the library book and 6 other small wonders for a cool planet

With climate change an ever increasing threat for us and our children here is a short list of ordinary things, that with widespread use, can have an extraordinary impact in the fight against global warming:

Seven Wonders for a Cool Planet

1) The Clothesline

2) The Real Tomato

3) The Bicycle

4) The Ceiling Fan

5) The Condom

6) The Microchip

7 and my favorite) The Library Book

"By sharing books, periodicals, and other materials with an entire community, a library makes thousands of persaonl copies uncessary. By reducing the demand for paper, libraries help save forests from logging (so they can work their wonders of carbon storage), salmon streams from logging-road erosion and pulp mill effluent, and greenhouse-gas-belching electric grids from the power load of pulp and paper mills....The essential wonder of libraries is that they reduce the need for newly manufactured goods." 

-Eric Sorensen in Seven Wonders for a Cool Planet: Everyday Things to Help Solve Global Warming (p 79-80)

So before you buy that spanking new book, decide if you really do need a new copy, and if not then consider your favorite used bookstore or public library instead.

Catherine @ Reading In Montana