In the face of human-caused climate change, paperbacks and e-readers each have pros and cons. JGI/Daniel Grill/Getty Images hide caption The summer reading season is here. Some people will opt for paperbacks because they're easy to borrow and share.
Others will go for e-readers, or audiobooks streamed on a phone. But which is the more environmentally sustainable option? Reading's carbon footprint is not something most people consider when choosing how to read a book. But it's important to think about in a world facing the devastating impacts of human-caused climate change.
Whether it's better to read books in print or on a device is complicated, because of the complex interplay of the resources involved across the entire lifecycle of a published work: how books and devices are shipped, what energy they use to run, if they can be recycled. Digital reading is on the rise — especially audiobooks. According to the Association of American Publishers , they now capture about the same share of the total US book market as e-books — roughly 15%.
But print is still by far the most popular format. "Publishers are interested in preserving the business that they've created over hundreds of years," said Publishers Weekly executive editor Andrew Albanese, explaining why the industry is focusing most of its efforts on improving the sustainability of paperback and hardcover books, rather than digital formats. "They are looking to run those print book businesses as efficiently as possible,.