Recommended book on Kickstarter: SideWalk Ritual by Scott James

Kickstarter is a great place to fund interesting new products and projects, including books. Great books. So we decided we want to help spread the word on book projects we like on Kickstarter and every weekend we'll share one with you.

Today's Kickstarter book is Sidewalk Ritual by Scott James. Sidewalk Ritual the story of Richard, a twenty-six year old on a journey of self-discovery through the streets of San Francisco. He encounters girls, family, old friends, cupcake violence, sidewalk silence, and sex, drugs & rock and roll along the way to himself.

One tree will be planted with Eco-Libris for every copy printed!

Goal: $7,000

Pledged so far: $3,306 (41 backers)

Still missing: $3,694

Days left: 31 days (until May 29)



Here's a description of the book project:

What's the book about again?

It's the story of Richard, a twenty-six year old on a journey of self-discovery through the streets of San Francisco. He encounters girls, family, old friends, cupcake violence, sidewalk silence, and sex, drugs & rock and roll along the way to himself. For a story summary, check out the chapter by chapter outline.

Why did I write this book?

Because I had to. Writing is like breathing. This book was born last fall while I was in Shanghai where my wife was working. One afternoon it just hit me that I needed to stop thinking about it and start writing. I walked down the block, got a whiskey, and put the first outline on a napkin and the first sentences in my iPhone. A few days later on the flight back to San Francisco on my 34th birthday, I promised myself that by the time I turned 35 I would be a published author. So many novels have changed my life, and I want to add my two cents to that eternal conversation.

Why Social Publishing?

Because whenever I finish a good book, a book I like, I always say to myself, "I want more like that." Social publishing is one way to do that. You get more art and music about the characters and themes you just finished with. And I'm building inspiration into the process, trying to stoke that fire. I'm self-publishing to keep control over the timeline of this project and make sure everyone involved keeps the rights to their work. And I just get energized working with other talented people.

Where am I in the process?

• I've written the first draft and done the first round of edits. Now, I need your help to hire a professional editor and pay for publishing costs.
• Twelve artists and musicians have signed on to create art inspired by the book. Before I can move forward, I need the proceeds of this campaign to commission them.

How does your contribution help?

• Editing and publishing costs
• Materials and production costs for artists and musicians
• Social Publishing process costs

Last Kickstarter recommendation - Yeti Leaves Home

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

More trees? No thanks, Captain Planet!

If you haven't seen yet Don Cheadle as Captain Planet, this is your chance! I saw it (and Cheadle) first on the Sustainable Operations Summit in New York last week and thought it's funny as hell :)




Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Want to celebrate Earth Day? Just say No to Amazon.com!

There are many ways to celebrate Earth Day and the merrier the better. We are celebrating it this year in a collaboration with Lulu in a special Earth Day contest, and we also participate in the Earth Day Network's A Billion of Acts of Green! campaign. But today we wanted to share with you another action which we believe is valuable, effective, important and appropriate for Earth Day:

Say NO to Amazon.com. In other words, don't buy there anything today.

You're probably asking yourself why avoiding Amazon.com is a demonstration of a commitment to mother earth? The short answer is that while Amazon, one of the most successful companies in the world, had all the potential to become a force of good and a leader in the transition movement to a low-carbon economy, it has became just the opposite. Amazon has become an example for a company that only cares about the bottom line. Amazon doesn't seem to care too much about the environment nor to take into consideration stakeholders' environmental concerns.

Here are 5 examples that will show you what we exactly talk about:

1. Amazon got the worst grades on Greenpeace’s latest report How Clean is Your Cloud on the resources of energy it uses for its data centers. It received "F" for transparencey - "AWS [Amazon Web Services] has seen tremendous growth over the past year, but fails to disclose information on its environmental footprint at either a company-wide or facility level" and "F" for Renewable Energy Investment - Despite its significant size and resources, AWS does not appear to have made any purchases or investments in renewable electricity for its facilities. AWS is currently falling out of step with other major cloud companies who are putting in place a long-term business strategy that accounts for impacts the company will face due to climate change."

