The English language edition of 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood
Prince' hits the bookstores on 16 July. The good guys are the Canadian
and German publishers for printing the book on
ancient forest friendly papers.
Bloomsbury, the UK publisher of Harry Potter, has also made some good
progress, and the Italian and Israeli editions are also expected to
join the forces of good when the translations are published in the
autumn.
Canadian Publisher Raincoast Books has once again set a positive trend
for Harry Potter publishers worldwide in helping to save ancient
forests. Raincoast are living up to their commitment to print all
their titles on ancient forest friendly paper and have printed the
Canadian edition of Harry Potter on 100 percent post-consumer recycled
paper.
Muggles for ancient forests!
Print runs for Harry Potter are so huge that this kind of effort really
does make a difference. The good news is, other publishers around
the world have met the standard
set by Raincoast in 2003, and are also publishing on Ancient Forest Friendly paper.
The German edition published by Carlsen will be printed on 40 percent post-consumer recycled paper and 60 percent
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
certified virgin fibre. The UK edition, published by Bloomsbury,
is expected to be printed on a 30 percent FSC certified paper - a
positive first step by the publishing house. Publishers in Spain and
the Netherlands are still deciding which paper to use.
The publisher that should not be named
However, not all publishers are following this trend. Less
progressive Harry Potter publishers like Scholastic in the USA have not
responded to the challenge, and in fact ignored the 12,400 emails from
customers who asked it to print 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood
Prince' on ancient forest friendly paper. It seems they haven't been
using Professor Trelawney's crystal ball enough.
"The US publisher Scholastic is one of the largest Harry Potter
publishers globally," said our resident book wizard Judy Rodrigues. "If
they had printed the book on 100 percent recycled paper, like
Raincoast, its 10.8 million print run could have saved 217,475 mature
trees."
Not only has Scholastic missed out on helping to save ancient forests ,
it looks like they might have missed out on financial savings too, with
the BBC and New York Times reporting that some US Potter fans are
thinking of
buying their editions from Canada.
Harry at a glance
So, how does your Harry Potter publisher stack up?
We've made it easy to tell with the Hogwarts Publishers Honour Roll.
5 lightning bolts - The
publisher is truly at Harry level and working for good. They are
printing 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' on 100 percent
ancient forest friendly paper, and have even committed to printing
other books on this paper too.
4 lightning bolts - The
publisher has made good progress but isn't quite at Hermione level
yet. They have made some good progress though and are printing
'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' on at least partially
ancient-forest friendly paper.
3 lightning bolts - The
publisher has made commitments to printing on ancient forest friendly
paper. They are a bit like Ron Weasly - good intentions, but
still some way to go.
If the publisher has
no lightning bolts,
they have made no effort and are a bit like Malfoy - they might say
they are using ancient forest friendly paper, but have shown us no
evidence.
What can you do?
Join the muggles for Ancient Forests!
Have you pre-ordered Harry Potter?
If so, check what publisher your copy is from. If it's not from a forest-friendly publisher, you could:
1. Change your order and
order a Canadian edition - especially if you are in the US!
2. Submit feedback to where you ordered it from, for example
Amazon.co.uk or
Amazon.com, that next time you'd prefer the book to be printed on 100 percent ancient forest friendly paper.
Haven't bought Harry Potter yet?
Consider buying a Canadian edition of the book, printed by Raincoast
books, which is on 100 percent Ancient Forest Friendly paper.
If
you're going to buy 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince', make sure your
copy is Ancient Forest friendly!