In the past few years, Allbook Books has started using 100% recycled papers as much      as possible. Recycled papers do help save on water, energy, and virgin resources. We also pay attention to the kind of inks used, again aiming to use those that are least harmful or cause no harm to the environment.

   While none of these choices totally solve environmental problems, they do help. Also, while some tout electronic choices as a way to save paper and the environment, oftentimes the problems of e-waste, such as lead in landfills, go unmentioned; clearly it’s a topic with many angles.

   The envelopes used for mailing books and other items are 100% recycled, minimum 40% post consumer, no chlorine added. 

   “What are the benefits of recycled paper?

   “Each ton of recycled fiber that replaces a ton of virgin fiber saves 17-24 mature trees and up to 7.5 tons of CO2 equivalent emissions. 

   “Also, recycling keeps paper out of landfills, which at current levels makes up 26% of landfills. The degradation produces methane a greenhouse gas with 23 times the heat trapping capacity of carbon dioxide and landfills are the source of 34% of methane releases  -- the single largest source in the U.S.

   “What are the benefits of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified papers?

   “Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper ensures that the fiber to make paper does not originate from Endangered Forests or areas of social  conflict. They work to keep natural and biodiverse forests from being converted to single-species tree farms after harvest and integrate the concerns of indigenous and local communities into forest plans and assessments.”
   www.greenpressinitiative.org

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HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN SACRED

How do you slake the doggish-thirst
     of a summer-parched tongue?

How do you describe Water
     to a newborn child?

How do you explain Sacred
     to a developer?
Colors to the blind?

How do you tell the inchworm
     of the miles journeying
         to the tops of the four Peaks?

How do you speak of indecision to the mountain lion
     who feels the spirit of timeless aeons
           in his very paws?

How do you explain Sacred
     to a developer?

How do you explain Home
   to a transient?

                               - Mankh (Walter E. Harris III)
                                 (from Aromas Finer Than Prayer)

         * * * * *
Some of the writing published by Allbook Books, as well as my personal efforts, reflects a concern for the environment, the Nature habitat, and all the beings who share the world, each mingling with Earth, Water, Wind/Air, and Fire.

Haiku poetry certainly celebrates Nature. And, doing research for Singing an Epic of Peace proved to me that the essential reason for wars, greed, destruction of culture, and abuse (and destruction) of fellow human beings is ‘resource grabs’ -- essentially, coveting material gold (cotton, water, sugar, beets, forests, coal, oil, natural gas, uranium, etc.) rather than working to attain spiritual gold, as the Alchemists have shown us; rather than sharing and respecting all the beings, whether winged, finned, crawlers, one-legged (tree people), four-legged, mineral, plant, and so on, as the Natives and Indigenous Peoples so eloquently remind us and show us.

     * * * * *

“The Language of Conservation”


© 2003-2012 Walter E. Harris III