5 Ways to Value a Book

Every 30 seconds, a book is published somewhere on Planet Earth. Therefore, how you buy books and what you do with those books after reading them are two practices worth a closer look. Why? Check it out:

- Over 4 gallons of water are used to create a single book

- The pulp and paper industry ranks third on the list of largest industrial greenhouse emitters

- Forty percent of landfilled solid waste is paper

- In 2006, 3.086 billion books were sold in the U.S. and 4.15 billion were produced with 1.6 million metric tons of paper (only 5% of which was recycled)

Perhaps worst of all: 81% of Americans feel they should write a book.

WATCH VIDEO: Planet 100: Ebooks Topple Paper?

Sometimes, Books Can Be Exhausting: As someone with 9 books out and another on the way, well...this one is personal.

5 Ways to Value a Book 1. Borrowed Libraries have worked just fine for an awfully long time and there's no reason to abandon them now. They're are also a great place to donate your unwanted books. 2. Recycled The gold standard when it comes to environmentally friendly paper is this: 100% post consumer waste recycled paper. An alternative is FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified paper. The FSC is an international non-profit forest certification organization with members from over 70 countries. Photo credit: Siri Stafford/Thinkstock

3. Re-Purposed Can you re-imagine your favorite books as readable wallpaper, wrapping paper, even compost? For the crafty folks in the crowd, reusing your books can help you get as artsy as you wanna be. Another option: the fine art of re-gifting. 4. Electronic Short for "electronic book," an e-book is "the digital media equivalent of a conventional printed book. Such documents are usually read on personal computers, or on dedicated hardware devices known as or e-book devices. Photo credit: Siri Stafford/Thinkstock 5. Enduring Tweets, texts, and all that "lol" stuff will never put books on the endangered species list.