Sedonans go green, stop buying newspapers

We can switch to natural cleaners and herbicides to reduce cancer rates and protect the ozone layer, use green building materials, capture rainwater, recylce our card board, place solar panels around our homes, flush our toilet less frequently, ride a bicycle or walk instead of drive, and a myriad of other green ideas.

But I never hear anyone in Sedona talk about the waste generated by our local newspapers. Everday, thousands of newspapers are mailed to our homes. We read them once and toss them into the garbage, never to be read again. How many trees are destroyed each year for this? How much gas is guzzled to deliver them to your home?

Why are Sedonans still buying newspapers when the internet offers real time news, with video and audio, right in the convenience of your home? In an article entitled, "Internet helps Americans save more energy every year," it stated: "For every kilowatt-hour of power that Internet-linked computers use, they save at least 10 times that amount, a recent study finds."

According to wasteage.com, "Newspapers are the largest component by weight and volume of a curbside recycling program...In 2002, approximately 55.2 million newspapers were sold every weekday by the 1,457 daily U.S. newspapers, averaging 2.27 readers per copy."

In a recent blog at his website, Silicon Alley Insider, Henry Blodget writes: "As 'green business' practices take hold, a new generation of consumers will come to view the newspaper industry as a horrifically wasteful polluter that eats forests, gobbles fuel and electricity, and farts untold amounts of hydrocarbons into the atmosphere--all to deliver information that might have been interesting yesterday."

With Earth Day not far in our rear view mirror, I challenge local environmental groups to place the reduction of newspaper on their list of ways to go green.

Why aren't our local newspapers taking the lead on this? Why aren't they putting all of their news on the internet? Think how much money they would save, how much paper waste would be reduced, and how much better they could serve the public.

To me, it's obvious: printing and delivering a newspaper is a highly capital intensive business. It's a big barrier to entry for new competitors to overcome. Those who currently control print control the news, and keep others out. Given this, why should they encourage the public to get their news on the internet, even if it is more green, more convenient, more timely, and more interesting?

By buying a newspaper, the public is not only supporting the creation of waste, they are limiting the diverse points of view that can be delivered quickly and easily over the internet.

If you really care about Sedona, the environment, and getting the greatest diversity in your news, don't buy a newspaper.

Reader comments

#1 Having read your recent article on Sedona Biz Online regarding hard copy newspapers, I felt compelled to inform you, so your readers may also become informed about the Sedona Excentric. The Sedona Excentric was the first, and may still be the only, publication produced on partially recycled paper, and was one of the first publications to go online, possibly the first. While many new businesses have opened in Sedona in the past twenty years, some of us old-timers are actually the pioneers in many areas. My website has been up for more than a decade. There was no online advertising, so it was at our own expense. As a former organizer of Clean Water Action Project, an environmental lobby that worked to clean the Chesapeake Bay and helped pass Clean Water, Clean Air and Superfund legislation, I take the stewardship of the environment quite seriously. I believe if you looked at publishers who use heavy, high-grade paper, you will find a good part of the waste. Even on our recycled paper, our editorials are sharp and our advertising is crisp - everyone benefits. I will continue to publish in hard copy and online. neither is perfect, as one could well make the argument that online publishers are using fuels generated by the construction and use of computers and electricity to spread their message. A conscious effort by all to reduce our waste is needed.

Best Regards,

Thom Stanley
Pres/CEO
Excentric Ink, Inc.

#2 I think your article about newspapers is missing an important reason why newspapers are here to stay in one form or another for quite a while. Spending time with my wife in the morning having a cup of coffee and sharing the newspaper with her is quality time that cannot be duplicated over a computer screen. We are able to discuss events, news, politics, etc. We recycle our papers and encourage all others to do the same. A.B.

Sedona.biz reply: Thank you for your email about newspapers. This is a very interesting topic. I am 46 and probably on the cusp of those who are comfortable with a computer. I use a wireless laptop and bring it almost everywhere with me when I travel or move about the house. I put it on my lap when I'm reading on the couch etc. People under 30, as I understand, are into text messaging and reading news on their cell phone. I could easily have my laptop on my kitchen table when I'm having coffee in the morning. In many ways, the internet is more enriching that the newspaper because it connects me to the entire world of news with rich media like audio and video.

The downside, many say, is that it reduces attention span and no one reads more than the first paragraph of anything anymore.

I think comfort with the computer is generational.

Thanks,
Carl

A.B. reply: A couple of incorrect assumptions being made here. First, even though I am 65, I have been using computers since the Apple II came on the market. I switched to a 386 when it became available and was astounded by its BLAZING speed. Laughable now, but great technology then. I use email and text messaging during most of the hours I am awake. I am very tech savvy and am always looking to upgrade to the newest equipment with the newest features that I probably won't use, but are at least in my mind, nice to have just in case. Addictive personality traits being demonstrated here?

A computer screen just can't be laid out on the counter top. With a newspaper, you an open it up completely and see many articles and advertisements at a glance. The computer screen will have Bold lines to click on if you want to bring up the article. Very efficient, but not the same as scanning to the middle of an article in a newspaper and discovering an interesting point you would have missed because you would not have even brought up the article on the computer. That one line on the computer does not give enough information about all the interesting information that may be hidden in the complete article.