Green book of the week: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Composting (and a giveaway!)

Today we have a book about one of the most significant and easy actions you can take to reduce your (food) carbon footprint.

Our book is:

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Composting

Author: Chris McLaughlin

Chris McLaughlin is a master gardener and garden writer whose work has appeared in magazines such as Urban Farm Magazine and The Herb Companion. She also writes for several gardening websites, including Vegetable Gardener.com. She's the feature writer for Vegetable Gardens at Suite 101, and is the San Francisco Gardening Examiner at Examiner.com. Between garden writing assignments, Chris, teaches children gardening and plant science.

Publisher: Alpha

Published on: May 2010

What this book is about?
Waste not, want not.

The Complete Idiot's Guide(r) to Composting takes readers step by step through the process of selecting the right compost container, filling it with the right "ingredients," maintaining the mix at the right temperature and humidity, and using the end product.

- A concise format, simplified approach, and thrift-conscious price Chris McLaughlin

- Author is a Master Gardener and an expert on all forms of composting

- Gardening has risen greatly in popularity in the last few years, with an added boost from first lady Michelle Obama, and so has composting, which is cheap, effective, and environmentally friendly

- Thousands of state, regional, and municipal programs have been developed to encourage composting and thus reduce landfill waste

What we think about it?

Following the controversial piece of Stephen Budiansky on the New York Times , entitled 'Math Lessons For Locavores', Kerry Trueman wrote an interesting reply on Huffington Post, where she quotes the New Scientist as followed:

"More energy is wasted in the perfectly edible food discarded by people in the US each year than is extracted annually from the oil and gas reserves off the nation's coastlines."

So food waste is definitely an issue, and if solution no. 1 is to look for ways to reduce this waste from the first place, solution no. 2 is to compost, which as "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Composting" explains reduces "the amount of waste that would otherwise end up in landfills or dumps". As Chris McLaughin writes in the introduction to this book, "the truth is that composting is about as simple as it gets." So if you're looking for meaningful yet easy ways to reduce your carbon footprint, composting can definitely be the thing for you.

Composting has so many advantages that you're just wondering how is it that not everyone is doing it. I believe that part of it is convenience, as people find it less convenient than throw their food leftovers to the trash, and part of it is just lack of awareness of the process and how easy and fun it is. Now, the first group who looks for convenience, probably needs more than just a guide and I guess only a sort of incentives program such as RecycleBank can get them into action. The second group on the other hand will find this book very valuable.

The book itself is well-organized, written in an easy to understand language and is full of details of every related issue, including my favorite one - warms (did you know you need about 1000 warms on average to start a compost bin?). It helps to figure out step by step how to start composting and you learn everything you need to know all the way from selecting a container to using the final product. The book even gives you an idea how to use the compost as a platform to help your community. I can tell you from experience that personal composting is nice, but sharing a compost bin with your neighbors is really fun!

Bottom Line: If you ever wondered what composting is all about and if it's for you, get this book!

Disclosure: We received a copy of this book from the publisher.

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!

We're giving away our review copy of this book, courtesy of the publisher.

How you can win? Very simple. All you have to do is to add a comment with an answer to the following question: What you like most about composting (or if you're not there yet, what do you think you'll like most when you'll start)? We will have a raffle on Monday, August 30, 5:00PM EST between all the readers that will add their reply. The winner will be announced the following day.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

The green book of the week: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Beekeeping (including a giveaway!)

Today we have a book about one of the most hottest trends that is buzzing around!

Our book is:

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Beekeeping

Author: Dean Stiglitz and Laurie Herboldsheimer

Publisher: Alpha

Published on: May 2010

What this book is about?
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Beekeeping has all the information a beginA-ning beekeeper needs to know to start a hive and keep it buzzing. Expert beekeepers Dean Stiglitz and Laurie Herboldsheimer, owners of Golden Rule Honey, take readers step by step through the entire process-from information on the inhabitants of a hive and how it works to collecting bees, keeping them healthy, raising a queen, harvesting honey and wax, and storA-ing hives for the off- season.

