Renting College Books: Greenwash or Green Choice?

For awhile now I’ve been getting these emails from various pr folks asking me to feature this site or that which allows college students to engage in “Book Renting” via the Internet to save money while ostensibly cutting down on the number of books that need to be sold.

Of course fewer books equal more trees, and with college courses constantly in a state of flux it may be reasonable to rent as opposed to purchasing. Especially when some estimates indicate as many as 4 million trees are felled annually to simply create new textbooks.

But not too long ago when I was busy buying and then selling my used college books back to the bookstore on campus at the end of the term it seemed a whole lot like a primitive form of “Book Renting” to me, and that’s what makes me suspicious of anyone who claims to green up your college experience by “renting” you a textbook.

Though perhaps there’s a college student out there in TreeHuggerville who sees a legitimately greener side to “renting” a text online as opposed to “renting” it at the local college bookstore.

Anyone brave enough to venture a cogent response?

via: Various PR Firms