Worldchanging - Holiday green gift guide for book lovers: part 7

I am happy to present you with part 7 of Eco-Libris blog's holiday green gift guide, the guide that will help you find the best green books to give as gifts this holiday season.Today we have the pleasure to bring you a recommendation of Alex Steffen of Worldchanging. Alex recommends on one of the most interesting and comprehensive green books published in the last couple of years, which he knows very well as he also edited it.

Alex Steffen has been the Executive Editor of Worldchanging since he co-founded the organization in 2003, as the next phase in a lifetime of work exploring ways of building a better future. In a very short time, Worldchanging has become the most widely-read sustainability-related publication on the Internet, with an archive of over 7,000 articles by leading thinkers around the world. Steffen works tirelessly to share Worldchanging's ideas and message worldwide through regular speaking appearances to influential audiences and at leading companies such as Weiden + Kennedy, Nike, Amazon, Ideo, Arup, Nau, Yahoo! and the World Travel and Tourism Council.

Prior to founding Worldchanging, Steffen worked as an environmental journalist on four continents (where he wrote about everything from Japan's fast breeder reactor program to the UN "Earth Summit" in Rio de Janeiro). That work led him to provide strategic consultation to over 50 environmental groups. He also served as president of the board of Allied Arts (the venerable Seattle urban design advocacy group), a co-founder of the Livable Communities Coalition and the Fuse Foundation, and has served on the boards or steering committees for numerous other NGOs and campaigns. Steffen's media work extends into newspaper, radio, and an on-air television, and he started the short-lived but influential magazine, Steelhead, in the mid-nineties.

Alex Steffen's recommendation for this holiday's gift is:

Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century

Author: Alex Steffen (Editor), Al Gore (Foreword), Bruce Sterling (Introduction)

Publisher: Harry N. Abrams Inc.

Published in: 2006

What it is about: Worldchanging: A Users Guide for the 21st Century is a groundbreaking compendium of the most innovative solutions, ideas and inventions emerging today for building a sustainable, livable, prosperous future.

From consumer consciousness to a new vision for industry; non-toxic homes to refugee shelters; microfinance to effective philanthropy; socially responsible investing to starting a green business; citizen media to human rights; ecological economics to climate change, this is the most comprehensive, cutting-edge overview to date of what's possible in the near future -- if we decide to make it so.

The Worldchanging book contains over 600 pages, divided into 7 sections which include a vast range of topics.

Stuff: green design, biomimicry, sustainable food, clothing, trade and technology.

Shelter: green building and landscaping, clean energy, water, disaster relief and humanitarian design.

Cities: smart growth, sustainable communities, transportation, greening infrastructure, product-service systems, leapfrogging and megacity challenges.

Community: education, women's rights, public health, holistic approaches to community development, South-South science, social entrepreneurship and micro-lending, and philanthropy.

Business: socially responsible investment, worldchanging start-ups, ecological economics, corporate social responsibility and green business.

Politics: networked politics, new media, transparency, human rights, non-violent revolution and peacemaking.

Planet: the big picture - everything from placing oneself in a bioregion to climate foresight to environmental history to green space exploration.

Why it's a great gift: Here's some of what people have said about it:

"To build that future, we need a generation of everyday heroes, people who—whatever their walks of life—have the courage to think in fresh ways and to act to meet this planetary crisis head-on. This book belongs in the library of every person who aspires to be part of that generation." Al Gore.

"Read it: it may change your life." Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker Writer.

Thank you Alex for your recommendation! This is a great book and one I'm personally going to give it to a dear friend of mine (can't disclose names before giving it..)

If you choose to give your friends or family this book as a gift on the holidays, you are more than welcome to balance it out with Eco-Libris, add its sticker to the book and make it the perfect green gift for the holidays. And of course, don't forget to check the website of Worldchanging, one of the most mind-provoking environmental websites out there.

And just a reminder, here are the other recommendations we had so far on our guide:

Part 1 - The Man who Planted Trees by Jean Giono
Part 2 - Home Work : Handbuilt Shelter by Lloyd Kahn
Part 3 - The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau
Part 4 - The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle
Part 5 - Deep Economy by Bill McKibben
Part 6 - The Armchair Environmentalist by Karen Christensen

The whole guide can be found here - http://www.ecolibris.net/holiday_guide.asp.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: a great green gift for the holidays!

Now you can find on our website two special offers for the holidays - holiday greeting cards and holiday certificate gifts.

Green Holidays - the discussion

December started today and it's time to see how we can make the holidays greener. Eco-Libris blog will bring you this month tips, ideas and thoughts that will hopefully inspire us all to enjoy joyous holidays, but with a smaller impact on the environment.

