Do you know that between 2011 and 2021 the e-learning market has increased from 300,000 learners to 220 million learners?
With this massive shift in our educational system, many questions arise. Are eBooks suitable for different kinds of learners? Are eBooks accessible to everyone? Is e-learning safe? But one question that we overlook is does moving to eBooks mitigates the climate issues that are caused by textbooks. We all seem to believe the narrative that moving to eBooks will lessen the impact that textbook production has on the climate without considering the negative impact that production, manufacturing, and usage of electronic materials necessary to access eBooks have on the environment.
It is important to note that the negative impact of the paper industry on the climate is distinctive, from cutting down trees (removing natural carbon sinks) to the usage of a vast amount of water in the production process. In 2019 Penguin Books UK examined its carbon footprint and found that paper contributes 41% and printing 33%.
Manufacturing
Now let’s look at the impact that eBooks have on the environment. Quick question – How do you read your eBook? Do you read it on a phone, tablet, laptop, or e-reader? Actually, It really doesn’t matter because the manufacturing of all these devices utilizes the same methods. The methods of extracting the resources such as lithium (for batteries), copper, silicon, mercury (for LCD screens), and other rare elements create huge emissions and spreads a lot of toxic substances, which are harmful to the environment and the workers (and I’m not even talking about the working conditions, which is a whole other topic).
To give an idea about the emission created, the manufacturing of an e-reader creates about 100-kilowatt hours of fossil fuels and 65 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. While the production of a laptop emits between 882.2 kg and 925.2 kg of carbon. These numbers do not include the emissions incurred from the transportation of the elements necessary for production.
Usage
It’s difficult to generalize the usage rate and the emission created in the process. However, EXCEPT (integrated sustainability group) in their study gives us an idea of the kind of carbon footprint we are creating from the usage of laptops to access eBooks or online learning. Their study found that the annual carbon emission created from a laptop is between 220.6 to 231.3 kg.
Electronic Waste
The process of recycling electronics is becoming easier, but the process is not widespread. This is important because E-waste is not biodegradable and accumulates in the environment. The process to recover valuable materials from electronic components requires acid baths which can cause toxic substances to leach into the environment.
You might be wondering now and asking the question, what is the solution then? To be honest with you, I really don’t know what exactly the solution is, or if there is a solution. In my opinion, sharing used books acts as a way to reduce the number of books going into landfills. Moreover, in a household, not everyone needs to have multiple electronic devices. Although this is hard to accomplish, this will be the best method to significantly reduce the impact of electronic waste.
Now it’s your turn, to share your thoughts with us on this topic, whether you agree, or disagree, it’s important for everyone to get involved in this discussion. Maybe this way we can devise a better solution.
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Syed Naqi
Syed is currently an undergraduate student in his 2nd year in the Business Administration Marketing Program at Seneca College
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