The forest for the trees

Stacks of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" in 2003

In surely one of the strangest publishing announcements in history, Scholastic Inc. said today that 16,700 tons of paper will be consumed in the 12 million-copy first printing of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the seventh and final installment of the British fantasy epic.

Lest you be appalled at this figure, Scholastic also announced that all the books "will be printed on paper that contains a minimum of 30% post-consumer waste fiber," and that 65% of the paper will be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. That certification means that environmentally and socially responsible forestry practices were used in the making of the paper.

In newspapering, we used to say that a long and boring story was "a frightful waste of trees." "Deathly Hallows," to be released July 21, will be 784 pp. One hopes it will not be a frightful waste of socially responsible forest-clearing.