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Eco-Libris removes the intellectual and social distance between production and consumption by encouraging consumers to plant a tree for each book read. The practice offsets the resources used in production while giving readers a more immediate sense of their own effects on the environment and the connection between industrial production and the natural world. While customers can log directly into Eco-Libris’s website to purchase plantings, the service has entered into a partnership with the textbook rental site Chegg whereby the two companies plant a tree for each book rented–offsetting some of the resources used in the book’s creation while recirculating textbooks that often end up stowed in closets or boxes–never to be used again–after the end of the term.
Of course, the effectiveness of carbon offset programs has been questioned, with some critiquing the way in which the idea oversimplifies the complexities of ecology and economics and others viewing the concept as a quick patch for the conscience–a sort of modern indulgence. However, Eco-Libris, working in conjunction with Chegg, helps students explore the scale of personal actions and helps make issues related to consumption and deforestation understandable on an immediate level. More importantly, the book program introduces the potential of flexible, creative solutions and encourages students to explore the context and effects of their own actions during a period when their ideals and values will be evolving rapidly–examining the intersection of personal experience, public life, and technical knowledge that has fascinated Alexis de Tocqueville, John Dewey, Robert Bellah, and others.
. Historian Shae Davidson's research interests include public policy and the relationship between culture and civil society. His publications range from articles on industrial history to absurdist poetry.