What we think about it?

The popularity of beekeeping keeps growing. The Telegraph reported last month, for example, that "A new trend among the middle classes for keeping bees has doubled the number of hives over the last two years". According to the British British Beekeepers Association (BBKA), the increase had partly been driven by concern for the environment and the recent fashion for grow-your-own food.

And it's on the other side of the ocean as well. Epoch Times reported on May about "Landmarks across North America becoming hives of activity", mentioning that "beekeeping became legal in New York City in March, much to the delight of the hundreds of residents who had been keeping bees in violation of the city’s health code. San Francisco has an abundance of apiaries, mostly on condo and apartment rooftops. The South Lawn of the White House boasts an apiary, as do Chicago’s City Hall, the Paris Opera House, and London’s upscale food emporium Fortnum & Mason."

And the benefits of making your urban surroundings buzzing? Adam Aston who documents his experiences and observations as a novice beekeeper in the urban jungle at Bees NYC explains: "The benefits of urban beekeeping are substantial. Despite the conventional view of the city as a slough of pollution, urban honey is likely to have significantly less chemical residue than commercial honey made beyond the boroughs...Local honey will benefit the health of the planet as well: minor transportation costs, no-fuss manufacturing (courtesy of the bees), minimal processing, simple recyclable packaging and centralized retailing provide a model of effective, low-carbon production and distribution."

So as you can see 'The Complete Idiot's Guide to Beekeeping' was released in a perfect timing. The buzz is already here and many people wants to learn more about beekeeping, or at least better understand if they can or should get into it. Well, this book is definitely a good place to get some replies.

As always with this series, this book covers all the basics - information on bees, essential gear, where to get your bees, what they eat, how to inspect your hive and even what they call 'Bee Sex 101' (Did you know that when a drone mates with a queen his sexual organ explodes and he dies??). And as with many other books in the series, this book provides you enough information you need to establish knowledge about the subject, so if you're becoming serious about it, you can go to stage two - going to experts and asking questions.

But let's go back for a second to stage 1 - the basics. Keep in mind that beekeeping is more complicated than learning how to grow tomatoes in your back yard, but at the same time, it's not rocket science. Still, there's a lot to learn - as the authors write in the introduction to the book: "No matter the accumulated knowledge, no matter the sophistication of the tools, every answers we get yields countless questions. The closer we look, the deeper we go, and it never seems to end. This is the nature of the honeybee."

The book definitely makes an attempt to address all the challenges involved with beekeeping, and full with useful information, easy to navigate and full with interesting facts that makes it more than just a practical guide. It's not National Geographic on bees, but still I found myself learning a lot. Here's for example one practical advice I hope I won't have to use: "For normal pain an itching from bee stings, try applying a poultice of plantain leaf... A common "home remedy" is a paste of baking soda and water."

Bottom Line: If you're considering to join the buzz, but don't really know too much about bees, this is the book for you.

Disclosure: We received a copy of this book from the publisher.

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!

We're giving away our review copy of this book, courtesy of the publisher.

How you can win? Very simple. All you have to do is to add a comment with an answer to the following question: Would you consider beekeeping? We will have a raffle on Saturday, July 24, 5:00PM EST between all the readers that will add their reply. The winner will be announced the following day.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Green book review week - part 4: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Greening Your Business

Book no. 4 on the green book review week is a guide that should be on the bookshelf in your office and maybe even on your boss' desk (or your desk if you're the boss..).

Our book today is:

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Greening Your Business

Authors: Trish Riley and Heather Gadonniex

Trish Riley is an award-winning environmental journalist and author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Green Living as well as articles in many publications, including Hemispheres, Audubon Magazine and the Miami Herald.

Heather Gadonniex is the co-founder of Green It Group, a sustainability advisory firm focusing on sustainable business strategy and implementation, green building, and environmental marketing.

