A lot more goes into creating a book than just writing. Book designers work relentlessly perusing a variety of typography palettes and experimenting with different typesetting formats to make the book appeal just right. All of this is done not only to set the perfect mood for the reading experience but also to balance the toll that the aesthetics of the book might take on the enviornment.
Image Source: First typescript with notes and manuscript of 'Claraboya', an early novel of the Portuguese writer Jose Saramago, exposed during the presentation of the novel on March 1, 2012, in Madrid, Spain (Photo by Quim Llenas/Getty Images)
HarperCollins Publishers, one of the leading publishing houses in the industry has ventured on a mission to save trees. Their design team conducted extensive research to curate a collection of eco-friendly fonts that use less ink, improving opacity and readability. With thoughtful layouts and design tweaks to conserve paper usage, their eco-friendly font project has saved more than 200 million pages so far, which is equivalent to preserving 5,618 trees.
Representative Image Source: Pexels | anete lusina
This project started when HarperCollins' Christian Publishing developed NIV Comfort Print® typeface in 2017. Changing to a compact typeface helped the company save over 100 million pages. If stacked up, these pages would be four times the height of the Empire State Building. This Christian publishing division is called “Zondervan Bibles,” according to FastCompany.
Tracey Menzies, the VP of creative operations and production at HarperCollins wanted to see if they could extend these fonts to other kinds of books apart from Bibles, including novels and nonfiction. “When we first started thinking about this, it was a bit of an upheaval,” she says. “You’re taking something that people have done for their entire careers and telling them to think about it in an entirely new way.”
Image Source: Title page of a manuscript of The Book of One Hundred Chapters (Stoglav), 1551. Found in the collection of State Open-air Museum of the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, Sergyev Possad (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)
The team started testing different fonts on the books with more than 600 pages in their catalog. They created fifty different versions by using different fonts. In the end, they curated a list of 15 fonts they found the most compact and, therefore, eco-friendly. The usage of these fonts, with slight tweaks in the layouts could save a lot of white space. For instance, the same text set to Garamond Pro resulted in many more words on the page compared to Bembo. “The goal is to make these changes without the reader even seeing the difference,” says Menzies.
But the goal of saving trees didn’t have to be on the cost of compromising on the reading appeal. The readability still had to be neat and clear. Whether it is plain-old serif font “Centaur” for a novel, or the lunchbox-nostalgia style “Schoolbell” required for a comic storybook. “It was simply a different approach that didn’t sacrifice aesthetics. Now, our designers are constantly questioning how we do things and thinking about ways to make things more sustainable,” says Menzies.
Representative Image Source: Pexels | element digital
“Ultimately, this ended up with finding fonts that used less ink, in addition to less paper, which is also better for the planet,” said Leah Carlson-Stanisic, associate director of design at HarperCollins. This is not the first time HarperCollins has shown its utmost awareness and responsibility toward sustainability. In June 2023, according to PRNewswire, HarperCollins Publishers India partnered with Vedanta Ltd. to launch a nationwide plantation drive, “Plant a Tree; Grow a Future” on the occasion of World Environment Day.
Representative Image Source: Pexels | akil mazumder
Through this initiative, they planted 10,000 saplings in school premises, taking a pledge for a greener Earth. Ananth Padmanabhan, Chief Executive Officer at HarperCollins Publishers India, said, "Trees are an investment for future generations, providing cleaner air and natural shade. At HarperCollins, we promote sustainability through various practices and initiatives, be it the paper we use or the drives we organize."
Editor's note: This article was originally published on April 4, 2024. It has since been updated.
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Representative Image Source: Painting from a series by Ernest Untermann in the museum at Dinosaur National Monument, Utah.
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President Donald J. Trump and photo of a forest.
Public united and adamantly opposes Trump’s plan to roll back the Roadless Rule
There doesn't seem to be much agreement happening in the U.S. right now. Differing moral belief systems, economic disparity, and political divide have made a country with so many positives sometimes feel a little lost. Everyone desperately seeks a niche, a connection, or a strong sense of community to which they can feel a "part of," rather than just "apart."
