[thedoc (OP)]

Thapelo Ramosana asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Hi, I would like to know the impact colour printed pages have on the environment, in temrs of the number of trees that would have to be chopped to create a book, e.g Looking at a 35 page double sided printed magazine, as compared to using electronic devises to transmit the same information contained in a magazine, newspaper, brochures, etc?
What do you think?

[evan_au]

There are a lot of variables here!
- If the glossy magazine ends up in landfill after looking at 50% of the pages, then it is fairly inefficient
- I have heard that a majority of digital photographs taken today are never looked at again. Printing them on glossy paper would be a total waste (as is taking them in the first place!)
- Of the few images that are viewed by other people on social media, digital distribution is more efficient than distributing a 35 page magazine to all the interested parties.
- However, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc consume lots of storage and electricity keeping all these rarely-accessed photos accessible within seconds from anywhere in the world.