Is Supporting My Local Book Store Good For the Environment?

Micawber's Books

I walked over to Micawbers Bookstore tonight to hear William Kent Krueger (Kent) talk about his latest books. If you are not familiar with William Kent Krueger, he is a Minnesota author who has had a very successful run of mystery books featuring the Minnesota Arrowhead Region (think The Boundary Waters Canoe Area) and an appealing Ojibwa/Irish protagonist named Cork O'Connor.   He is also the author of a few stand alone novels, including "Ordinary Grace", on the short list for the Edgar for best novel of the year and several other awards.

 Kent started his presentation by saying the reason he was at Micawbers this evening, is because he wants to support local bookstores and local bookstores need all of the support they can get.  They are dying out and even Barnes and Nobel is suffering.  Without our support, bookstores will evaporate and our only source to buy books will be the Amazon's of the world.

I thought about what he said as I listened to him talk about his writing, his books, his character development etc.  Micawbers is our very own local independent book store.  It has been in the neighborhood for much longer than we have and I've always been happy that it was here, though I don't exactly buy a lot of books there.  My primary book source is the library and, I must admit, I've bought more books from Amazon lately than from Micawbers.  I tend to shop at Micawbers only when buying books as gifts.

 I found myself thinking tonight, however, about how wonderful it was to sit in that cozy room with it's wooden trim and twinkly lights on the street side windows and it's low ceiling so that I could hear every word that Kent said - no echos from a high ceilinged warehouse like mall store. How nice it was to walk in and ask the lady at the desk about Minnesota authors and have her walk me around the store pointing out books and I thought about how nice it would be to bring the grandkids over to look at the children's section.  Sometimes I don't really appreciate something until I think about the possibility of losing it.  I bought a book and I'll be back more often.

Then, of course, there is the question - how does buying a book at the local bookstore help reduce my carbon footprint?  On the surface, it doesn't at all.  Trees were chopped, ink was used, presses were run and trucks delivered this book to me from New York where it was printed.  A quick download onto my Iphone would probably take a lot less energy.

Perhaps, however, in the long run this step helps out.   So much of reducing our carbon use revolves around changing our lifestyle to one that builds more resilient communities, communities that don't rely as heavily on carbon.  Supporting local businesses (and local authors) keeps our money in the local economy.  Also, a place like Micawbers on an evening like tonight creates a place for neighbors to gather, to get to know each other and to be entertained without having to drive somewhere else. So, once again, it's not that simple.  I'd be interested to know what your opinion on this subject is - support my local bookstore or keep to the library?

By the way, Kent is a very engaging speaker and I'm looking forward to reading Ordinary Grace, particularly now that I know how attached he is to the book and the characters in it, many of whom are formed from his own experiences as a child.  If you decide to buy one of his books - try your local bookstore.