What Is It About Harry Potter Book 7 That Pleases Environmentalists?

Question: What Is It About Harry Potter Book 7 That Pleases Environmentalists?

Answer: Environmentalists are happy about Scholastic's announcement that the U.S. edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (all 12 million copies!)

...will be printed on paper that contains a minimum of 30% post-consumer waste (pcw) fiber. Moreover, 65% of the 16,700 tons of paper used in the U.S. first printing will be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the global standard-setter for responsible forest management.

According to Scholastic,

FSC certification means the paper comes from forestlands that are managed responsibly and have met a host of criteria covering biodiversity conservation, worker and land-use rights, and compliance with laws and international treaties, among other things.

In making its decision on paper, Scholastic worked with the Rainforest Alliance, a nonprofit conservation organization. Twelve million copies of anything is a huge number, but when you consider that each copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is 784 pages long, it's monumental. It's wonderful that Scholastic has made this commitment. It's the largest purchase of FSC-certified paper for printing just one book title that's ever been made. Hopefully, other publishers will follow Scholastic's lead.