Green Book of the Week - Two children's books of Eifrig Publishing for Earth Day

In celebration of Earth Day we're reviewing today not one, but two new books released by Eifrig Publishing, a green publisher of Pennsylvania focusing on self-esteem and eco books for kids and also a new partner of Eco-Libris. These children's books that are a great fit for Earth Day, but also a great read for the rest of the year.


Abby's Adventures - Earth Day...and the Recycling Fashionista

Authors: Suzanne Ridolfi and Dawn Griffin

What this book is about:
It is time for the Earth Day celebration, and it seems like all of Abby's great ideas keep turning into chaos. Join Abby as she learns about the real process of turning plastic bottles into clothing and stuns the class with her Earth Day project, while also learning an important lesson of persevering, even when being mocked for her efforts.

This book is a wonderful teaching tool for schools working on recycling/environmental units, with a truly tangible tale of what every child can do to improve the planet.

This beautiful book is printed on FSC-certified coated 60% recycled PCW paper, which means it is saving trees and will last for generations!

What we think about it:
This is a great story, not just for Earth Day, but for all other days. At the beginning of the story, Ryan, one of the kids in the class as k the teacher "What can we do We're just kids" and she replies "We can all help, no matter how old or young we are." This is one of the main themes of the book, which educates kids that everyone, including kids, can go green and adopt greener habits - it's just a matter of awareness and will.

The story line is very interesting and together with the beautiful illustrations it creates a book that is both educational and fun. My 3-year old daughter enjoyed listening to it and kept asking me questions about the story and the ideas the kids had for Earth Day. I'm not sure how much she understood as she's still young but I won't be surprised if next year on Earth Day, she'll also try to make herself a dress from recycled bottles, as I definitely see her growing to be a recycling fashionista, just like Abby!

Well Earth Well Me!

Author: Kenda Swartz Pepper

What it is about:
has been created to empower small people to take little steps to make big changes. What are some of the choices you can make to help create a well earth and a well you? There are many options, ideas, and solutions! Well Earth Well Me!includes 15 tips for kids to maintain a healthy self and a healthy earth. But don’t just stop there, the best solutions are created from within your heart!

This beautiful book is also printed on FSC-certified coated 60% recycled PCW paper, which means it is saving trees and will last for generations!

What we think about it:
Just like "Abby's Adventures - Earth Day...and the Recycling Fashionista", this book is about increasing kids' awareness to environmental issues and showing them how they can do something about them. It's also not just educational tool, but also a fun book, which I believe to be a necessity when it comes to empower kids to do the right things.

The book is also providing a lesson that is also important to parents - the wellness of the planet equals in most of the time our own wellness. Whether it's about eating fruits, keeping trees alive, reducing electricity usage or even keeping our environment clean - in all cases it's a win-win no matter how you look at it.

This book provides a great way to parents and kids to explore together ways to go green and how to benefit both Mother Earth while improving their own well-being.

To learn more about these books and other great children's books of Eifrig Publishing, visit http://www.eifrigpublishing.com/. If you are interested in getting them for their schools, NPOs, or other organizations, please contact the publisher for discounted pricing.

Happy Earth Day!
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading

Another green book review week is coming!

After a successful green book review week we had last May, our bookshelf is full again with great green books waiting for their turn to be reviewed, so we'll do it again!

This upcoming we'll have a green book review not only on Monday, but on every day of the week!

And of course, more reviews mean more giveaways, so next week watch out for three giveaways in one week!

We have some really great books, which cover a wide range of green themes. Here's our plan for next week:

Monday:The Green Year: 365 Small Things You Can Do to Make a Big Difference by Jodi Helmer

Tuesday: The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle

Wednesday: A Conservationist Manifesto Scott Russell Sanders

Thursday: The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget: Save Money. Save Time. Save the Planet by Josh Dorfman

Friday: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Greening Your Business by Trish Riley and Heather Gadonniex

See you on Monday!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
Eco-Libris: promoting green reading!

The green book review week is coming!

This week we didn't have our Monday's green book review, but we have a good excuse: next week we're going to have a green book review not only on Monday, but on every day of the week!

Yes, we have too many books that are waiting on our review shelf (we have one..) so it's time to call ourselves to order and get these reviews written! And of course, more reviews mean more giveaways, so next week watch out for three giveaways in one week!

And I have to admit that these are really really good books and they cover a wide range of environmental-social themes, so you don't want to miss the opportunity to learn a little more about them.

And here's our plan for next week:

Monday: The Idealist.org Handbook to Building a Better World

Tuesday: Big Green Cookbook: Hundreds of Planet-pleasing Recipes and Tips for a Luscious, Low-carbon Lifestyle

Wednesday: Clean Body: The Humble Art of Zen-Cleansing Yourself

Thursday: The Gort Cloud

Friday: The Carbon Diaries, 2015

Now if you'll excuse us, we have some reading to do..

