fiberglass, crude oil, iron/steel, silver, cobalt. And don’t leave out whatever is in the solder, and the hydrocarbon solvents and paints. Or the coal to generate the electricity to power all of these hungry rascals growing at the same rate as an eColi colony.

And then there is the old fashioned, sustainable paper book: mostly recyclable, harvested from sustainable trees that are grown and clean the air. No gouging into the earth with complex equipment, or smelting and refining.

I have no factual basis for thinking that paper books are more or less ‘green’ than the electronic readers. I am just surprised that the major manufacturers and sellers don’t talk about the carbon footprint of these devices. It’s a bit old fashioned in 2010 not to give your product an environmental rating.

So: give it up! Let’s hope that in 2010 we see a real move to placing a list of ingredients on the side of your mobile device and eReaders, in the same way that you would on the side of processed food.

Alright, I digress. I’ll stick to improving the lives of customers.

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