A good place to start with is the discussion about the concept of green holidays, which I found in a very interesting article on the New York Times last Sunday. Alex Williams brought in this article (Jolly and Green, With an Agenda) many aspects of what can be done and how it should be done to make the holidays greener.

This article shows you the progress that green thinking has made toward mainstream America. It also shows you what a long road is ahead of us before the majority will embrace green and make it inseparable from the holidays.

So check it out. Definitely a mind-provoking article (btw - you will find a book mentioned in the article that was reviewed here a couple of days ago). And don't forget to follow our blog this month for more posts on green holidays.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: a great green gift for the holidays!

Planting 79 million trees in one day

The UN climate change conference will take place next month in Bali, Indonesia. In the meantime, Indonesia, which has been losing its forests at a rapid pace in recent years, launched a campaign to plant 79 million trees in one single day - November 28.

Reuters reported that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (in the picture) was quoted by state news agency Antara as saying "we have been negligent in the past, now we have to get our act together," as he planted saplings on the outskirts of Jakarta on that day.

And President Yudhoyono knows what he is talking about - according to Greenpeace, Indonesia had the fastest pace of deforestation in the world between 2000-2005, with an area of forest equivalent to 300 soccer pitches destroyed every hour. One reason for these unbelievable rates of deforestation are the rapidly expanding palm oil plantations, partly driven by ambitious plans for biofuels.

Deforestation (and also the forest fires) also one of the main reasons that Indonesia is also among the world's top three greenhouse gas emitters, together with the US and China.

Back to the planting operation - the Indonesian forestry ministry officials said 79 million saplings were collected from local governments around the archipelago and they were planning to complete the planting in one day.

The planting campaign was part of a United Nations global campaign to plant one billion trees - the Billion Tree campaign, which was launched by Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai last November (the campaign, by the way, also featured us on their website—(http://www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign/CampaignNews/Eco-Libris.asp). These efforts are due to the fact that deforestation accounts for around 20 percent of man-made emissions of carbon dioxide, the main driver of global warming.

I don't know yet if the Indonesians succeeded in their goal and planted 79 million trees, but in any case it's an importnat step in the right direction. Even more important is to significantly decrease the rapid rate of deforestation in this country, and this is the main test for Indonesia's will to go green.

One-time planting won't do the job unless a consistent policy of handling illegal loggers and foreign companies that look for quick profits out of Indonesia's natural capital will take place, and the sooner the better.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: a great green gift for the holidays!

A review of The Minpins by Roald Dahl.. and we have a winner!

Kimbooktu's contest that is in partnership with Eco-Libris has a first winner!

The reader Sulz wrote a review on the great book The Minpins by Roald Dahl and receives the first prize on the contest - 5 of her books will be balanced out by planting 5 new trees! She will also receive 5 Eco-Libris stickers to put on the sleeves of these books.

So, here's Sulz review:

The book in one sentence: Mollycoddled Little Billy listens to the Devil's whisper and naughtily enters the Forest of Sin against his mother's warnings!

Who would you recommend it to: Little boys and girls with a taste for adventure.

OK bits: The Minpins and their houses.

Boring bits: The ending where Little Billy ventures into mysterious places high up in the sky.

Random review quote: 'Roald Dahl's last picture book is as mind-bogglingly wonderful as all the others. This is classic Dahl: the charming stories with that disquieting edge of fear… Patrick Benson's illustrations are vibrant and so full of life that there is water splashing off the page and leaves swirling among the trees yet there's a harmonious gentleness evident too. A superb book' — Books for Keeps

Verdict: The review quote is right in a way. It is a typical Dahl children story, but not quite as classic as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or The BFG. That said, it still makes a pretty good bedtime story and the illustration is a nice change from the usual Quentin Blake ones. (Not that Quentin Blake's illustrations are boring, they're wonderful!)

Why this book is green: As the book cover above shows, The Minpins is a very 'green' book. The premise of the story is very nature-based, and this is reflected in both the story and illustrations. It's a book based on nature that will interest children and nurture the spirit of environmental friendliness without being boring! thanks!

Thank you Sulz for a great review!

If you are inspired by Sulz and want to send a review of your own, please send it to: k_heijdenrijk [at] hotmail [dot] com. If you win, Eco-Libris will balance out five of your books, you will receive 5 stickers and we'll also post your recommendation right here on our blog.

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: a great green gift for the holidays!

Readers get online access to 1.5 million books

Good news from The Million Book Project - This international academic venture has just has completed the digitization of more than 1.5 million books, which are now available online.

