Half the forest isn't enough - A smart (and funny) video of Great Bear Rainforest explains why!

Who said that activism can't be funny, even when it deals with serious issues?

Check out this video from the Rainforest Solutions Project:

Take It Taller from Great Bear Rainforest on Vimeo.

Here are more details on this important campaign, which is organized by a joint initiative of Greenpeace, ForestEthics, and Sierra Club BC:

No matter which way you cut it, protecting 50% of a forest isn't enough to save the whole.

British Columbians helped put this province on the map by calling for the protection of the Great Bear Rainforest. In 2006, provincial and First Nations decision-makers heard you and signed an agreement to save one of the last coastal temperate rainforests of its kind from being destroyed by clearcut logging.

But today, logging is still allowed in 50% of the Great Bear Rainforest. It’s time to take action again and tell the provincial government to Take It Taller by committing to protect more than just half of the Great Bear Rainforest from logging.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

RAN has made it - Disney is working with RAN on a new comprehensive paper policy!

We reported here earlier this year about RAN's campaign to ensure children's books are not printed on paper linked to Indonesian rainforest destruction, which eventually was focusing on Disney Publishing.

Until now RAN said Disney has offered only empty words that do nothing to ensure the company is not still purchasing paper driving rainforest destruction. Yet, it seems like things have changed and for the better!

Last week RAN sent an update over the email saying: "Disney executives flew to San Francisco the next week to meet with RAN’s forest team. We’ve been deep in negotiations with them ever since. "

This is great news! RAN, according to their email, is working with Disney on a comprehensive paper policy that will ensure Disney stops sourcing paper from the world’s endangered forests and instead increases use of responsible alternatives like recycled paper. Negotiations are still underway and the campaign will remain active until a strong final policy is announced.

RAN reports it is (cautiously) optimistic that "Disney will do the right thing and establish a precedent-setting policy that ends its ties to forest destroyers APP and APRIL while providing a positive model for other corporations to follow. This would be a major win for the world’s forests, forest communities and Disney."

Kudos to RAN on their achievement and we definitely hope these negotiations will succeed! We'll keep you posted once we'll have more updates.

In the meantime, check RAN's website to learn more about their campaign.

Photo credit: RAN

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Why RAN's rainforest-safe children's books campaign might not mobilize consumers to take action?

Rainforest Action Network (RAN) released yesterday a new report grading 11 of the largest children’s book publishers in the US. Their grades were given based on their paper policies and purchasing practices. It was also accompanied by a consumer guide, asking consumers to choose books from publishers who are committed to rainforest protection.

Both the report and the consumer guide follow a report launched by RAN in May, which found that a large number of kids’ books sold in the US are now being printed in Asia using paper that is closely linked to the loss of rainforests in Indonesia.

This is a very important campaign and we applaud RAN for their efforts to ensure that books will be printed sustainably and won't be contribute to the destruction or Indonesian rainforests. This campaign is clearly aiming at mobilizing consumers to buy rainforest-safe children's books this holiday season (and in general), but we have to ask ourselves - is it really effective? is it really change consumers' behavior?

First, let's look into what RAN's guide include. According to their press release,RAN’s guide recommends that consumers buy from industry leaders that have taken action publicly to decrease their forest and environmental footprints by creating time-bound commitments to phase out controversial Indonesian paper fiber and paper suppliers. The recommended companies include Hachette Book Group, Candlewick Press, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, MacMillan, Penguin Group (Pearson), Scholastic and Simon & Schuster. (the last three publishers, by the way, took part in the Green Books Campaign).

Some top publishing companies have yet to take public action to protect Indonesia’s rainforests. These companies have failed to make public commitments or adopt purchasing policies that improve their environmental footprints and ensure the papers they buy are not linked to Indonesian rainforest destruction. RAN’s guide recommends that book buyers avoid these companies this year: Disney Publishing Worldwide and HarperCollins.

So this is the message. Loud and clear - buy books published by the recommend publishers and avoid the ones that got a Failed grade. What tools RAN is using to get the message out to consumers? You got the following:

- A pocket-size shopping guide, which can be downloaded and printed. You can also share it with friends on Facebook and tweet it.

- There's the full report you can read online: Rainforest-Safe Kids' Books: How do Publishers Stack Up?

- Rainforest-Safe Book Database

- 'Roar At the Store' week - from December 6th-12th, hundreds across North America will hand out rainforest-safe guides in front of their favorite bookstores.

