Should e-books replace paper books? [Speech]

Hello, thank you for checking this out and I hope this assists you in some way.

Despite my agreeance to the topic, I believe nothing can ever replace good ol' paper books; thought I should take a different turn to my opinions this time.

Enjoy reading, it may sound funny but that is because my speech was accompanied with a powerpoint.

Should e-books replace paper books?

In the past, students carried books to and from their classes. There is a difference between the classroom of the past and future. The student of the past carried heavy books and the student of the future can carry hundreds of books on one single e-reader. There has been a wide-spread debate of the replacement of paperbacks with e-books. People are uncertain of this technological advancement. Old-fashioned, tree-wasting fossils are afraid to move forward and embrace it and the benefits that it withholds. E-readers are fast and efficient, storage-free and convenient. They are able to store thousands of books which can be downloaded instantaneously. Not only do e-readers possess these qualities, they are also key to a healthier environment, and key to saving money.

Admittedly, printed books do have benefits such as their reliability and traditional status. In spite of this, their disadvantages seem to overwhelm them. For one, traditional books require the demolition of trees for paper. According to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES), on average we use 1.63 million tonnes of paper for newspaper and books yearly. If we switched to e-books, we can save at least one-third the amount of paper consumed in Australia. Another liability traditional books possess is the involvement of the difficult, wasteful and greenhouse gas-polluting procedures of shipping. Shipping accounts for 12 per cent of marine pollution caused by human activity. When we transport shipment, we are condemning ourselves to travel across seas with the risk of noxious hazardous oil leakage that can destroy marine life. Switching to e-books can eliminate this occurrence, and in the long-term we will benefit from a healthier environment.

One of the major benefits of purchasing from e-readers is the great deal of money we can save. For example, to purchase Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone in hard copy is $13.49 from BORDERS. We can purchase the same book in digital copy for only $8.46 on Kobo. We can save $5.03. This is highly beneficial, especially for heavy readers. E-books are generally cheaper because they do not require printing fees associated with their paper equivalents. In addition, there are numerous numbers of free books by Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Oscar Wilde and other classic authors. With this in mind and the addition of the financial stress in today’s modern world, having such beneficial cost on e-books allows us to enjoy the delight of reading, be educated and have easy access to knowledge without the cost barriers.

In some instances, people assert that the rise of e-books will result in the loss of employment and businesses. This may be true however e-books will produce the opportunity to publish one’s work E-books do not require consent to publish which encourages individuals to write and publish their creation for free, and in this way help challenge competition of major publishing companies that excludes countless authors from being recognised. Thanks to e-reader, publication can be transformed from being impersonal and profitable, to being personal and pleasurable. And thanks to e-readers, unrecognised authors are given the opportunity to make a name for themselves without the hassle of printing and promotion costs.

The prospect of replacing books we have had for over 4 thousand years is quite staggering.  However we shall not fear this industrial movement for it will serve our nation greatly. The amount of trees and paper we could save from choosing this advancement is also quite staggering. We must not pass up this opportunity which can potentially assist in the recovery of our ecosystem, the opportunity to encourage and enrich Australian literature, the opportunity to increase economic benefits.