The biggest convention of the publishing world, BookExpo America, was held this past weekend. The organizers announced early plans to ‘green’ the conference in a variety of ways, but decided to jettison those plans part way through organization. Lance Fensterman, the BookExpo’s vice president, acknowledged that “We are fully aware that improvement can be made in our green related efforts,” in an interview with the Associated Press.

The real problem seems to be the sense that the BookExpo is all about trends, and sustainable business practices are growing. As a trend spotter, it makes sense that the BookExpo would try to incorporate a few of those green ideas into their own operations. The fact that practically every publishing house — Scholastic, Random House, etc. — have made serious environmental goals only makes it seem like the BookExpo is missing out on something big. Bloggers and other publications are already discussing the issue — some with complete horror at the printing of over 10 million pages for the convention and others with a touch of realism about the need for programs for each attendee.

Personally, I’m a little astounded at the number of printed materials that BEA produced. After all, a 700-page program seems a bit excessive, although those weren’t handed out to the full 30,000 attendees. Only 19,000 people got that lengthy document.  But I won’t question BEA’s decision on the need for such a program. But none of those materials were printed on recycled stock. I imagine quite a few copies went straight into a trash bin after the expo ended, as well.

This year’s BookExpo did feature some significant green programming, providing an opportunity for publishers to discuss the topic. But Fensterman also stated that BEA could have gone further: “I'm very proud of the green programming that we created this year at the show…Earlier in the year we had thought about doing even more green programming at BEA. But we felt that until we started being more green ourselves, it was not entirely right to proclaim the virtues of being green.”

Limiting discussion of the topic doesn’t seem like an ideal approach. Approximately 30,000 authors, publishers, booksellers and other publishing professionals attended the expo. It seems like opening up the question of how to make next year’s BookExpo sustainable would have been a fabulous opportunity to spark a discussion of how green trends are affecting the publishing industry as a whole.

Photo courtesy BookExpo America