This is an impressive campaign. But will these tools help the campaign to meet its goals? Will it mobilize people to take action and buy only rainforest-safe children's books? I'm not sure about it and there are couple of reasons that makes me worry that the campaign won't be as effective as it could be:

1. The first step in mobilizing consumers into action is to get them aware of the campaign and its messages. RAN makes an effort to make it social network friendly and to have presence in bookstores during the first week of December, but I wonder how many consumers will actually hear about it.

First, a growing number of consumers buy online (online spending this holiday season is expected to grow by at least 9% according to analytics firm comScore), and the chances they will hear about the campaign are relatively slim. Second, even though RAN will have presence in hundreds of stores during the first week of December, they will still be able to reach to only a small percentage of the buyers.

What can be done? The best option would be to collaborate with book retailers such as Amazon, B&N, Indigo, Borders and the American Booksellers Association. If even one of them would agree to collaborate with RAN, there's a much better chance to reach a much greater number of consumers both at brick and mortar stores and online.

But I guess that's not going to happen as no retailer would agree to call his customers to avoid books they're selling. It just doesn't makes sense for them. So if we're looking at RAN's options realistically then I believe their best option then is to go viral - a viral campaign, just like what Greenpeace did with their 'Ask Nestle to give rainforests a break' campaign is the only way to get the word out effectively and reach a large number of consumers.

2. The most problematic part is how to mobilize consumers into action. OK, so you got people to hear about the campaign and let's assume many of them really relate to the message and care about the rainforests in Indonesia. Will it be enough to convince them to prefer books published by "good" publishers and avoid ones published by "bad" publishers? I doubt.

And the reason I doubt is that according to the rules of green marketing there's a good chance it won't work. Now, you can wonder why an activism campaign should look into rules of green marketing - RAN is not a company and it doesn't try to sell anything. That's true, but at the same time it tries to influence consumers' behavior and get them to buy a "green" product over a "non-green product", which is exactly what green marketing is all about.

One of the basic rules of green marketing, according to green marketing expert Jacquelyn Ottman, is to avoid trade-offs and if you can’t, make sure the cost to consumers of the green attribute doesn’t outweigh the product’s benefits.

Let's look for a moment at the equation here. The cost is very clear - you need to avoid certain books, even you wanted to buy them in the first place because of their publisher's practices. Instead you're being asked to buy books from a list of rainforest-safe books of publishers who got a Recommended grade. The benefit is that by doing that you're supporting publishers who help to protect Indonesia's rainforests.

Would this benefit be enough to persuade consumers to pay the price? Not to most of the consumers. This is unfortunate of course, but that's the reality. For the majority of the consumers you need actual benefits and not just the good feeling of doing the right thing to outweigh the costs. These benefits can be for example a discount on the recommended books, an hard to resist deal such as buy two recommended books and get the third one for free, discount coupons, etc. Without such benefits that will reward consumers for taking green actions you will be able to persuade only a small percentage of consumers to do the right thing.

What can be done? Again, the best way is collaborating with retailers, but since it's not realistic, maybe RAN should check with the recommended publishers how to create an hard to resist deal or provide consumers with discounts (maybe through websites like groupon). Another way to incentivize consumers is to find a green sponsor that will give a coupon for every purchase of a recommended book (RecycleBank is an inspirational example of this concept).

Another way to change the equation is to reduce the costs. The shopping guide is really small and informational, but still it's a hassle to check every book with the list of the publishers on it (especially when each one of them has many imprints). How about an App, where you can scan the ISBN of the book on your mobile phone and get an immediate YES/NO recommendation? This can also be a convenient way to provide coupons or discounts.

I'm sure that such an App will significantly increase the number of consumers that will use the guide and take it into consideration, as it will lower the cost they need to pay for taking a positive green action.

In all, we wish RAN all the best with this important campaign, but because of its importance and the effort they already put into it, I do hope they'll take into consideration some of the comments made here and will make this campaign as effective as it can possibly be.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting Sustainable Reading!

Challenge16 - More biking, more change, more trees!

I am far from being an example when it comes to riding a bike. I wish I would ride them much more and drive a car much less.

I believe that riding a bike is a win-win, getting you healthier and supporting the environment at the same time. That's why I was excited to hear about the new campaign - Challenge16 - Ride the Bike, Drive the Change!