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

Green Options - Book Review: Earth Democracy

As part of Eco-Libris' ongoing content partnership with Green Options Media, we feature a post that was originally published by Kelli Best-Oliver on September 15 on Planetsave. Today's post is about a new and important book of Vananda Shiva.

In Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability, and Peace, Indian physicist turned environmental activist Vandana Shiva calls for a radical shift in the values that govern democracies, decrying the role that unrestricted capitalism has played in the destruction of environments and livelihoods. By no means a new release, Shiva's book is incredibly timely as skyrocketing fuel costs jeopardize the rationality of globalization. Through explaining problems with expanding globalization and privatization of public goods and services, then illustrating examples of communities rejecting the intrusion of corporations into communities, Shiva outlines core beliefs that should result in what she deems “earth democracy”, a global community that honors and respects diverse forms of life and their respective cultures.

Monday's Green Books: Oil on the Brain by Lisa Margonelli

Oil? Yes, oil! Some of you must have read or heard about peak oil, and wonder what will happen when the wells run dry. Others may shake your fists instinctively at the oil companies, or roll your eyes in amazement and disgust whenever another piece of news about the industry's long, sad and cruel saga unfolds in yet another third world oil state.

But what does this really mean? How does oil really gets from the oil state to your car's gas tank? And how do all pieces of the puzzle fit together to create this mess we call (U.S American, suburban) automobile culture?

Enter investigative journalist Lisa Margonelli's Oil on the Brain – Petroleum's Long Strange Trip to your Tank. In the spirit of similar recent “natural histories”, such as Michael Pollen's The Omnivore’s Dilemma or its big screen counterpart King Corn, both telling the complex stories of staple food commodities, Margonelli weaves the complex tale of Oil.

What a fun read! So fun I got the local Seattle environmental book club I recently joined to read it at their next meeting! The quirkiness begins in the title, with its tongue-in-cheek play on the old "war on drugs" slogan. The subtitle (Petroleum's Long Strange Trip to your Tank) is yet another blatant yet apt California-centric Grateful Dead reference to the famous “what a strange long trip it's been” line from Truckin'. And indeed Margonelli's strange tale begins at the gas pump in her local independent San Francisco gas station, where she spends a couple of shifts as an observer. Did you know that some independent gas stations make more money selling bottled water and snacks than selling gas? Kind of gives a spin to the irritation at the high prices. That is one of the first tidbits of new information that will help us begin to make sense of the mess we call the oil economy.

The next stop is a day with the gas tanker, and then from the dispatcher and all the way to the Los Angeles refinery and the East Texas oil field. The pieces of the puzzle slowly fall into place, and the stories and histories of each segment of the industry are told with an eye for the weird, funny and significant.

The picture that emerges illustrates one aspect of one of Margonelli's key arguments. While the US maintains an active international policy, treating oil as a strategic resource, it domestically treats oil as yet another commodity. To paraphrase Frank Herbert, the policy is that “the oil must flow” and the results are total reliance of a culture on this unregulated commodity. While oil prices have doubled in recent years, consumption dropped only 4%.

And here's another key point– oil has hidden costs, always did. Even when it was 97c a gallon, someone was paying the price. Maybe it was a farmer in Texas, when he had to let an oil speculator put a drill in his back yard for measly compensation, because the law favors the drillers, and mineral rights take precedent over the rights of property owners. Maybe these are the communities that sprawled around the refineries, with their ubiquitous burning gas flares, paying with their health, needing health care that everyone else pays for with their taxes.

Margonelli's travelogue continues internationally, to countries that are producers of oil: Venezuela, Chad, Iran, and Nigeria. Each joined the oil economy as producers at different times and faces different challenges. In each there is a part of the population and economy as a whole that bears the vast “hidden” costs of gas at the pump. The cost of corruption is local poverty, sometimes in the exact places where the oil was found. The community bears the social cost of human rights violations, and the health costs of all sorts of environmental pollution.

But to know all of the above you did not necessarily need to read this book. What makes it unique and different from your run of the mill finger pointing rant are the stories and the people. Like Aresu, a female Iranian journalist who was Margonelli's sly accomplice in Iran, helping her navigate the bureaucracy and get access to key people to meet and interview, and arranged a rare visit as a woman to a Persian gulf oil rig. Another interesting figure is Herb Richards, the man “who created the business of selling self-serve gasoline in Northern California and much of the west”.

So grab this one for a fun environmental read. Get your book club to discuss it, and check out the official flash website with the funky chart.

Title: Oil on the Brain – Petroleum's Long Strange Trip to your Tank.
Author: Lisa Margonelli
Publisher: Nan A. Talese (original) / Broadway Books (reprint)
Published on: January 2007/ January 2008
Pages: 352
Official Website: http://www.oilonthebrain.com/
Here is also a more recent Lisa Margnoelli article in The Atlantic on recycled steam.