2. Amazon, unlike 70% of the S&P 500 companies, does not respond to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) questionnaire, asking corporations to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related risks.

3. Amazon opposed last year a shareholder resolution calling the company to prepare a report that will assess the impact of climate change on Amazon and make it public.

4. Amazon doesn't reply to any inquires from stakeholders like media or research groups about the carbon footprint of its no. 1 product -the Kindle.

5. Amazon is aggressively competing with small local businesses using its price comparison app ("evil app"), which was promoted last year with discounts for anyone who goes to brick and mortar retailers, but chooses to buy at Amazon.

If we can learn something from Amazon's behavior (see the example of “frustration-free packaging”), it is that Amazon only cares about something when its customers care about it. So I think there's no better day than Earth Day to start showing Amazon we care about the environment and society and prefer to use online retailers that also care about these issues and aren't ignoring them.

If Amazon will listen, and again, unfortunately it seems this is the only way to get Amazon to listen, it can still take the lead and become a driving force in the transition to a low-carbon economy. But to get there, we, the consumers, need to act first and make sure Amazon knows mother earth should be taken into consideration 365 days a year.

Happy Earth Day,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Better World Books presents their top 10 green books

With Earth Day right around the corner, the good folks at Better World Books thought it was a great time of year to release their top 10 green books:

1. Natural Capitalism

2. The Lorax

3. An Inconvenient Truth

4. Silent Spring

5. Moral Ground

6. The Better World Shopping Guide

7. Hot, Flat and Crowded 2.0

8. Farm City

9. The Responsibility Revolution

10. The Great Paper Caper

If you’re not familiar, Better World Books collects and sells books online to donate books and fund literacy initiatives worldwide. With more than 8 million new and used titles in stock, it’s a self-sustaining, triple-bottom-line company that creates social, economic and environmental value. To date, the company has raised over $10 million for libraries and literacy, and diverted millions of books from landfills. For more information please visit http://www.betterworldbooks.com/

Publish Post

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

For Earth Day Contest, Lulu and Eco-Libris are planting a tree for every entry!

We want to update you on an exciting collaboration we have for Earth Day with Lulu, one of the leaders in self-publishing:

In honor of Earth Day, enter the Lulu Earth Day Contest on Facebook. This is a print sales contest for Lulu authors - submit your book to compete for most sales between April 18-April 25. Also, Lulu will plant a tree per contest entry up to 6,000 through Eco-Libris. Contest prizes include a Nook®, a Marketing Consultation ($475) and a Clarion Book Review ($350). Enter now!

Please check it out and if you're a Lulu author, enter the contest at http://www.facebook.com/Luludotcom/app_322805704439844

More about Lulu: Lulu.com is a one-stop shop where, with a few clicks of a button, authors, publishers, and businesses alike can publish their ideas in a book for free and sell it to customers all over the world through a growing network of retail markets – as a print book or eBook.

Creators keep full creative and copyright control, set their own price, and keep up to 90 percent of the profits whenever their work sells. Since 2002, Lulu has helped over 1.1 million creators in over 200 countries and territories publish their remarkable works, making Lulu.com the number one source for indie content on premier channels including Amazon.com, the iBookstore℠, and Barnes and Noble.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Three children's books on the new Silly Gilly Gil Series are going green with Eco-Libris!

We are happy to update you on not one, but three new books coming from our partner, the Australian publisher Pick-a-WooWoo Publishers, as part of the new Silly Gilly Gil Series: Best Buddies, Bullying Hurts and Grandpa Harley's Funeral. Written by Abue (Donna Kuehl Frantz) and illustrated by Gabriel Evans, all of these wonderful children's books are going green with Eco-Libris and 300 trees are planted for the printed copies!

About the series: Gil, of the Silly Gilly Gil book series is an amazing boy. Regardless of where he is, what he is doing, or who he is with, Gil keeps his heart open. It is no different than his having brown skin...simply a part of who Gil is. Does that mean Gil is a perfect little angel? No way! He has real-life issues to deal with...divorced parents, a school bully, and the death of his grampa. But as Gil remains true to himself in each situation, those around him, both kids and adults, learn how to stay true to themselves as well.

