A new, in-depth report in Publishers Weekly by Karen Springen asks if children’s books are causing significant damage to the Indonesian rainforests. As Springen observes, “After all, it’s tricky to make good-looking four-color picture books from recycled paper, or affordable ones from virgin paper that is certified as eco-friendly. The cost issue sends publishers to Asia, where paper and materials are cheaper. The problem: printers there may use fiber from Indonesian rainforests.”

In fact, a recent report from the Rainforest Action Network says “most of the top 10 children’s publishers have released at least one picture book containing paper fiber linked to the destruction of Indonesian rainforests,” according to Springen, and all of the books in the test “included materials from existing tropical forests or from plantations run on razed rainforest land.” A spokesman for RAN says about “half of all glossy four-color children’s books are printed overseas,” and RAN’s goal is “to get overseas printers to eliminate Indonesian suppliers and Indonesia fiber from the papers they buy for their printing.”

Children’s book publishers, meanwhile, counter that “they are making great strides to be green.” The Book Industry Environmental Council “plans to introduce a book jacket eco-label (similar to the Good Housekeeping seal of approval). Books will only carry the ‘certified green publisher’ seal if they contain no endangered forest fiber. Similar to the LEED green building certification program, the new system would contain three tiers, which would depend on 22 different environmental metrics, including ink, distribution, and return rate.”

They also cite efforts such as Simon & Schuster‘s Little Green Books, which “uses soy and vegetable inks, mostly FSC-certified paper and 100 percent recyclable paper.”

Some publishers — and other industry-affiliated groups — criticize RAN’s demands, and say “that being rainforest-friendly is only one component of being green.”

Then there’s the question of the moment: “whether paper books or electronic ones are better for the environment.” That, says the PW report, is “still to be determined.”