BEDA 22: Free books- the guilt

John Green once lectured to us about the book economy. That people lose money when you buy used books as the author gets no compensation for that money lost. Although book reusing is good for the earth- I mean, if everyone has a copy of all the Harry Potter Books- that's a helluva lot of trees! Even Twilight, which is only four volumes, is pretty substantial.
This presents a rather curious dilemma, do I want to buy the used book, and save a tree, or do I want to buy a new book and support an author (as well as my purse)? Both are usually really great causes, as was the case of buying Paper Towns, or will be the case when you buy Suite Scarlett (on may first!!!). An interesting compromise might be to buy a new book, and sell it when you're done so that it can be reused, but then someone else has to choose between buying a new book and supporting the author or choosing your used copy. If you have the same values, you might make the same choice, and it would rather lead to a lot of used books not even being bought...
This all sounds like a very bad advertisement of kindle. But I actually support kindle, though at present I can't afford one. This too, is a problem. Kindle is the perfect compromise, but most people can't afford one- I mean, if we consider used books to save money, how on earth are we going to afford a $300+ reading device? I'd have to buy well over 30 books, to feel like I saved any money, which I don't think I can do on the regular. Anyway, this has all just been food for thought. Hope you're having a good BEDA. Also, the reason I wrote this is because I picked up a free book at the library...