Eylon @ Eco-Libris

Plant a Tree for every Book you Read!

Think Green! - Green Children's Book Review & Giveaway

Anna Hackman of Green-Talk has recently reviewed Think Green! by by author Jeanine Behr Getz and illustrator Jenny Nightingale, and thinks it's a wonderful tool to teach children how simple actions can ensure that the Planet remains safe for all creations that inhabit it. Greener choices that reduces kids' impact on our world, are illustrated throughout the book.

She is also giving away a copy of the book to one lucky reader that will tell her one lesson he or she would like to teach a child (green or otherwise.) Good Luck to everyone. The contest will run until Friday, May 16 at 6PM eastern time. So hurry up!

Hey, Mr. Green

Today's green book review is by Anna Hackman of Green-Talk , a blog she started while in the process of building her house using the greenest materials possible. It is about greening your home and garden, and topics include green building and living products, recycling tips, and a mix bag of green content based upon Anna's personal experiences. This post was originally posted on Tuesday, April 29, 2008.

Hey, Mr. Green is a cumulative assortment of green every day questions and answers posed to Bob Schildgen (aka “Mr Green”) for his column in the Sierra Magazine. The column was started in 2005 to provide useful answers to question posed by their confused or curious readers who wished to protect the environment in their daily lives.

When I received the book, I thought the questions would be based upon in depth, tree-hugging, environmental concerns given my perception of what Sierra Club is all about. I was pleasantly surprised since the topics were practical and right-on with everyone’s concerns. It was divided into five sections: “At Home” ( domestic details,) “Food for Thought” (eating and drinking better while spending less,) “Out and About” (fueling up and the great outdoors,) “The three Rs ( you know what this means, ) and “The Big Picture” (environmental politics, religion, and other interesting meal time topics.)

I am not normally a fast reader, but I read this book quite quickly. Due to the amount of questions and light hearted short answers by Schildgen, I was never bored. His writing style is easy going with the right mix of humor and authority.

What were some of my favorite parts of the book? It is funny, but the questions posed on the front of the book cover were some of my favorites: “Should I buy my beer in bottles or cans?” and “What’s the greenest oil company?” I guess the editor or Schildgen liked these questions too! Other parts that I enjoyed included the discussion about nuclear power plants and when to replace your appliances. He even included his salsa recipe that I am eager to try.

When I received the book, my intentions were to give this book away to one of Green Talk’s lucky readers. Since reading the book, I have changed my mind and decided to selfishly keep it for myself. Schildgen’s book is a great resource that I will refer to again and again. It contains a terrific topic index as well as the author’s resource notes for his answers.

I highly recommend this book to everyone who struggles with living a greener lifestyle. Schildgen’s common sense approach to every day environmental dilemmas can make that transition so much easier. The book can be pre-ordered at a special price of $11.25 here. Books will be shipped in mid-May.

Photo by permission of the Sierra Club

Related Book Reviews:

Green Chic: Saving in Earth in Style

Big Green Purse

Wake up and Smell the Planet

The Ovum Factor: An environmental thriller book review

The Ovum Factor begins with a hero, David Rose, a young and single investment banker, who is ready for an early midlife crisis and a big change. Then fate catches up with him, his boss sends him on a due diligence mission with an eccentric biophysicist, and he gets involved in a big story that flings him all around the globe, Indiana Jones style. The plot brings together adventure, espionage, science, investment capital, and a bit of science fiction for good measure. All to save the planet from an environmental destruction, of course.

I wrote here recently about Earth: The Sequel, a new book that describes the current state of technological developments in the field of clean energy, and the struggle of investors and entrepreneurs to avert the same sad fate. It describes various technological developments: solar cells, wave energy, biofuels, geothermal energy and others. While The Ovum Factor's author, Marvin L. Zimmerman, does put venture capital backers as the engine behind the scenes of any plot to save the world, it is interesting to note that the technological solution he thought up is none of the above.

According to The Ovum Factor, humanity as it is does not stand a chance. What it takes is a new biological agent that will be able to accelerate the development of brain cells in a human baby during pregnancy. Such a development will create a generation of super babies, that will be able to finally make sense of our society's woes and ills, and come up with the right solutions, whatever those may be. In Zimmerman's world, like in James Lovelock's, we're way past the tipping point, and it is going to take a whole new kind of humanity to make things right.

What I loved about the book in particular were the parts set up in the Amazon jungle. The author's love to the region and its inhabitants clearly shows, and the diversity and immensity of Brazil shines through.

Title: The Ovum Factor
Author: Marvin L. Zimmerman
Publication Date: February 1, 2008
Pages: 383
Publisher: Synergy Books

Yours,
Eylon @ Eco-Libris
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