Publisher: Alpha

Published on: June 2009

What this book is about? (from the the book's Amazon webpage) Businesses are always looking to increase their profitability and market share. With rising costs of fuel and consumers targeting environmentally-responsible companies to patronize, businesses have jumped on the green initiative and reaped the financial benefits. The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Greening Your Business provides the most up-to-date, concrete, and practical steps for readers to follow to get rich by going green.

What we think about it?
I like the Complete Idiot's Guide series - these are very practical guides that provide you in a structured and user-friendly way with the basic important information you need to whatever green topic they're covering. And this book is no different. It is practical, structured, informative and easy to understand.

This guide deals not only with the 'how' but also with the 'why' and makes an effort to explain in detail the business case of greening your business, both in general and with specific issues such as your office systems or shipping.

I liked the way it helps to clarify complex concepts such as sustainability, carbon offsetting, life cycle assessment and so on. It is very helpful that it is covering every element in the business - from HR to marketing. Still, you have to remember that this book is similar to an introduction course, so for example, when we look at paper usage, we find basic tips such as using recycled paper or printing on both sides, but if you want to further explore this topic, you need to look for further resources (like this article of Neil Tilley) to learn more.

Bottom Line: No matter if you're a business owner or an employee who wants to help greening up your business, this guide a good book to start with. It's practical tips, structure and understanding how real-life business works make it a valuable resource.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting green reading

And we have a winner on "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Green Building and Remodeling" giveaway!

Following our review of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Green Building and Remodeling" last week, we had a give away of our review copy. We asked you to share with us what you do at home to lower your energy costs and/or use water more efficiently.

We got great replies with many great ideas that only show how many things can be done at home with not too much trouble to save energy and money.

And we have a winner!

Our winner is the reader ethnically ambiguous who wrote the following:

We recycle our raining water to water our garden & lawn, we uplug all non-essential electrical items in our household, as appliances burn out in our house we replace with only energy star rates appliances, in the winter we cover all windows with a layer of plastic and flannel to make sure we are keeping the house as warm as possible, we just bought a water efficent toilet and water savers on all faucets & showerheads...

Congrats to the winner! You will receive a copy of the book and we'll also plant a tree for it. Thank you also to all the other participants!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting green printing

Monday's green books series: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Green Building and Remodeling

Can you live in better comfort and health, support the environment and save money at the same time? well, it's not a daydream, but actually a doable challenge according to our book today on our Monday's green books series. And it all starts and actually ends at home.

Our book today is:

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Green Building and Remodeling

Author: John Barrows and Lisa Iannucci

John Barrows is a teacher for green techniques nationwide for the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). John holds the designation of Certified Green Professional. He is President of J. Barrows Inc., providing construction services, general contracting, construction management, and consultation services for over 30 years.

Lisa Iannucci is a 20-year veteran of magazine and book publishing and a former real estate writer.

Publisher: Alpha (a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.)

Published on: January 2009

What this book is about? (from the publisher's website)
This guide helps environmentally conscious people make real-world decisions about building or remodeling a home. Readers will find information on how to save money by going green when building or remodeling, how to find the right green integrated system design, how to choose heating and cooling equipment, and how to save money on water.

Why you should get it?
Here are two interesting facts you learn on the foreword of the book: 1)according to the U.S. Department of Energy, buildings' energy use accounts for 39% of the U.S.'s carbon emissions. 2) The typical American family pays upward o $1,500 a year in energy costs. Only these facts are a good reason to get a hold of the book, no matter if you're more about the environment or your expenses (or like many people maybe both).

Green building and remodeling sound very 'heavy' issues that many people don't want to dive into them in the first place and rather leave them to professionals. This book definitely understands these fears and tries to make these issues as accessible and simple to understand as possible.

One part I really liked was 'Deciphering Facts and Myths', where the authors refer to all the misconceptions that might stop people from thinking about green building or remodeling. You talk about myths from "there's too much to learn" or "to be green we have to replace everything in our home" all the way to "historic homes can't be greened" and green building materials don't last longer than traditional building materials."