But there seems to be one thing that the country strongly unites over, and that's the "Roadless Rule." With the Trump Administration attempting to roll back conservation policies that protect U.S. National Forests, Americans are saying in harmony an emphatic "No." A nonpartisan conservation and advocacy organization, the Center for Western Priorities, reviewed a comment analysis on the subject. After receiving 223,862 submissions, a staggering 99 percent are opposed to the president's plan of repeal.
What is the 'Roadless Rule' policy implemented in 2001?
The Roadless Rule has a direct impact on nearly 60 million acres of national forests and grasslands. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the rule prohibits road construction and timber harvests. Enacted in 2001, it is a conservation rule that protects some of the least developed portions of our forests. It's considered to be one of the most important conservation wins in U.S. history.
America's national forests and grasslands are diverse ecosystems, timeless landscapes, and living treasures. They sustain the country with clean water and the wood products necessary to build our communities. The National Parks protected under their umbrella offer incredible recreational retreats and outdoor adventure.
Why does the administration want to roll it back?
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins told the Department of Agriculture in a 2025 press release, “We are one step closer to common sense management of our national forest lands. Today marks a critical step forward in President Trump’s commitment to restoring local decision-making to federal land managers to empower them to do what’s necessary to protect America’s forests and communities from devastating destruction from fires." Rollins continued, “This administration is dedicated to removing burdensome, outdated, one-size-fits-all regulations that not only put people and livelihoods at risk but also stifle economic growth in rural America. It is vital that we properly manage our federal lands to create healthy, resilient, and productive forests for generations to come. We look forward to hearing directly from the people and communities we serve as we work together to implement productive and commonsense policy for forest land management.”
Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz explained the Roadless Rule frustrated land management and acts as a challenging barrier to action. It prohibits road construction needed to navigate wildfire suppression and properly maintain the forest. Schultz said, “The forests we know today are not the same as the forests of 2001. They are dangerously overstocked and increasingly threatened by drought, mortality, insect-borne disease, and wildfire. It’s time to return land management decisions where they belong – with local Forest Service experts who best understand their forests and communities."
Why are people adamantly opposed to the proposed rollback?
A 2025 article in Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization, expressed its concern over the protection of national forests covering 36 states and Puerto Rico. A rescinded rule allows increased logging, extractive development, and oil and gas drilling in previously undisturbed backcountry. Here is what some community leaders had to say about it:
President Gloria Burns, Ketchikan Indian Community, said, "You cannot separate us from the land. We depend on Congress to update the outdated and predatory, antiquated laws that allow other countries and outside sources to extract our resource wealth. This is an attack on Tribes and our people who depend on the land to eat. The federal government must act and provide us the safeguards we need or leave our home roadless. We are not willing to risk the destruction of our homelands when no effort has been made to ensure our future is the one our ancestors envisioned for us. Without our lungs (the Tongass) we cannot breathe life into our future generations.”
Linda Behnken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, stated, "Roadbuilding damaged salmon streams in the past — with 240 miles of salmon habitat still blocked by failed road culverts. The Roadless Rule protects our fishing economy and more than 10,000 jobs provided by commercial fishing in Southeast Alaska.”
The Sierra Club's Forest Campaign Manager Alex Craven seemed quite upset, saying, "The Forest Service followed sound science, economic common sense, and overwhelming public support when they adopted such an important and visionary policy more than 20 years ago. Donald Trump is making it crystal clear he is willing to pollute our clean air and drinking water, destroy prized habitat for species, and even increase the risk of devastating wildfires, if it means padding the bottom lines of timber and mining companies.”
The 2025 recession proposal would apply to nearly 45 million acres of the national forests. With so many people writing in opposition to the consensus, the public has determined they don't want it to happen.
Tongass National Forest is at the center of the Trump administration's intention to roll back the 2001 Roadless Rule. You can watch an Alaska Nature Documentary about the wild salmon of Tongass National Forrest here:
- YouTube www.youtube.com
The simple truth is we elect our public officials to make decisions. The hope is they do this for all of our well-being, although often it seems they do not. Even though we don't have much power to control what government officials do, voicing our opinions strongly enough often forces them to alter their present course of action. With a unanimous public voice saying, "No!" maybe this time they will course correct as the public wishes.