PhysOrg.com reported yesterday that "For the first time since the project was initiated in 2002, all of the books, which range from Mark Twain’s “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” to “The Analects of Confucius,” are available through a single Web portal of the Universal Library (www.ulib.org), said Gloriana St. Clair, Carnegie Mellon’s dean of libraries. "

Prof. Raj Reddy, of the department of computer science and robotics at Carnegie Mellon added that “this project brings us closer to the ideal of the Universal Library: making all published works available to anyone, anytime, in any language. The economic barriers to the distribution of knowledge are falling.”

Most of the books can not be read free of charge yet. Currently about half of the current collection remains under copyright, and until the permission of the copyright holders can be documented, or copyright laws are amended, only 10 percent or less of those books can be accessed at no cost. Still there's something to look for - at least half of its books are out of copyright, or were digitized with the permission of the copyright holders, so the complete texts are or eventually will be available free.

Though Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Amazon and the Internet Archive all have launched major book digitization projects, the Million Book Project represents the world’s largest, university-based digital library of freely accessible books. When asked how the Million Book Project fits in with the other book scanning projects, Dr. Michael Shamos, a Carnegie Mellon computer science professor who is the project's director, called those projects "fellow travelers."

These are great news for book lovers, for people who support the distribution of knowledge to all and of course for the environment. I hope the digitalization and the easy accessibility of so many books will mean eventually that less trees will be cut down.

So, check it out and look for this great source of unique books at http://www.ulib.org/index.html. And if you choose to print a book at home, please don't forget to print it on recycled paper..

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: a great green gift for the holidays!

When Santa Turned Green

I received an email from our reader, Karen Leever who told me about a new green book for kids 'When Santa Turned Green', written by her friend Vickie Perla.

This book looks really great, especially for this time of the year, and I am happy to share with you Karen's review of the book:

When Santa Turned Green is the illustrated story of Santa Claus's quest to turn all the world's children "green"—after he discovers that his home, the North Pole, is melting.

Penned by award-winning copywriter (and mom) Victoria Perla, and illustrated by Mirna Kantarevic, When Santa Turned Green is a perfect melding of fairy-tale and fact. This charmingly written, beautifully rendered tale inspires children at a time when their imaginations and confidence in their ability to change the world are truly boundless.

"Children have a relationship with Santa unlike any other; they would listen and respond if they knew he was in need," says Perla. When Santa Turned Green is printed in the U.S. with soy-based inks on 100% recycled paper. One dollar from the sale of each book will be donated to charitable organizations dedicated to preserving and protecting the environment. www.mygreensanta.com

We even received a quote from Al Gore: "When Santa Turned Green helps even the youngest child grasp the importance of caring for our planet and solving the climate crisis." -- Al Gore.

Thank you Karen for letting us know on this book. It sounds like a green book kids would love to read, and I hope many children (and parents) will read it and be inspired of its green spirit!

You can find more details on the book on its website, where you can also order the book, and on the author's blog.

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: a great green gift for the holidays!

The forest of Robin Hood needs help

Sherwood Forest has a fascinating history and is the legendary home of Robin Hood. It's also in trouble.

AP reported earlier this month that the core of the forest, once covered about 100,000 acres, is currently about 450 acres.

Sherwood Forest is a Living Landmark and is one of the most famous forests in the world. It’s located at the heart of the UK between the major conurbations of Nottingham and Sheffield. It's association with the legend of Robin Hood, the legendary 13th century bandit who supposedly hid there from his nemesis, the Sheriff of Nottingham, in between stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.

According to the article, park rangers working say the collection of ancient oaks in the forest is one of the greatest in Europe. But they see an increase in the trees' rate of decline. Over the centuries, the forest was carved up for farms, mines, towns and logging. Sherwood timber built medieval ships and even part of London's St. Paul's Cathedral.

Currently 997 ancient oaks stand on the 450 acres known as the "beating heart of the forest." 450 of them are still living, and of those, 250 are good shape, while the other 200 are particularly vulnerable. The remainder are standing deadwood, still valuable to the forest because of the life they support.

Izi Banton, the forest's chief ranger, explains in the article that "the oaks and wildlife will become more vulnerable as long as they remain isolated from the rest of the forest. The rescue plan would focus on planting 250,000 trees to knit the parts of the forest back together."

Hopes are high that Sherwood Forest will win the grant from BIG Lottery, a branch of the National Lottery that gives out money to good causes. The lottery committee has shortlisted Sherwood and four other projects to vie for the $100 million.

The supporters of the forest believes it has enormous potential and Big Lottery Fund investment in this unique national asset could realise the long-standing vision for this project 'Sherwood: The Living Legend' which is:

To transform Sherwood Forest into a world-class sustainable destination and inspirational community resource, within which current and future generations can live, learn, play and prosper.

I hope they will win the grant and will be able to achieve their vision and save this beautiful legendry forest.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: a great green gift for the holidays!