The book is full with great tips for both indoors (energy and cooling, appliances, light, air quality, water heating and so on) and outdoors (design your yards, pools, fencing, roof gardens, etc.). It also includes much more valuable information such as green building resources list, glossary, green facts, information about the LEED rating system.

And last but not least - The Complete Idiot's Guide to Green Building and Remodeling is printed on recycled paper.

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!!

We're giving away our review copy of the book, courtesy of the book's publicist, 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 you do at home to lower your energy costs and/or use water more efficiently? Submissions are accepted until Monday, June 29, 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 Eco-Libris green books page on our website's green resources section.

More relevant links:

GREEN BEGINNINGS: The Story of How We Built Our Green & Sustainable Home

Green Building & Remodeling for Dummies

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting green printing

And the winners on our Earth Day raffle are:

As we announced last week, in celebration of Earth Day we had yesterday a raffle of three great green-themed books between our newsletter subscribers.

And we have three winners!

Amy from New Jersey won a copy of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Organic Living" by Eliza Sarasohn and Sonia Weiss.

Ethel from Quebec, Canada won a copy of "Gardening Eden" by Michael Abbaté.

And Courtney from Minnesota won a copy of "Of Parrots and People" by Mira Tweti.

Congrats to all the winners!!

If you're not subscribed yet to our monthly newsletter, which also includes every month unique offers and giveaways to our subscribers, it's very easy to do it - all you need to do is to add your email address on the box on the right side of the page saying 'Join Our Email List', click on the word 'join' and that's it.

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

Monday's green books series: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Organic Living

Today on our Monday's green books series we have another book from the Complete Idiot's Guide.

No, you don't have to be an idiot to enjoy this book - all you need is to want to learn more and to do it right, at least when it comes to organic living. What does organic living mean? the book we review today has the answers.

Our book for today is:

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Organic Living

Authors: Eliza Sarasohn and Sonia Weiss

Eliza Sarasohn is an editorial director for CE Media, oversees four eco-style city publications and websites. She is also the editor-in-chief of the online health and wellness network Lime.com. Thomas's work has appeared in Experience Life, Women's Adventure, LA Eating, Utne Reader, and other publications.

Sonia Weiss has written or co-authored 12 books in The Complete Idiot's Guide series. She is a long-time organic gardener and uses natural and organic ingredients to make many of her skin-care products.

Publisher: Alpha

Published on: February 2009

What it is about:
Wholesome tips for a healthier you. Everyone knows that we should be doing more to be good to our body— but moving toward an organic lifestyle can be overwhelming. This guide provides step-by-step information on everything from food to cleaning products to how to detoxify our bodies. It includes choosing quality natural products, exploring holistic alternatives to conventional medicine, and determining what to eat—and what not to eat.

Why you should get it:
1. It is a very useful resource even if you're already familiar with organic living and organic products. The book tries both to make some order in all the information available on this topic and to provide the reader a comprehensive review of the topic - from the history of organic movement (did you know the industrial revolution also changed the face of agriculture forever with the invention of motorized machinery and chemical fertilizers?) to organic furniture.

2. I found there great tips for greening up your life, from yummy food recipes that gives you creative ideas of how to use organic products to recipes for chemi-free lotions, shampoos and even minty toothpaste and deodorant!

3. The book helps you to better understand related definitions, many of them are quite complexed (I had no idea what solubilizers are until I found in the glossary these are substances used to dissolve other substanes in). Not only that there's a good glossary at the end of the book, but you can also find definitions throughout the book in a separate small window - very convenient and very helpful.

4. This book walks the talk and is printed on recycled paper! Way to go!


WANT TO WIN A COPY OF THIS BOOK?

All you have to do is to join our Earth Day celebration on our Facebook group. We're celebrating there Earth Day with tree planting, giveaway of green books and an effort to increase our group to 1000 members! Every day, until the end of the month, we will have a giveaway of a book of authors and publishers we work with, including a copy of 'The Complete Idiot's Guide to Organic Living '!

So if you're already a member, bring along more Facebook friends to the group. If you're not a member, join in and bring other friends with you.

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

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