To print or not to print?

An article written by Laura Bruzas, entitled Before You Press the Print Button, Consider This, has caused me to analyze my printing passion and to reconsider an alternative. In the article, Bruzas discusses her experiences of learning about the not-so-green side of our computer lifestyle-- the obsession to "hit print" that has taken the world by storm since the personal home computer has become so central to our lifestyles. She reveals that 1 million tons of solid printer hardware waste was created in 2007. I can only imagine how much will be produced in 2010.

Instead of wallowing in our waste, Bruzas gives us a number of practical actions we can take to try to reduce our own personal impact. Number one would be to only print when we actually need to. How many times have I printed something because the information seemed important, and then lost that exact paper. As the computer age continues to dominate the ways we relate to information, we have become increasingly better at storing that information in an online environment. It seems like time for society to adjust to the use of online information storage and file sharing and learn to let go of the printed document. But, at what point will society completely let go of the written document and stop creating printed books. Does this mean that in the future, instead of buying books for the library I should go out and buy each student a kindle?

While Bruzas offers a number of other suggestions ranging from draft settings, to types of ink to purchase, and the reuse of ink cartridges, I think it is important to stop and reconsider her first tip-- to only print when it's really necessary. At the elementary school where I work, the teacher who runs the computer lab keeps the power to the printers turned off. Each time I want to print something I have to go to the computer lab, turn on the printer, return to my room to print, and then return to the computer lab to pick up the printed paper, and then return to my room. If something isn't lining up or working correctly, it can take over ten trips back and forth. Which, maybe, might have, kind of sort of driven me a little crazy before. Now, reconsidering the effect that this has had on the school, I realize that the computer lab teacher is doing his best to conserve precious resources, which, I might add, the schools have precious little of these days.

What I am getting at, is that sometimes changing our habits might feel annoying or restrictive, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth doing. Eventually, we adjust to the little bit of extra effort that it takes to try new ways of functioning. Maybe we don't need to print out everything. In the schools, we need to continue evolving toward the use of less printed materials. It's so hard for elementary teachers to transition from printed assignments to digital ones, but in doing so, we will be instilling values in our students that will allow them to try their best to save this planet we've been quietly destroying for years.

Bruzas, L. (2010). Before you press the print button, consider this. American Libraries Magazine. Retrieved July 8, 2010 at: http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/green-your-library/you-press-print-button-consider