Day 37 of 365 Days Of Low Carbon Living.

When was the last time you visited your local public library?

If it has been a while, you might find a lot has changed.  You may not even need to go to the library to access some of its services.

There a great community resource and an important component of low carbon living.

Do you love reading – be it books, magazines, newspapers…? Need to research something? Prefer or need hard copy? Maybe you love audio books, music or films but can’t or don’t want to stream, buy your own or attend live. Perhaps you are looking for a somewhere comfortable to access wifi, a computer, internet or printer, do some desk work, lounge around reading, entertain your children, or meet people. Or maybe you need some help with one of those things – even deciding what to read!

Public libraries are great for doing all those things – and more.

What I do

I read a lot for the work I do.

It happens that much of the reading I do is only available in books, and magazines.

I also need to watch quite a few films and videos for my work – but can’t always get to the cinema or stream the videos.

I use libraries to access those resources – and more.  Much of what I need is available in my local public libraries.  If I want something, I simply:

• go to the library’s website
• see if it’s available
• if it is, I log on to my library account and order it. If it is a hard copy, I specify the branch from which I will collect it.  If it is an e-resource, I download or access it right there and then.

 

I also log in to keep track of and renew my loans online.

I have a regular meeting that’s held in a local public library – so I tend to make that my library day. That’s when I borrow or return my library materials.

I will only buy a book if:

• I can’t find a copy to borrow or otherwise share, or
• I find that, after reading a book, I am going to use it frequently or wish to annotate it

Why

If I bought all the books, magazines and videos I use, it would cost me a small fortune and I would have run out of room at my home a long time ago.

Books, magazines, newspapers, videos and CDs can all be another form of material ‘stuff’ that we make, accumulate, and discard…with all the problems that can result from those activities.

Our obsession with acquiring ‘stuff’ like books is inextricably linked with damage to our climate and depletion of resources, as well as a raft of social problems. A lot of energy and resources are used to make goods and transport ‘stuff’ – and all of that tends to damage our climate and local environments (at least the way our current systems work – The Story of Stuff explains this briefly).

• Most of the energy used during manufacturing currently originally comes from a source that damages our climate and the local environment (coal, fossil gas, large hydro, wood).
• Most of our transport currently uses petroleum…and when we burn it in engines we contribute to making our world hotter and our oceans acidic.
• Hard copy books are made from paper, which may be made from trees from natural forests (which means the native forests are destroyed, further damaging our climate, water cycle, and local environments).
• Videos and CDs are made from plastic, which is usually made from fossil gas or oil or from coal that in turn are major causes of damage to our climate as a result of their extraction, transport and use. Plastic also causes huge amounts of pollution during manufacture and after use that affects our environment, wildlife and us.

When we buy things we don’t need, only use once or rarely, or ‘throw away’ goods, we create that damage unnecessarily.  And, with damage to the climate still increasing and its consequences accelerating, it is vital that we stop contributing to the damage as a matter of urgency.

Sharing goods like books – for example, by borrowing from a library – means:

• we need to make fewer of the goods in the first place
• we get much more value from the resources (and damage) that go into making and transporting each one
• less financial cost to us as individuals – because we do not individually buy items and because libraries (funded by our rates or membership) can often use their purchasing power to buy things at lower cost
• we help shift our society and economy to be less energy intensive and more community-focussed – and stronger communities are more resilient (something we need more of as environmental and other stressors increase).

When it comes to reducing and managing ‘waste’, the top preference is prevention, followed by minimisation and then re-use. Libraries help at all these levels.

Libraries also provide a raft of other benefits to our communities. Young people understand this more than any other age group understand this and take advantage of all that libraries can offer.  Let’s all use our libraries!

The challenge

Next time you need a book, magazine, music, wifi or computer access when you are out and about – or some help – check out your local public library.  They may have just what you are looking for – for free!

Join me!

Any change or challenge is easier if you have company along the way.

So let’s embark on this journey together.

• Read my blog every day for ideas, thoughts and experiences for living a lower carbon lifestyle, more in harmony with nature – while also adapting to the consequences of our damaged climate.
• Subscribe to get posts direct to your inbox.
• Commit to taking action yourself.
• Add a comment to let me know you’re joining in the effort to turn around our world so it can remain liveable – and what your experiences are.
• Share with others my posts and what you’re doing – our efforts, progress, experiences and challenges – on Facebook, on Twitter, in conversations with friends, on talkback radio and in letters to the editor.

A problem shared is a problem halved. We’re all affected by the changes to our world so we need to be all in on the action!

Till next time…