Green Initiative

By the time Saturday's closing reception at the American Booksellers Association's Third Annual Winter Institute (Wi3) was winding down, it was clear that booksellers and publishers attending the two-day educational event in Louisville, Kentucky, were very pleased.

With no shortage of eco-friendly titles, booksellers are expanding their Environmental Sections, creating entirely new "green" sections, and offering tie-in events and sidelines to meet increasing customer interest. Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena, California, has featured a permanent section called Living Green, a mix of books and sidelines, since the fall of 2007, and Changing Hands in Tempe, Arizona, is emphasizing a "Go Green" theme via events throughout January and the rest of 2008.

Without a doubt, being green is in. And though booksellers have understood the importance of being environmentally conscious since the early 1960s, when Rachel Carson's Silent Spring was published, the book industry as a whole has only recently begun looking for ways to become more enviro-friendly.

Barefoot Books of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Chelsea Green in White River Junction, Vermont, are two of the latest publishers to announce "going green" initiatives.