Book #1 on the series: Best Buddies

Gil's parents are divorced, so come the weekend, he goes to live with his dad at his dad's apartment. Only this time his dad's new girlfriend is there. Seeing his dad with Lizzy feels weird, as in bad. And besides, it seems like Lizard (as Gil thinks of her), wants he and his dad to stop doing all the fun things they usually do together. But when Gil senses that his dad is lying to him about something involving Lizard, his heart starts to hurt. Not knowing how to do it any other way, and even though he is afraid, Gil simply must open up and tell his dad the truth about what he is feeling.

100 trees are planted with Eco-Libris for Best Buddies! The book is available for sale on Amazon at http://amzn.to/HKsUtS

Book #2 on the series: Bullying Hurts

Lots of kids call Ziggy a bully. That's because he punches people on the playground when the teacher isn't looking. When kids want to know why Ziggy does that, Gil gives them his best guess, "Maybe Ziggy needs a friend." But Gil is in for a big surprise when, instead of bumping knuckles with Gil to be friends, Ziggy punches Gil on the arm again and again! Of course you will have to read the book to find out what Gil does next, but here's a clue: it's not the answer most adults would give, and it's a little bit scary, too.

100 trees are planted with Eco-Libris for Bulling Hurts! The book is available for sale on Amazon at http://amzn.to/HBGAG2

Book #3 on the series: Grampa Harley's Funeral

After Gil's grampa dies, he has to go to a big church party called a funeral. But when he gets in trouble for using his outside voice inside the church, Gil gets embarrassed and squeezes his eyes closed. That's when something incredible happens. He actually gets to be with his grampa and sit on his Harley and give him a humongous hug, just like always! Afterward, even though he's not sure if his mom and his gramma and his aunt believe it, Gil knows in his heart that what happened with his grampa was real.

100 trees are planted with Eco-Libris for Grampa Harley's Funeral! The book is available for sale on Amazon at http://amzn.to/HQL7YM

About the publisher: Based in Western Australia, Pick-a-WooWoo Publishers are publishers of Mind Body Spirit books for children. Their inspirational books are designed to help children connect with their intuition and inner guidance, develop their awareness skills and enhance their Mind, Body, Spirit connection. Their goal is to help children create a sense of strength and sense of belonging in this world by teaching them of their connection to everything in the web of life.

Other Pick-a-Woo-Woo titles that go green with Eco-Libris:

The Boy Who Was Born To Love Frogs
Angel Steps
Ocean's Calling
KC the Conscious Came

Archie Angel to the Rescue
The Star who Lost her Sparkle
Herbie and the Tune
A is for Asking

More information on these books and other titles published by Pick-a-Woo Woo can be found on their website - http://www.pickawoowoo.com

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Greg Barber invites you to join the NAMI walk on May 5th in NY

Our friend, Greg Barber is not only an expert eco-friendly printer, but also a caring person involved in community and charity activities that are aimed to promote important causes. One of them is the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the nation's largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to improving the lives of individuals and families affected by mental illness.

Greg has become involved with NAMI through his own personal experience, as a father to Neil, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Greg, who created Neil's Wheels, an organization representing “courage, hope and community” and working to address the urgent and mounting issues of the homeless community and the need for continued research into mental health issues in support of improved treatments and hopefully a cure.

NAMI has an upcoming 3 mile walk in NY on May 5th to raise money for the organization, and we're happy to share with you Greg's call to participant in the event:

The NAMI Walk, National Alliance for Mental Illness, is on May 5th at 11-2PM. The Walk to raise money for NAMI is at Jones Beach, Field 5. The walk is 1.5 miles along the boardwalk and 1.5 miles back.

If you want to just sit and take in the day, please do. We just want your support for this worthy cause. The statistics say 1 in 4 have some form of Mental Illness, and NAMI helps the families that suffer from Mental Illness. My family is included.

We are hoping that you will donate $10 or higher to NAMI.

