Canadian readers and the environment

In collecting data for the first six months of this year for our 2022 edition of the Canadian Book Consumer Study, we’ve found that the environmental impact of the book industry matters to 56% of Canadians overall and specifically to 69% of Canadian book buyers and 66% of Canadian library book borrowers.

To get more specific, in surveying for our Canadian Leisure & Reading Study 2021, we asked Canadian print readers what they thought of three environment-focused statements about the print book

1. I want books to be made from sustainably-sourced paper.

2. I want to know where books are printed or shipped from.

3. I want my books delivered in ecological-friendly packaging.

For the most part, Canadian print readers agreed or sometimes agreed with each of these statements, as shown in the graph below.

Please head to the BookNet Canada blog to learn whether the environmental impact of the book industry matters to Canadian readers.

Scholarly Kitchen article on the SDG Publishers Compact

Scholarly Kitchen has recently published an interesting article on the SDG Publishers Compact. It highlights the fact that all the publishers who have signed up to the compact are meant to publish progress reports on how they are doing. Yet we aren't seeing these reports, which is part of being a member of the compact.

Follow the link to read the full report https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2022/07/28/sdg-publishers-compact-where-do-we-stand-now/

APA - The Greener Publishing Guide

The Australian Publishers Association (APA) has recently published The Greener Publishing Guide. The guide provides publishers with a lot of information around how they can make their businesses greener and more sustainable.

The guide is broken down into the following six sections, which are easy to understand and digest. When it mentions work being done by other trade organisations it links to those sites. The sections are:

• Greener products

• A green supply chain

• Better business practices

• Promote environmental content

• Collaboration, standards and targets

• Further reading

As well as all this useful advice, there is a feedback button for readers to submit ideas and thoughts to help improve the site.

Click on the link to read the guide

Image courtesy of Casey Horner, Unsplashed