The News & Observer is wringing all the front-page news it can from the dry weather around the Triangle, and it frequently weighs in on global warming. But to be balanced in its coverage of environmental topics, The N&O should be giving equal time to an issue that is not often found in print newspapers: the environmental impact of the newspaper itself. According to 2007 data, The N&O daily circulation is 177,361 from Monday to Saturday and 213,124 on Sunday. The average weight of The N&O is at least 11.5 ounces for Monday to Saturday editions and at least 39 ounces for Sunday editions. So, on average, the weight of newspapers distributed by The N&O is at least 33,888,558 pounds (or 17,000 tons) per year. On top of that you can add the weight of all those plastic bags used to protect the paper on rainy days.
When you consider all the fallen trees (an estimated 10,000 to 17,000 per year for The N&O’s circulation), and all the energy, emissions, and waste generated during production and delivery of the paper, you’ve got quite a mess. While The N&O states on their website that about half of their distributed newsprint is collected and recycled, the other half of this enormous biomass ends up in landfills. For newsprint destined for the landfill, there are significant energy expenditures and emissions from transporting the paper from our homes to the landfills, as well as costs and energy to create and maintain those landfills. Even paper that’s recycled uses significant amounts of energy and generates large amounts of waste and pollution during transportation to the recycling centers and during the recycling processes. For example, recycling one ton of newsprint uses roughly 8000 gallons of water.
What is the alternative to all these dead trees, mountains of waste, and expended energy? To be true to the environment and socially responsible, and not focus selectively on convenient environmental issues, The N&O should actively encourage its subscribers to cancel their print subscriptions and instead view the news on The N&O website. The website is already publishing the local news, and the environmental footprint of publishing and reading news online is next to nothing. While we’re still waiting for technology to bring us clean energy and cheap, abundant water, the technology already exists to send the print newspaper along the same inevitable path as the pony express and the telegraph. As a voice of environmental conservation, The N&O should leverage its front page to be a part of the solution rather than a part of the problem.
