We have a winner on the "Sleeping Naked Is Green" giveaway!

We had a giveaway of one copy of "Sleeping Naked Is Green: How an Eco-Cynic Unplugged Her Fridge, Sold Her Car, and Found Love in 366 Days" by Vanessa Farquharson following our review of this great book.

We asked you to share with us the most meaningful step you took so far to green up your lifestyle. We got very interesting replies and we have a winner!

Our winner is the reader marybelle who shared with us the following step she took:

I try to follow the 100 mile rule. If it is not grown or produced within 100 miles of where you live - don't buy it. It is not easy but by being creative & saying we don't really need it we manage rather well. It helps that we live near the market gardens though.

Congrats Marybelle! You won a copy of "Sleeping Naked Is Green: How an Eco-Cynic Unplugged Her Fridge, Sold Her Car, and Found Love in 366 Days". We'll also plant a tree for this book and you will get with the book our "One tree planted for this book" sticker.

Thanks also to all the participants in the giveaway. Please keep follow after our blog - we have a new giveaway almost every week!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!

Green Book of the week: Sleeping Naked Is Green by Vanessa Farquharson

Today we have a great book to share with you with a story of a challenge that I believe is shared by a growing number of people who want to green up their lifestyle significantly, but not to radically change who they are. Can it be done? one journalist from Toronto shows the answer is YES.

Our book today is:

Sleeping Naked Is Green: How an Eco-Cynic Unplugged Her Fridge, Sold Her Car, and Found Love in 366 Days

Author: Vanessa Farquharson

Vanessa Farquharson is an arts reporter and film critic at the National Post, based in Toronto, where she also writes a weekly column on the environment.

Visit her website: www.greensathistle.com (Photo Credit: © Catherine Farquharson)

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published on: June 2009

What this book is about? (from the publisher's website)
No one likes listening to smug hippies bragging about how they don't use toilet paper, or worse yet, lecturing about the evils of plastic bags and SUVs. But most of us do want to lessen our ecological footprint. With this in mind, Farquharson takes on the intense personal challenge of making one green change to her lifestyle every single day for a year to ultimately figure out what's doable and what's too hardcore.

Vanessa goes to the extremes of selling her car, unplugging the fridge, and washing her hair with vinegar, but she also does easy things like switching to an all-natural lip balm. All the while, she is forced to reflect on what it truly means to be green.

Whether confronting her environmental hypocrisy or figuring out the best place in her living room for a compost bin full of worms and rotting cabbage, Vanessa writes about her foray into the green world with self-deprecating, humorous, and accessible insight. This isn't a how-to book of tips, it's not about being eco-chic; it's an honest look at what happens when an average girl throws herself into the murkiest depths of the green movement.

What we think about it?

Firstly I'm proud to say that we spotted Vanessa's blog - green as a thistle - almost two years ago and warmly recommended it back then when she was still in the middle of her challenge.

And what a challenge it was! It's actually interesting to review this book now that another challenge is getting some more attention again - No Impact Man - with the new documentary and the upcoming book. What's the difference between the two? in two words: toilet paper. Colin Beavan (aka No Impact Man) didn't use toilet paper at all for a year (Just a hand and a bowl of water). Vanessa on the other hand didn't use toilet paper only for number one (She actually tries to learn more how he did it when they meet in New York...).

But of course it's more than that. The journey of Vanessa Farquharson is most likely a journey most urban young people can identify with, dream about and implement if they only want to. It's a significant journey in terms of results, but it's much more flexible than Collin's journey and in a way it makes it more realistic and more interesting. This flexibility also makes this journey more creative -Vanessa for example does not reject flying but decides to use the bathroom before boarding on a plan to decrease her flight's footprint.

Vanessa is always looking for the right balance - she doesn't want to become a treehugger (in its old version, not the hip cool new one), nor she wants to be what she calls "new age hippies"who "are often so intent about meeting X,Y, and Z standards when it comes to greening Sheri lifestyle but because they couple this with so little skepticism it comes off as flaky or even cultish."

She finds her balance eventually, but in the meantime we have the opportunity not only to learn on the changes she makes to green up her lifestyle, but also on her life, her family and her friends. It gets intimate sometimes, which adds an interesting layer to the "green" core story, and last but not least - it always comes with handful of wit, humor and sarcasm, which makes even the most difficult days bearable and this book a real gem.

Bottom line: it's a great book (and also a great gift), well-written, interesting and it's even really green - it's printed on 100% PCW recycled and FSC certified paper. Just go and get it!

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!

We're giving away our review copy of the book, courtesy of the author, and of course a tree will be planted for the copy!

How you can win? Please add a comment below with an answer the following question: What is the most meaningful step you took so far to green up your lifestyle? Submissions are accepted until Thursday, September 3, 12PM EST. The winner will be announced the following day.

If you're looking for other interesting green-themed books, you are invited to check out our green books page on Eco-Libris website's green resources section.


Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Green as a Thistle: small changes, big impact

Today I would like to recommend on a great blog - Green as a Thistle.

This is a blog of Vanessa, a journalist at the National Post, based in Toronto. She decided to challenge her self and make a small eco-friendly change every day for one year (yep, 365 small changes). Her idea is to try and keep change her lifestyle, but not in a one big radical change, but in small simple steps that all together will make a big impact.

Vanessa explains it on the blog: "I decided to take on a bit of a challenge: Spend each day, for an entire calendar year, doing one thing that betters the environment. The idea is that everything I do, I keep doing (so if I switch brands, it's a permanent switch; if I turn down my thermostat, I keep it down), so that by day 365, I'll be living as green a lifestyle as it gets. I hope, in the end, this proves that being an environmentalist doesn't necessarily have to require massive change, compromise or Greenpeace levels of dedication — it can be simple, and inspiring."

So far Vanessa completed 207 days and she brings up great ideas. Let's check what she did just last week:

Monday, Sept. 17 - committing to use towels at least 5 times before throwing them to the laundry.

Tuesday, Sept. 18 - eating only sustainable fish using information taken from SeaChoice.

Wednesday, Sept. 19 - cutting off the end of the toothpaste tube for its maximum usage.

Thursday, Sept. 20 - putting 'Do Not Disturb' sign in a hotel room to avoid unnecessary everyday replacement of semi-used toiletteries in new ones.

Friday, Sept. 21 - forgo any plastic or aerosol cans and use incense or beeswax candles, instead.

Saturday, Sept. 22 - whenever she's at a workshop, a lecture or meeting, she's going to make a point of requesting they illustrate our points using a chalkboard and not a flip chart with papers.

Sunday, Sept. 23 - watering your plants in the evening, when the sun’s not out to evaporate the water before it gets down to the roots.I find it all very impressive.

Way to go Vanessa! Eco-Libris is totally supportive of your approach. We also believe small changes can be fairly simple and make together a big impact on one's life.

So, check out Green as a Thistle and get some inspiration and new ideas from Vanessa.

Raz

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