Harry Potter saves trees

October 30, 2003

Having spent five books fighting the forces of darkness, the young magician’s maker, Scottish author J.K. Rowling, is planning to do her bit for the environment by trying to persuade her British publisher to print the next instalment of the Harry Potter series on paper that does not damage ancient forests.

Rowling, the richest woman in Britain, has joined 13 other wellknown British writers to support a campaign by the environmentalist group Greenpeace to convince the British publishing industry to work harder at using more ecologically friendly paper. British publishers have agreed with the campaign’s aim of ensuring that precious, natural forests are not depleted for the sake of books.

Some, however, including Rowling’s own publisher, say the industry is already highly ecologically aware and most books are printed on paper that comes from forests that were planted specifically for harvesting or are sustainable.

Greenpeace is concerned that British publishers are unwittingly buying paper from suppliers who may be using illegally felled trees from ancient forests in Russia and Scandinavia. Bloomsbury Publishing, Rowling’s British publisher, says it has always used paper that comes from environmentally sensitive suppliers.

"We’re not investigators," said Katie Collins, Bloomsbury’s publicity director. "As far as we know, we’re abiding by the rules. As far as we can possibly ascertain, we’re satisfied. Greenpeace haven’t come up with any proof yet."

When pressed, Greenpeace researcher Andy Tait cited only one example of the organisation’s having proof that ancient trees were being used in the making of books in Britain — from trees in an area of Finland.

Although the launch of the campaign seemed like a happy literary affair, with jokes and canapes aplenty at the swanky Groucho Club in London, it masked a rather sensitive aspect of the publishing industry: making books requires the killing of trees. That awkward necessity has sometimes set up a tense relationship between idealistic authors and the publishers who pay them — and pay for the paper the words are printed on.

"I think they (Greenpeace) need to forget about rainforests," said Rob Hamadi, head of communications for Britain’s publishing trade organisation, the Publishers Association. "Only a psychopath would chop down a rainforest to make paper. It just doesn’t happen."

Judy Corman, a spokeswoman for Rowling’s American publishers, Scholastic, said that at Rowling’s request, the most recent instalment of the Harry Potter series was printed on paper that did not include pulp from ancient trees.

"No old-growth forests were used to create the paper for this book," reads an inscription inside the American edition of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

But Nicole Rycroft, campaigns director of Markets Initiative, a Canadian environmental organisation that led a recent shift to the environment-friendly paper in the Canadian publishing industry, said only small and mid-level American publishers have promised to use the paper.

Rowling’s Canadian publishers have begun printing Harry Potter’s adventures on what Greenpeace calls 100 per cent "ancient forest-friendly" paper.

Hamadi, the British book industry representative, praised the aims of the British campaign but suggested the writers who have signed up have waded into a complicated world of science and trade law. It would be illegal, he said, for the industry to insist on publishers using one standard over others.

"These authors are very well-respected people who produce very good works and care about the environment," Hamadi said. "But when you get into the detail of these schemes, it involves people sitting in rooms for weeks on end. It involves people walking around forests with GPS (global positioning system) devices. It is intensely scientific . . . The technical people will go and do the detailed work."

When told of the publishers’ objections, an official at the Writers Guild of Great Britain, which represents writers and supports Greenpeace’s campaign, scoffed.

"The publishers would say that, wouldn’t they?" said Anne Hogben, assistant secretary general of the guild. "All they’re interested in is getting the cheapest thing possible and not giving a hoot about the moral implications. They’re interested in their balance sheets. I know — I’ve worked in that business."

- Newsday

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