...even though it wastes so few resources and is much more practical compared to the real thing.
Don't forget...the manufacturing of devices like the Kindle, iPad, etc...are not exactly as environmentally friendly or "green" as you may think.
You have to consider:
1. The resources that go into the manufacturing of the parts (metal, plastics, glass, etc.)...remembering that plastics come from oil (or recycled plastic), iPads use aluminum...which is a VERY energy intensive metal to produce (recycling) helps.
2. Of course the factories that manufacture eBook devices need to use energy (electricity, coal, hydro, oil, etc.)
3. The energy needed to ship the products from China & elsewhere...where they are sold.
4. What about all the energy used & paper shuffled about during the 9-12 month design, development, prototype, and manufacturing stages of a new device?
5. What about the electricity needed to run these devices???...it takes zero energy to read a good old-fashioned book in the sunlight!
Imagine how much electricity it takes to run 10's of millions of iPads throughout the world...year after year!!!
6. Lastly...one VERY big factor that sometimes folks forget about is...many consumers that buy these devices like to have the latest & greatest. So where do the old iPad 1's or iPad 2's go when the iPad 3 comes out?...hopefully into the hands of new owners. But...what about the resources that go into the iPad 1, iPad 2, and eventually the iPad 3? It's not like Apple makes the iPad 1...and then 10 years later comes out with the iPad 2 (which would require much fewer resources). If Apple & others keep making new models of each of these devices each year...that's a lot of resources. And eventually when the iPad 12 comes out...a lot of those iPad 1's & iPad's are going to end up in landfills.
I'm not saying that the paper & printing industries don't use a heck of a lot of natural resources. And I'm also not saying that I'm some sort of "green freak" or "super environmentalist". What I am saying is...these electronic devices that in part are supposed to help us eliminate the need for paper & other resources are NOT as "green" as one would like to think.
- Nick