Random House execs talk about their new initiative, and a new industry paper-use treatise calls for publishers to act.

Many in the industry are applauding the company’s move, not only for its obvious environmental benefits, but for the fact that the company—which publishes many of today’s most popular titles, such as “The DaVinci Code,” “The Year of Magical Thinking” and “The Husband”—was not deterred from improving its environmental impact by some pretty substantial costs.