Christian Publisher Transitions to Eco-Friendly Bibles

mbendit08 »

Fri Feb 22, 2008 9:09 am Agree: 3   Disagree: 0

This is an interesting but somewhat misguided attempt by Thomas Nelson to become "green" by currently accepted standards. Using recycled paper products in manufacturing is a positive approach, but many soon to forget that most all plastics are 100% recyclable too. Take PE (polyethylene) for example... these recycled resins are available to most all injection and rotational molders. The PE materials are tough, durable and waterproof! There are also plastic resins available that are made from organic plant matter, although lesser in popularity, hemp is incredibly strong and very durable and was used predominantly around the turn of the century up to the introduction of plastics in the 50's.

The issues that must be considered for employing the use of "green" materials and manufacturing processes are much more complex than simply switching from "petrol-based" materials to natural fibers (popular organic fibers such as paper, pulp and other bio-mass). One must consider the elemental source, harvesting or mining of the source materials, transportation of the raw materials, conversion of raw materials to useful status, the manufacturing process, energy consumption for conversion and manufacturing and waste products from all the aforementioned processes including contaminating the air and precious few water reserves we have left on the planet.

If independence from oil is the politically charged and underlying impetus for their change in materials direction, then one must also consider that most all personal care and household cleaning products (detergents, hair and body shampoos, oral care products, skin creams etc.) contain petroleum derivatives... a wholesale change to reduce our dependence on petroleum would take an act of God in our modern society! The organic foods and personal care products industry is making headway, but still only represents a small percentage of total volume of products on the market.

I hope and pray that Thomas Nelson thoroughly researches all materials / options and takes into consideration the TOTAL impact on our eco-system that (as stated in the article) is our responsibility as stewards of this earth to maintain!

Mr. Mark A. Bendit
Principal and Chief Designer
imagineering-web.com