This is a free global biking campaign aiming at making people and the world healthier. It challenges everybody to use their bike in their daily movements in order to save CO₂, and for every 16 new members who join challenge16.com a new tree will be planted with Plant a Tree Denmark, a Danish NGO that launched the campaign.

Their idea is to enable people to act now and to put pressure on politicians at the next COP16 in Mexico. "We wanted to make a simple campaign with great effect. Most people have a bike, and if you jump on your bike instead of getting behind the wheel in your everyday movements, you can actually save some CO₂. At the same time, we plant new trees, and trees absorb CO₂. It is an equation with a pretty good result" says Bjørn Døssing, Information Manager at Plant a Tree, Denmark.

"It is definitely our ambition that Challenge16 spreads across the world” continues Bjørn Døssing. “We are convinced that there is great commitment all over the world to make an effort to fight climate changes. But we have to ensure that the challenge asked is a practicable one. Even small changes, like using the bike instead of the car and planting new trees have a positive impact on both climate and body. We really hope this initiative will spread in ever-widening circles.”

The campaign suggest that every person counts. I couldn't agree more and I join their call to act now! You can read more details on their facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5575149&id=690835338#!/challenge16?ref=ts

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Green Gifts Campaign - the first video is online!

Last Monday we started our green gift campaign, where we give great gifts that promote green reading! From free green books to gift cards for Strand Bookstore and BookSwim, the Netflix for books, Eco-Libris is now rewarding readers who balance out 25 books or more by planting trees.

To get the word out there we decided to get a big star that will help us promoting the campaign with a couple of funny videos. After holding auditions for several days, we've found our man! Actually we've found our baby..

Yes, my beautiful baby Shira was chosen to star in a couple of funny videos promoting the campaign and we hope you will enjoy them. If you do, please pass them along (embedding code can be found below. The video's link on YouTube is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf3yljv4PV8)

More information can be found on the campaign's webpage - http://www.ecolibris.net/gifts.asp

The press release of the campaign, with its logo, is available at http://prlog.org/10524166

The announcement on our blog - http://ecolibris.blogspot.com/2010/02/new-campaign-is-rewarding-green-readers.html

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting Sustainable Reading!

A new campaign is rewarding green readers with green gifts!

Hey, we've a great new campaign we're launching today - The Eco-Libris Green Gift Giveaway!

For over two years Eco-Libris has been offering eco-conscious readers the opportunity to balance out their books by planting trees. At the same time the company has worked to promote sustainable reading, and reduce books impact on the environment.

Now Eco-Libris is combining the two, with a special giveaway that rewards customers with green gifts that promote green reading, from gift cards at Strand Book Store and BookSwim to free “green” books that were printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper!

The campaign will run through 2010 and we hope it will help forward our efforts making reading more sustainable. “With all the current hype around the iPad it’s still important to remember that over 95% of all books sold are printed on paper and hence the ever-growing importance of making physical books more sustainable.

So what gifts will be awarded?

Customers who will balance out 25 books on our website will receive a $10 gift card for Strand Bookstore in New York City, one of the world’s best independent bookstores with over 18 miles of new, used, rare and art books . These cards are good for any in-store or online purchases and they never expire.

For customers who will balance out 50 books, we have a special gift – a choice of “green” book, printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper. The books offered are books that participated in Eco-Libris green books campaign last November that promoted responsibly printed books. Customers will be offered to choose from a list of 5-6 books that will be changing occasionally.

Customers who will balance 100 books will receive a $25 gift card for BookSwim, a Netflix-style book rental library service, lending you paperbacks, hardcovers and college textbooks. “

In addition, the first 10 customers to balance 100 books will receive a free copy of Jennifer Kaplan’s "Greening Your Small Business: How to Improve Your Bottom Line, Grow Your Brand, Satisfy Your Customers - and Save the Planet" (Prentice Hall, November 2009)

More information can be found on the campaign’s webpage – http://www.ecolibris.net/gifts.asp

To balance out books on our website please visit
http://www.ecolibris.net/sales.asp

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting Sustainable Reading!

10 more days to our green books campaign!

10 days left to our green books campaign - It's Time for a Green Book: 1 Day, 100 bloggers, 100 green books, 100 reviews, with more than 110 blogs registered to the campaign!!

