We authors have always been notorious wasters of resources and energy for the sake of our art. Think of the writers staying up late at night, burning whale oil or candles to pen their tomes on expensive parchment with precious ink. Of course, nowadays, we burn incandescent lightbulbs and use precious wattage to run our PC’s, but still… As Kermit says, “It isn’t easy being green.” So how can a writer go green? Here are ten green writing tips for you to consider:
1. Do all of your writing and editing on-screen. If you’re one of those old fashioned writers who use a typewriter and a red pen—stop! Put the pen down, now! The energy it takes to run your computer or laptop is small compared to the reams of dead trees you stubbornly continue to use. If you simply can’t get used to the new technology, then you can at least use recycled paper, print on both sides, and use the lowest quality setting on your printer to save ink.
It may not seem like it, but paper is a big deal. It’s our number one discarded material, it fills 30-40% of our landfills, and each year Americans alone consume more than 850 million trees. When burned, paper leaks toxic chemicals from its ink that are released into the air. If you can commit to doing one thing to help the environment, this would be a biggie. Every 100 reams of recycled paper printed double-sided saves two trees, more than a ton of greenhouse gas and almost 35 cubic feet of landfill space. (source)
2. If you have switched to writing/editing on-screen, use an “energy saver” function on your computer screen to reduce energy output. And turn off your computer and unplug it when it’s not in use. That goes for your printer, fax, copy machine, cell phone and all that jazz, too!
3. If you’ve come this far, switch from a desktop to a laptop. Laptops are much more energy and materials efficient than desktop PC’s. Buy from a computer company who uses recycled materials, is generally environmentally conscious, and who creates energy efficient computers.
4. Change your lightbulbs from incandescent to energy efficient CFL bulbs. For each kilowatt hour of electricity saved, one ton of greenhouse gas is stopped from entering the atmosphere.
(Or you can do what our ancestors did and write by candle light—creates a nice, romantic atmosphere, too!)
5. Submit to publishers who accept electronic submissions. In doing so, you’re saving paper, envelopes, postage, plus all the emissions and fossil fuel use in transporting your submission into the hands of the publisher.
6. Publish with an E-publisher. Every E-book saves paper, and considering the statistics above, that’s a good thing. Plus, with the invention of ebook readers, you can take ebooks almost anywhere you can take print books (except maybe the bathtub!) Not only that, but ebooks are instant gratification (no wasting fossil fuels in a run to Borders or packing materials in a delivery from Amazon!) and you’re not wasting space to store it, either!
7. Do all of your promotion online. If you do mass mailings, switch to e-mail. Gather email addresses rather than snail mail ones. The amount of paper and fossil fuels you’ll save will be enormous just with this one change. If you must do snail-mail promotions, reduce your output to postcard size on recycled paper.
8. Attend online conferences instead of real life conventions. Imagine the amount of fossil fuels saved—no airplane rides, no cab rides, no hotel stays—just everyone in their own homes, burning CFL lightbulbs and partying on their computers in a virtual world. Could be fun!
9. Do a virtual book tour instead of a live appearance or book signing. You can reach a great number of people online, perhaps even more than a local book tour, and you’re saving lots of energy doing it.
10. If you’re going to create promotional materials, do so with a printer who prints on recycled materials. Keep your output usable and reusable if you can. Biodegradable pens, for example. There are actually companies out there who provide biodegradable promotional products made of all recycled materials!
It isn’t necessarily easy being green, but ultimately, it’s worth it. And it really isn’t as hard as it may seem. Every little bit counts. I’m grateful to everyone who can manage even the smallest change, because even changing one thing can eventually change the world. So I thank you, Kermit thanks you, and the Kermie-socks thank you, too! 
XOXO
Selena Kitt
I love e-mail submissions – best thing to ever happen!
I do most of my writing and editing on my laptop, but sometimes I need to spread out the pages of my chapter to make things work…it’s a visual thing, I guess.
Virtual conferences and book tours work too, but sometimes you can’t beat the face-to-face…
Great post, Selena. Really made me think about the options.
Great post! I used to write by hand ALOT. Now I’d be lost without my laptop. And I actually find it easier to edit/proof my work by blowing the font way up. I’m more likely to catch a wrong your/you’re etc when it’s in a large font size instead of 12pt printed out.