At the heart of our work at Barefoot Books is an understanding of the fragility and the inter-relatedness of the world's ecology. Because we make books, we have to work with paper and ink, with transport and distribution — with energy used as fuel.
To minimise the environmental impact of our activities, we have taken the following measures. To learn more about how Barefoot has gone green, please read our press release here.
- Forestry We ensure that our printers source the paper on which our books are printed from ancient-forest friendly sources — this means that the paper suppliers are obliged to replant trees that they have harvested, and that they do not damage rainforests or other ancient woodlands.
- Shipping Many of our books are transported across considerable distances. We very rarely use planes as a method of transporting stock. Typically, our books are shipped by boat.
- Community Based Approach The traditional book industry operates on a returnable basis which means that books often move from the publisher to the distributor and then back again. This wastes lots of fuel and cardboard and often results in damaged product which can’t be sold. At Barefoot, we have adopted a more grassroots communal approach to marketing our books, avoiding the wasteful practices of the bigger distributors, and working with a broad network of independent retailers and partners, including our rapidly growing community of home-sellers.
- Communications We set out to minimise paper use by communicating as much as possible online and by telephone. We recycle the paper that we use for print communication.
- Office Supplies We buy our office stationery from green manufacturers and work internally on recycled paper. We buy our canteen supplies from the Suma Foods co-operative.
- Recycling All of our paper and other recyclable office materials are taken to our local recycling centre.
- Travel We try to reduce Barefoot’s carbon footprint by minimising travel and by using trains as often as possible as an alternative to cars and aeroplanes.
- Employee Involvement We all work together to ensure that computers, lights and equipment are turned off when not in use.
'Going Green' is an ongoing process. We continue to work on ways to become more environmentally conscious in both our offices and in our personal lives. We always welcome ideas and suggestions, so we would love to hear from you by sending an e-mail to
feedback@barefootbooks.com
