Publisher Raincoast Books Makes Bid for a Sustainable Future and Joins Green Press Initiative

Raincoast Books has saved 75,185 trees since it began using Ancient Forest Friendly recycled paper -- that's an area equivalent to 3.5 times New York's Central Park.

(PRWEB) December 16, 2004 -- Raincoast Books reasserts its commitment to protecting the environment and joins Green Press Initiative (USA), an organization working with publishers, printers and paper mills to reduce the environmental impact of the publishing industry. As a book publisher, Raincoast recognizes paper as a core part of its business and aims to facilitate meaningful conservation of biodiversity and ancient forests worldwide through the use of ancient-forest-friendly paper.

Raincoast sees its efforts for the responsible use of natural resources as an important aspect of the companys longevity. Its important not to lose sight of the big picture," says President and CEO Allan MacDougall. We need to make wise business decisions so that we continue to thrive in this very competitive industry but we also need to preserve and revitalize book publishing as a forum for ideas, debate and entertainment. If we deplete the forests and destroy the ecosystems that support them, well encounter even greater economic and industrial upheaval."

Raincoast leads the Canadian publishing industry in a movement toward preserving ancient forests. A publisher of fiction, non-fiction and children's books, over 95% of its text-based books are printed on Ancient Forest Friendly paper. Since adopting its in-house environmental policy in 2001, Raincoasts preferential use of ancient-forest-free, chlorine-free, 100% post-consumer paper has helped to reduce the cost and increase the availability of such paper stocks. Including its landmark printing of the Canadian edition of Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, Raincoast has saved over 75,185 old-growth trees. In recognition of the company's commitment to the responsible purchasing and consumption of paper products, Raincoast was awarded the 2003 Ethics in Action Award and the 2004 Entrepreneurial Award.

As of today, Raincoast Books has made the following ecological savings (Calculated by Markets Initiative. Ecological savings are based on research conducted by Environmental Defense Fund and other members of the Paper Task Force. Equivalents are calculated using a variety of credible sources and assumptions -- further information available on request):

·   75,185 trees would have been used to make an equivalent amount of virgin paper (an area equivalent to 3 times the size of Golden Gate Park, CA or 3.5 times Central Park, NY)

·   32,470,691 gallons of water
(water to fill 98 Olympic sized swimming pools)

·   4,079,279 pounds of solid waste
(equivalent to 453 average female elephants)

·    37,817 million BTUs of energy
(6,940 years of electricity to power the average North American home)

·    8,495,885 pounds of greenhouse gases
(7.5 million miles traveled by car with average fuel efficiency)

This coming spring, Raincoast is proud to release Chasing Clayoquot: A Wilderness Almanac ($15.95 paperback, June 2005) by David Pitt-Brooke, with an introduction by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Devil and the Disappearing Sea: Or How I Tried to Save the Worlds Worst Environmental Catastrophe ($15.95 paperback, May 2005) by Rob Ferguson. Pitt-Brookes meditation on one of North Americas last pristine wilderness regions speaks to our universal understanding of natures beauty. Fergusons memoir approaches the environment from a global perspective in his memoir about a World Bank funded project to save the Aral Sea in Central Asia. Raincoast Books is distributed by Publishers Group West in the United States.

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