Founder of Rapido Books
We wish you all the best for 2023. We wish the same to all those who are part of our great community: our customers, our associates, our suppliers, and our colleagues. We also wish the best to every member of our trade, booksellers, and distributors.
Did you know that the words economy and ecology have the same ancient Greek root? The Greek term oikos, which means house. Etymology even tells us that these two words have exactly the same meaning, i.e. household management. We even talk about good housekeeping, as opposed to the adventures of unbridled speculation.
Table des matières
We must be aware, now more than ever, that we are part of an ecosystem that, because of its role in the culture of our great country, has to be prepared for the future by reducing its use of resources, not only for cost reasons, but also to protect the environment.
When it comes to anticipation, we often quote the famous phrase of Émile de Girardin, a great innovator of the 19th century press world, “Gouverner c’est prévoir” (To govern is to foresee), but we often forget the following, “Ne rien prévoir, ce n’est pas gouverner, c’est courir à sa perte” (To foresee nothing is not governing, it is to head for a fall). To continue on the path of growth at all costs would be condemnable. Resigning in the face of the magnitude of the task would be unforgivable. If we feel a form of urgency when faced with rising paper prices, our two greatest enemies are immobility and panic. At least the shock of inflation will have triggered the reduction in print runs.
Founder of Rapido Books
A Few Books to Deepen Our Reflection
As a sign of the times, the comic book World Without End by Jean-Marc Jancovici and Christophe Blain reached record sales in France in 2022. Jancovici is an expert on energy issues renown internationally. This book illustrates perfectly how our modern world would not be what it is without abundant and cheap energy. We encourage you to read it and even give it as a gift. It is a very good book, packed with information and quite entertaining. The findings are harsh, but after forty years of blindness to the physical limits of our economic development, it seems that we have a date with history. This bestseller also shows that this subject is of increasing concern to our contemporaries.
Going back in time, it was Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring, published in 1962, that launched the environmental movement. At the time, this hard-hitting book alerted the public to the risks of using DDT-based pesticides, which were finally banned in the United States in 1972. However, the excessive use of chemicals has continued and has led to the disappearance of 20% of birdlife over the past 40 years, according to BirdLife International and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
More recently, the book On Fire by Naomi Klein published in 2019 in Québec, alerted us on why we are not taking action and suggested that a Green New Deal be put in place without delay. We share with the author the conviction that we must, without delay, engage our societies in the construction of a new world in order to stop the destruction of our home—Earth. Let’s be objective, the way of life of the most developed countries, like ours, has caused and continues to cause the greatest damage. It is paired with the increasing moral decline of our fellow citizens before the growing climate emergency.
To end on a slightly more positive note, we recommend reading Emmanuel Druon’s book, Ecolonomy. Based on the observation that it is more economical to produce ecologically, Emmanuel has transformed, over the last 25 years, his company Pochéco, that manufactures envelopes, and strives to achieve total autonomy in water and electricity, to ensure the recycling of all its waste, and to do it without polluting products. Over time, Emmanuel and his team have extended their field of action to reforestation, wastewater treatment using natural methods, and permaculture to limit the impact of their ecological footprint as much as possible. Pochéco is one of the model companies featured in the film Tomorrow. At Rapido, we are working with the company’s design office on our future projects to reduce our environmental impact as much as possible.
We felt it was important to draw from these books to raise the debate and to define the context in which we operate. We will soon publish an article entitled How Books Have Changed the World. More than ever, it is becoming urgent to match our actions to our words. At Rapido, we believe it is better to restrain ourselves than to be constrained to act.
Source : Nobel Foundation
The Observations Are Made
We also do not believe that we should make citizens feel guilty about their behaviour. It would be better to encourage them to make better choices and especially to consume locally. Our future lies in short circuits, productivity, and courageous choices . . . and certainly not in the punishment and discouragement that the media censors have mastered.
In our field, the conditions are now in place to amplify the shift towards on-demand production. Firstly, the technology is ready. Secondly, many publishers are aware of the threat of the increase in the price of paper and are saying that they want to reduce their head runs in order to reprint on demand. Thirdly, distributors are now saying that they can no longer support current stocking levels. So, we all agree. That is why we are all going to work together to make the transition. The time to act is now.
It’s Too Late to Be Afraid, We Have to Change
For two years, thanks to our EasyRapido offer, we have been working with several publishers on the management of their inventories to produce orders adapted to their needs. In 2023, this solution will reach a new stage. We will tell you more about it when the time comes.
- Know-how the place it deserves;
- More freedom and recognition for those who take the risk to innovate and undertake.
Speech at La Sorbonne
April 1910
Speech at La Sorbonne
There Is Only Wealth in Women and Men
In his book Ecolonomy, Emmanuel Druon writes, “We are alive. Because in the face of every challenge, an original proposal emerges. We shift. We create. We group together. We talk. We think. We laugh. The atmosphere becomes tense, we explain ourselves. Our pasts nourish, from one difference to another, ideas that we explore together. A strength surely comes from the complicity that has developed over the years. The constant movement fuels the fire.”