Why being eco-conscious ?
Picture Book Recommendations
First things first, let's do some amazing picture book recommendations! These books are my favorite on the subject of the environment & our planet.
In English
The Unexpected Visitor - Jessica Courtney-Tickle
The Secret Of Black Rock - Joe Todd-Stanton
My Friend Earth - Patricia MacLachlan and illustrated by D. Díaz & F. Sanna
The Rhythm of the Rain - Grahame Baker-Smith
In French
La Tribu qui Pue - Elise Gravel & illustré par Magali La Huche
La Soupe aux Lentilles - Carole Tremblay & illustré par Maurèen Poignonec (also in English)
Vert - Stéphane Kiehl
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Why being eco-conscious ?
This question is at the heart of Terrier Books.
Yes, it should be obvious for most businesses to be eco-conscious, sadly, only a few of them actually are.
And most businesses, just do the bare minimum because they "have" to.
I can't really explain well how Terrier Books does what it does without telling my personal story first (promise, I'll keep it short & sweet).
I worked many jobs in my life. And something I quickly realized being a (not-so-great) pattern, is that I tend to question everything and am always seeing things through an environmental point of view.
Do they recycle ? If they don't, why not ? Is it really being recycled? Where is it made ? What are the ingredients ? Why are some products eco-friendly and some aren't ? Why do they sell these ?
I knew that the only way I would be satisfied by the answer would be to create my own business, and thus to do it my own way.
I've always loved natural sciences and everything related to nature. Studying geology & the environment at university helped me realize the urgency of the climate crisis. The important need to do everything we can, to preserve our home. For me, it's not a choice anymore, it's our duty.
Naturally, when I started working in the book industry, I asked the same environmental questions. I was surprised to see some books with a lot of environmental information about the kind of paper used, ink, as well as printing location and sustainable ethics/practices, and others... with no information at all (except for the far too common, "Printed in China").
This showed me that it was possible to have an eco-consciously manufactured book.
Unfortunately, the book industry don't make it easy when it comes to environmental matters. There's little public information communicated, rules are not always followed regarding information written on the books, and the whole process is complicated and has many steps to it.
I did (and still do) many researches about this industry to learn how it's working and what is being done regarding sustainability. I'm not an expert here. I do what I can & it's always a work in progress.
Building my own bookstore means for me, to follow one hundred percent of my ethic and values in life. To create something that's going to be good for the planet and the environment. For people. Because we have already too much of the alternative.
For Terrier Books it means:
- Growing slow
- Taking every detail in (from 100% post-consumer waste bookmark to paper tape, to eco-friendly shipping furnitures)
- Asking too many questions to the companies we want to/work with (publishers, distributors, furniture providers etc.)
- Choosing only new books printed in North America (focusing on Canada) which use FSC (Forest Stewardship Certified) paper stock and/or Recycled Post Consumer Waste stock
- Buying books from warehouses that are located the closest possible from our location (Sooke, BC)
- Having a majority of remainders and second-hand books, in order to give them a second life by avoiding landfills or being destroyed by pulping (see also about pulping in Quebec)
Resources:
- Podcast about Sustainability in the publishing industry
- New cleaner alternative to paper stock
- Bloomsbury won Sustainability Initiative Award at London Book Fair
And take a look at their Environmental Policy ! It's good to see such a big company doing so much.
- The Green Book Alliance website, for environmental news & events in the industry
- The Book Chain Project, news on the supply chains