This campaign is part of our efforts to promote green books, i.e. books that are printed using recycled and FSC certified paper. Our idea was to have 100 bloggers, who review books on regular basis, simultaneously publish on Tuesday, November 10 2009, exactly at 1:00 PM EST, their book review of a "green book" of their choice.

Today we bring you the third part of the list of books and blogs participating in the campaign.

With each list, we bring you also a fun fact about the campaign. Today it's about gender - on our campaign, women rule! More than 90% of the participating blogger are women!

And now to our list - part 3:

21. Easy to Be Green: Simple Activities You Can Do to Save the Earth

Author: Ellie O'Ryan

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children's Books

Will be reviewed at: readerbuzz



22. The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle

Author: Alison Inches

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children's Books

Will be reviewed at: everydaytrash



23. I Can Save the Earth!

Author: Alison Inches

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children's Books

Will be reviewed at: Booking Mama




24. The Polar Bears' Home

Author: Lara Bargen

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children's Books

Will be reviewed at: Find Your Next Book Here




25. Raw for Dessert

Author: Jennifer Cornbleet

Publisher: Book Publishing Co.

Will be reviewed at: So Many Books




26. Local Bounty: Seasonal Vegan Recipes

Author: Devra Gartenstein

Publisher: Book Publishing Co.

Will be reviewed at: Book Chatter

27. Simple Little Vegan Dog Book: The Cruelty-Free Recipes for Canines

Authors: Michelle Rivera

Publisher: Book Publishing Co.

Will be reviewed at: Candid Canine




28. Sustainable Sushi: A Guide to Saving the Oceans One Bite at a Time

Author: Casson Trenor

Publisher: North Atlantic Books

Will be reviewed at: Valentina's Room




29. Fresh: The Ultimate Live-Food Cookbook

Author: Sergei Boutenko and Valya Boutenko

Publisher: North Atlantic Books

Will be reviewed at: Mindful Momma





30. I Am Grateful: Recipes and Lifestyle of Cafe Gratitude

Author: Terces Engelhart

Publisher: North Atlantic Books

Will be reviewed at: Robin Shreeves on Sustainable Food



Other parts:
Part 1
Part 2

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!

12 days left to our green books campaign - here's the second list of participating books!

12 days left to our green books campaign - It's Time for a Green Book: 1 Day, 100 bloggers, 100 green books, 100 reviews. As we mentioned earlier, we already have more than 110 blogs registered to the campaign!!

This campaign is part of our efforts to promote green books, i.e. books that are printed using recycled and FSC certified paper. Our idea was to have 100 bloggers, who review books on regular basis, simultaneously publish on Tuesday, November 10 2009, exactly at 1:00 PM EST, their book review of a "green book" of their choice.

Today we bring you the second list of books and blogs participating in the campaign.

Also, with every list of participating books we present here, we'll tell you a fun fact about the upcoming campaign: All the books participating in the campaign are written in English, except one. Any idea what book it is? Well, this is the Portuguese edition of "Sleeping Naked is Green" by Vanessa Farquharson! The book is originally written in English, but it will be reviewed by a Portuguese blogger reading the Portuguese version of the book.


And now to our list - part 2 (check out part 1 here):


11. The Horned Wiper

Author: Gill Harvey

Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books

Will be reviewed at: Frenetic Reader





12. Stormy Weather

Author: Debi Gliori

Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books

Will be reviewed at: Reading to Know



13. Nice to be Nice

Author: Bella Flowers Books

Publisher: Bella Flowers Books

Will be reviewed at: Tara's View on Books




14. Syren

Author: Angie Sage

Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books

Will be reviewed at: Sparrow Review





15. The Trouble with Dragons

Author: Debi Gliori

Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books

Will be reviewed at: Brimful Curiosities


16. An Environmental Guide From A to Z

Author: Tim Magner

Publisher: Green Sugar Press

Will be reviewed at: latercera.com

17. Hope and the Super Green Highway

Authors: Helen Moore & Louise Rouse

Publisher: Lollypop Publishing

Will be reviewed at: Green Design & Other Ideas



18. Let Me Out: How to Enjoy the School Run

Author: Ann Kenrick

Publisher: Lollypop Publishing

Will be reviewed at: Eco Child's Play




19. Yucketypoo - The Monster That Grew and Grew

Author: Jilly Henderson-Long

Publisher: Lollypop Publishing

Will be reviewed at: Literacy Launchpad

20. The Adventures of an Aluminum Can

Author: Alison Inches

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children's Books

Will be reviewed at: SMS Book Reviews


Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!

