I was enjoying a good E-book just the other day, I apologize to my fellow printers, but these E-Readers are such a nice convenience. Anyway, I began to wonder about the impact my handy little device has on the environment as compared to the printed books I've enjoyed. I also wondered how many of us printing types are still fighting the fight by refusing to own one of these slick electronic devices. If you are an owner, how many of us could turn our backs on these handy devices, whether a Smart phone, tablet or notebook/laptop computer. I'm in the printing industry and I don't want to lose the convenience and connectivity these energy eating gadgets bring to my life.With my curiosity scratched, I did what any of us in the printing industry would do, I went to my tablet to explore the Internet and paged through a few printing trade titles to find some answers. I found a lot of the usual stuff such as paper is earth friendly because it's bio-degradable. Paper/trees are a renewable resource that creates jobs in both the planting and harvesting of. And trees, as well as other plant life are carbon warehouses, absorbing carbon and releasing oxygen. The opposing side talks about how paper waste contributes to landfill and the harvesting of trees for paper destroys forest and animal habitat. Sound familiar?But here's a little something I learned which helps our team. Perhaps you're familiar with "data-farms." For those that are not, listen up. These are large complexes that hold data servers which require vast amounts of energy to hold all of those items we post on our Facebook page, YouTube, LinkedIn and other social media sites. Now that's just the tip of the iceberg. Imagine the servers in operation at the Federal, State, and City governments or in the banking and insurance industry. How many servers are running 24/7 at your place of business? Most of these data-farms have backup systems which need to be powered 24/7 and generators standing by should the power go out. Isn't that a lot of coal burning at power plants across the world and I haven't even plugged in my tablet yet?I'm not suggesting these data-farms should all be turned off and we go back to paper, pencils and a postage stamp to handle all our needs to gather and share data. The world today needs these "data-farms." Perhaps, I'm suggesting to those that see paper and printing as damaging to our planet is to step back, take a breath and look around. Just because print is one of those things that is always in front of you, it doesn't mean an electronic based environment is greener than it. It means that both print and electronics, which both move life and business forward, can each have their place and live within a carbon footprint. Thanks for reading and now I have to go plug in my tablet.Posted by: Widtha Grayne