But, the most important thing is that you support their efforts. I have worked with NAMI for years and their help is fabulous. Please pass my email along.

If you donate $75, you get the new Documentary “Breaking The Silence” that features Manhasset Middle School in their efforts to help my son, Neil Barber, battle Schizophrenia. Neil was All County in both Lacrosse and Cross Country at Manhasset. He graduated in 1992.

The Documentary is 15 minutes long and includes Coach Bob Rule, Health Teacher, Jasmine Plaza, a classroom of Manhasset Students discussing Mental Illness and what they would do if it happened in their own families, and myself, Greg Barber, speaking at the NY Islanders Fund Raiser for Neil, and at several schools about my journey, as a Caretaker for Neil.

The link to sign up for the walk is on our Neils Wheels website. www.neilswheelsny.com

You can call me at 973 224 1132 (cell) for any question.

Please bring 3 cans of Food as well, if you come. We have Island Cares, Harry Chapin’s Foundation, collecting the food at the Sign in

Tables in the parking lot at Field 5. You can drive right up to us and give us your food, and then sign in, and walk under the tunnel to the WALK.

Thanks,

Greg Barber & Neil Barber
Coach Rule & Frank Bice
& Bob Buhmann
NWNY TEAM

Dream Traveler: Africa, a new children's book is looking for funding on Kickstarter

We are recommending here almost every week on a new interesting book that is looking for funding on Kickstarter. This week we have the pleasure to introduce you to the first book in the series of children's books entitled the Dream Traveler series, which is about connecting people with cultural awareness, travel, geography, imagination and creativity, as well as and also conscious living and a loving family.

We also have a special interest in this series. If the required funding will be raised, it will also be used to plant a tree with Eco-Libris to green up the printed books!

The series is written by Stacey Gates and illustrated by Ryan Wardlow. The first book that is looking for funding to get published is Dream Traveler: Africa.

Goal: $7,000

Pledged so far: $2,035 (33 backers)

Still missing: $4,965

Days left: 50 days (until June 2)

About the project:

In the Dream Traveler series, a North American boy named Canyon manifests his way around the world through his dreams for a glimpse of how people live their lives in other countries. Readers will travel with him as he meets children who joyfully accept him into their lives and are just as curious and interested in him, as he is in them.

The books in the series are soulful tales of love and adventure for ages 4 and up. They bring about cultural awareness, encourage imagination and creativity, and through the illustrations, they exemplify environmental consciousness and health. Music, art and more are threaded throughout the stories as well.

Dream Traveler Africa

To grab the reader's attention, the story begins with Canyon returning from his first dream travel to Canada. He dives on his parent's bed shouting with laughter, "You'll never believe where I just came from!" He sums up his adventure.

For more information please visit Dream Traveler: Africa page on Kickstarter -

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/936219362/dream-traveler-africa

Last week's Kickstarter recommendation - Yeti Leaves Home

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

A Happy and Green Passover from Eco-Libris!

Today is the time for the Passover Seder, which is a Jewish ritual held on the first night (and in some places also in the second night) of Passover, which is one of my favorite Jewish holidays.

The Seder is a family gathering, sitting together around the table, reading the Haggadah (he story of the Israelite exodus from Egypt), singing the holiday songs and eating the holiday's traditional food. President Obama will host a Seder at the White House for the fourth time (see photo below from the 2010 Seder at the White House and you can also check the White House Chefs' collection of recipes for Passover) and said he is looking forward to "a good bowl of matzo ball soup".

So how do you green your Seder? Yahoo! The Healthy Voyager had some great tips on BlogHer. Joe Laur had also some good recommendations on Greenopolis, Ann Bell Muzaurieta adds on the Daily Green tips and recipes to keep your Passover healthy and sustainable, and finally the Huddler's Green Home Community brings you on Yahoo! Green 10 good tips on how to have an eco-friendly and organic Seder.

I haven't found yet an Haggadah from recycled paper, but still there are other many steps you can take to make sure you celebrate the Passover in an eco-friendly style.

Enjoy your Seder and Happy Passover from all of us at Eco-Libris!

Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!