Two more weeks to our campaign: It's Time for a Green Book: 1 Day, 100 bloggers, 100 green books, 100 reviews

Only two weeks left to our green lit campaign - It's Time for a Green Book: 1 Day, 100 bloggers, 100 green books, 100 reviews. And I'm happy to update you we already have 111 blogs registered to the campaign!!

Just to remind you, this campaign is part of our efforts to promote green books, i.e. books that are printed using recycled and FSC certified paper. Our idea was to have 100 bloggers, who review books on regular basis, simultaneously publish on Tuesday, November 10 2009, exactly at 1:00 PM EST, their book review of a "green book" of their choice.

We want to use the power of the internet and social media to promote "green" books and increase the awareness of both publishers and readers to the way books can be printed responsibly and sustainably. We hope the magnitude of this initiative will help grab readers, publishers and others' attention and get them to think about and discuss the future of books and how the "green" factor should be part of it.

As mentioned, we already have 111 blogs who will participate in the campaign and it means we have 111 "green" books that will be reviewed. We have a great selection of books and we want to start presenting them to get you ready for Big Tuesday. So from now on until November 10, we'll present here every day a couple of books that will take part on the campaign.

1. A Walk For Sunshine (expanded 3rd edition)

Author: Jeff Alt

Publisher: DS Publications

Will be reviewed at: badgerbooks




2. Art and Upheaval: Artists on the World's Frontlines

Author: William Cleveland

Publisher: New Village Press

Will be reviewed at: At Home With Books



3. Fly by Wire

Author: William Langewiesche

Publisher: D&M Publishers

Will be reviewed at: A Reader's Respite


4. Any Other Woman: An uncommon biography

Author: Monica Kidd

Publisher: NeWest Press

Will be reviewed at: Bloggin' bout books




5. Savage Gods Silver Ghosts - In the Wild with Ted Hughes

Author: Ehor Boyanowsky

Publisher: D&M Publishers

Will be reviewed at: Literary Kicks


6. Small Beneath the Sky

Author: Lorna Krozier

Publisher: D&M Publishers

Will be reviewed at: pages turned


7. Discernment: Educating the Mind and Spirit

Author: Venerable Yifa

Publisher: Lantern Books

Will be reviewed at: Huffington Post/ Sharon Glassman




8. Small Business: How to Improve Your Bottom Line, Grow Your Brand, Satisfy Your Customers - and Save the Planet

Author: Jennifer Kaplan

Publisher: Prentice Hall Press

Will be reviewed at: Anti Pollution Revolution Campaign

9. Sacred Commerce: Business as a Path of Awakening

Author: Matthew Engelhart and Terces Engelhart

Publisher: North Atlantic Books

Will be reviewed at: Easier Being Green



10. The Spitting Cobra

Author: Gill Harvey

Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books

Will be reviewed at: Heather's Books


Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!

Bloggers - you can still find some great green books to review on our new green lit campaign!

We updated you last month about our new campaign, entitled "It's Time for a Green Book": 1 Day, 100 bloggers, 100 green books, 100 reviews.

As we mentioned the idea is to have 100 bloggers, who review books on regular basis, simultaneously publish on Tuesday, November 10 2009, their book review of a "green book" of their choice. We want to use the power of the internet and social media to promote "green" books and increase the awareness of both publishers and readers to the way books can be printed responsibly and sustainably.

We have great green books that take part in the campaign and we still have some that are available and are waiting for a blogger that will take them home for review such as:

No Such Thing as a Free Ride?: A Collection of Hitchhiking Tales by Simon and Tom Sykes (travel)

The Players by Margaret Sweatman (fiction)

Sustainable Sushi: A Guide to Saving the Oceans One Bite at a Time by Casson Trenor (food)

Sacred Commerce: Business as a Path of Awakening by Matthew Engelhart and Terces Engelhart (business)

The War in the Country - How the Fight to Save Rural Life will Shape Our Future by Thomas Pawlick (Environment)

The Horned Viper by Gill Harvey (Children's books)

You can find the full and updated list of available books at http://www.ecolibris.net/greenbookscampaign.pdf - just look at the books the books not colored (yet) in green.

If you're a blogger and you wish to review one of these books that would be great! Just email me at raz@ecolibris.net

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris


Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!