Are books a thing of the past? Earth Beat looks at the environmental impact of the printed word and looks to the future - will e-readers win out? And what happens to books that no one loves?

The footprint of book production is larger than we think. Even if a book is made with recycled paper, that hardly offsets the carbon emissions involved in producing a book: toxic inks and cleaners, over-printing to create hype, warehouse storage and heat, and fuel for transport.

I talked to Earth Beat's Marnie Chesterton about how some of the publishing industry's intricacies and curious policies lead to waste, and HarperCollins UK responds.

The Future of Public Reading
So if books are bad for the Earth, what does the future hold for public reading? I visited the National Library of the Netherlands, where over 6 million items are kept on over 110 km of shelves, all for public use. But what will the library of the future look like? Will print become a thing of the past, and screens the new way of handling books?

Listen to the report:

E-readers
With the future of digital reading undeniable, we decided to speak to someone who knows gadgets. Joe Hutsko joins Marnie to talk about e-readers vs. books, the advantages, disadvantages, and which of the two is greener.

Listen to this week's Earth Beat in full
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