Do You Believe in Magic?

We had a new rider join us in Seattle. Like the rest of the crew of the Legacy Bus Tour, he was a student leader working to promote solutions to the world's most pressing issues. Unfortunately, he's distracting many of the riders away from socializing in our free time. His name? Harry Potter!

Several of us hit up University Book Store near the University of Washington in Seattle the night of the release of Book 7, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Our eye-glasses and ballpoint-penned lightning bolts on our foreheads fit right in with the other young witches and wizards, some of whom brought brooms and flaunted couture capes. There we made slime in Professor Snape's potions class, listened to bands that sang about Hogwarts and He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, got our picture taken as Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and made predictions about the conclusion of the beloved series. At least we weren't the OLDEST people in the crowd, since there were several parents in attendance.

One estimate says that 400,000 trees were cut to make the first printing of the book - which makes environmentalist fans like me cringe - but I was excited to hear that half of those trees were Forest Stewardship Council certified "sustainably harvested" this time around. Although that's a step in the right direction, it's too bad they couldn't all be printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper. Personally, I'll hold out and recycle a copy of the book from another rider. Sharing is one of the best ways to approach sustainability, and it's also more fun – I can't wait to talk about the book with the other riders!

By: Jen Baldwin