Story Archive

Object Lesson

“We worked very hard to ensure our book was environmentally friendly at every stage of the book process,” says Penguin about a book they published by author Martin Dorey of Cornwall, England. His book — No. More. Plastic. — urges the world to stop using so much plastic, which is then discarded, and much of it ends up in waterways and, of course, oceans. Which is why he was flabbergasted when he discovered that Penguin’s U.S. distributor made sure the book arrived in buyers’ hands in pristine shape — by wrapping it in plastic. “It undoes all our hard work and proves once again that we are using plastic with our eyes closed,” Dorey said. (RC/Newsweek, London Telegraph) ...Or maybe the publicity over the blunder will reach more people, more deeply, than the book would have.