Saving the Environment, One Library Book at a Time

We are in the midst of a major cleaning event on the homestead.  Maybe you've experienced it yourself.  Someone, or more than one someone, has an overwhelming urge to clean out all of the clutter.  Our urge has been born out from the desire to simplify our lives with less clutter and consequently, less picking up. Many families throw the discarded items in the trash, give them away to friends or family, donate to charity, or have a garage sale.  For us, it will be the last option.

In the midst of all of our cleaning, we have discarded very few books and slightly more DVDs.  Everyone in the house is an avid reader and we do own plenty of books.

Over the past few years, we have purchased very few books and instead go to our local library.  When I think about it, we have reread few of the books of we own.  Additionally, there are few movies and shows that we have watched a second or third time.  So with that in mind, we only purchase books or DVDs that we feel we will use multiple times.  For everything else, we go to the library.

Why the library?  To begin with, you've already paid for it.  Libraries are often supported through local and state taxes.  If you own a home, part of your taxes supports your library.  If you rent, your landlord paid the taxes with money he collected from you in the form of rent.  Since you have paid, why not use it?

By going to your local library, you will lower your impact on the Earth by reusing items from the "commons".  Today, I checked out The Hobbit after being on a reserved list.  When I signed up for it, I was the 42nd person in the queue.  My library has six copies of the movie.  Instead of 42 copies being purchased, only six were.  There are thirty six copies that do not need to be shipped halfway around the world.  When we use the library, it means less pollution, trash, and packaging,  It also means more money saved in our pockets (assuming you don't have late fees).  Then imagine if a million people, or even better, 100 million people used their local library instead of buying a copy of each movie or book that they want.  What a difference that would make.